It's been three days since my daughter and her family arrived. The younger guys have been working so hard. I think they need a break so tonight we'll run the generator long enough to watch a movie and I'll surprise them with a real treat - popcorn.
So far the guys have dug a deep hole for the sewage and built the outhouse over it. It's a two-holer with one for adults and a smaller, shorter one for the kids. When they went to get water they used the generator to help Dave's neighbors renew their water supply and the neighbors gave him an empty 55 gallon drum to use for burning trash. We've not generated much trash so far but with all of us here we'll have more. We don't want it piling up and drawing rats and mice. To keep the toilet paper from filling up the hole of the outhouse, I put a plastic trash can in there and we dump it into the burn barrel every day.
My granddaughter is almost out of diapers for her baby so I pulled the three dozen cloth ones and several pairs of plastic pants out of storage. At night when all the chores are done the women work on cutting out cloth napkins and cloth toilet wipes for when napkins and toilet tissue are gone. Two cut them and the other three hem them by hand.
John and Dave decided that since their heath problems prevent them from helping much they'll take 12 hour guard shifts seven days a week and the younger men can divide the other hours between themselves. Dave realized that the young men can't work in the cold for hours at a time without the right clothing so when they went to get the water he packed up all his old hunting and fishing clothes and gear and brought them back. The guys now have warmer jackets, hats, gloves, and coveralls to keep them warm when they're outside.
We're starting to get low on wood for the rocket heater so Dave, Mike, Steve, and JR are going back to Dave's place tomorrow to cut some. Dave has a lot of trees on his land, plenty dead, and he thinks there's enough to get us through the winter. Mike knows how to repair chain saws so he tuned and sharpened ours. Because there are a lot of trees and water, Dave's place would have been better to go to but with only two small bedrooms and a storage shed, there isn't enough space for the people and stuff we have. Our house is a large two story plus garage so being here has some advantages. I'm sure Dave's worried about his place but there's safety in numbers, at least in theory, so we think staying here is safer. I'm not so sure about that but it is what it is and right now, this seems to be right thing to do.
Last night after the kids were in bed, the rest of us sat at the table talking. My daughter finally opened up about what they had been through. What she couldn't tell us was filled in by JR and Nikki. They had been living in La Porte, Indiana which is a big town. Three days after the power went out, the jail ran out of food and few workers showed up so they released the inmates and shut down the jail. Most of the prisoners were there for drug related offenses and they broke into doctor's offices and and medical clinics to find drugs. Once that was done, they went to the hospital. The doctors and nurses had abandoned the hospital and the patients that hadn't been removed by their families were left unprotected. The woman were raped no matter their age was or medical condition. Most of the men and a lot of women were killed.
With the store shelves completely bare, panic set in and people started forming gangs. They invaded homes and took what they wanted. Very few people were safe and a lot of people were dying. Even pets started to disappear. My daughter had 3/4 of a tank of gas in her car the night the power went out. Within a couple of days unknown persons had syphoned it and her tank was empty. It took JR and doofus (Nikki's husband) over a week of snitching a little gas here and a little gas there at night to get enough fuel to get up here.
When their food ran out so did Nikki's hubby. He took off for parts unknown. He was worthless so she's better off without him but that doesn't make it any easier for her. The night before they left to come up here, a small group tried to break in to their house and JR scared them off with a gun he'd gotten from his boss. They packed up the next evening and left in the dark. There were roaming gangs everywhere so they stayed on the back roads, driving late at night and finding orchards to hide in during the daylight hours. Because they went so far out of their way and hid for so long, what would have been a one hour trip turned into three days. Several times, they had to turn around and find another route because they spotted gangs. By the time they finally got here their gas tank was almost empty.
I was prepared to hear what they told us but it was almost too much when my granddaughter spoke up. "Nana, there were dead bodies everywhere. They were even hanging people from trees and second stories of houses and buildings. We went past one house and there were two little girls about Kyle's age hanging out the second story window with ropes around their necks. They still had their nightgowns on and were covered in blood. That's something I can't get out of my mind." With that she broke down crying. The rest of us were beyond stunned. We'd never seen anything like that. No wonder my daughter, JR, and Nikki seemed to be in shock. If the rest of us had seen horrors like that we would do the same. I wonder if I'd be able to handle all that half as well as they have. I don't know and I really don't want to find out.
As I was getting ready for bed, my daughter came to me and said she was sorry about the extra burden on our resources with JR being here but she wouldn't have made it here without him. I asked her if she loved him and she said yes. Then I asked if he had protected them all that time and again she said yes. Then I asked if he hadn't he pitched right in and helped with everything that needed to be done around here. When she said yes to that one I simply said, "Then he's earned a place here and is now a part of the family and we don't turn away family." I think that reassured her because she had a few tears in her eyes as she hugged me and said goodnight.
I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically. I need a bit of time alone and finding that seems to be impossible. Maybe I'll sleep like a log tonight and wake up feeling refreshed.
So far the guys have dug a deep hole for the sewage and built the outhouse over it. It's a two-holer with one for adults and a smaller, shorter one for the kids. When they went to get water they used the generator to help Dave's neighbors renew their water supply and the neighbors gave him an empty 55 gallon drum to use for burning trash. We've not generated much trash so far but with all of us here we'll have more. We don't want it piling up and drawing rats and mice. To keep the toilet paper from filling up the hole of the outhouse, I put a plastic trash can in there and we dump it into the burn barrel every day.
My granddaughter is almost out of diapers for her baby so I pulled the three dozen cloth ones and several pairs of plastic pants out of storage. At night when all the chores are done the women work on cutting out cloth napkins and cloth toilet wipes for when napkins and toilet tissue are gone. Two cut them and the other three hem them by hand.
John and Dave decided that since their heath problems prevent them from helping much they'll take 12 hour guard shifts seven days a week and the younger men can divide the other hours between themselves. Dave realized that the young men can't work in the cold for hours at a time without the right clothing so when they went to get the water he packed up all his old hunting and fishing clothes and gear and brought them back. The guys now have warmer jackets, hats, gloves, and coveralls to keep them warm when they're outside.
We're starting to get low on wood for the rocket heater so Dave, Mike, Steve, and JR are going back to Dave's place tomorrow to cut some. Dave has a lot of trees on his land, plenty dead, and he thinks there's enough to get us through the winter. Mike knows how to repair chain saws so he tuned and sharpened ours. Because there are a lot of trees and water, Dave's place would have been better to go to but with only two small bedrooms and a storage shed, there isn't enough space for the people and stuff we have. Our house is a large two story plus garage so being here has some advantages. I'm sure Dave's worried about his place but there's safety in numbers, at least in theory, so we think staying here is safer. I'm not so sure about that but it is what it is and right now, this seems to be right thing to do.
Last night after the kids were in bed, the rest of us sat at the table talking. My daughter finally opened up about what they had been through. What she couldn't tell us was filled in by JR and Nikki. They had been living in La Porte, Indiana which is a big town. Three days after the power went out, the jail ran out of food and few workers showed up so they released the inmates and shut down the jail. Most of the prisoners were there for drug related offenses and they broke into doctor's offices and and medical clinics to find drugs. Once that was done, they went to the hospital. The doctors and nurses had abandoned the hospital and the patients that hadn't been removed by their families were left unprotected. The woman were raped no matter their age was or medical condition. Most of the men and a lot of women were killed.
With the store shelves completely bare, panic set in and people started forming gangs. They invaded homes and took what they wanted. Very few people were safe and a lot of people were dying. Even pets started to disappear. My daughter had 3/4 of a tank of gas in her car the night the power went out. Within a couple of days unknown persons had syphoned it and her tank was empty. It took JR and doofus (Nikki's husband) over a week of snitching a little gas here and a little gas there at night to get enough fuel to get up here.
When their food ran out so did Nikki's hubby. He took off for parts unknown. He was worthless so she's better off without him but that doesn't make it any easier for her. The night before they left to come up here, a small group tried to break in to their house and JR scared them off with a gun he'd gotten from his boss. They packed up the next evening and left in the dark. There were roaming gangs everywhere so they stayed on the back roads, driving late at night and finding orchards to hide in during the daylight hours. Because they went so far out of their way and hid for so long, what would have been a one hour trip turned into three days. Several times, they had to turn around and find another route because they spotted gangs. By the time they finally got here their gas tank was almost empty.
I was prepared to hear what they told us but it was almost too much when my granddaughter spoke up. "Nana, there were dead bodies everywhere. They were even hanging people from trees and second stories of houses and buildings. We went past one house and there were two little girls about Kyle's age hanging out the second story window with ropes around their necks. They still had their nightgowns on and were covered in blood. That's something I can't get out of my mind." With that she broke down crying. The rest of us were beyond stunned. We'd never seen anything like that. No wonder my daughter, JR, and Nikki seemed to be in shock. If the rest of us had seen horrors like that we would do the same. I wonder if I'd be able to handle all that half as well as they have. I don't know and I really don't want to find out.
As I was getting ready for bed, my daughter came to me and said she was sorry about the extra burden on our resources with JR being here but she wouldn't have made it here without him. I asked her if she loved him and she said yes. Then I asked if he had protected them all that time and again she said yes. Then I asked if he hadn't he pitched right in and helped with everything that needed to be done around here. When she said yes to that one I simply said, "Then he's earned a place here and is now a part of the family and we don't turn away family." I think that reassured her because she had a few tears in her eyes as she hugged me and said goodnight.
I'm exhausted, both mentally and physically. I need a bit of time alone and finding that seems to be impossible. Maybe I'll sleep like a log tonight and wake up feeling refreshed.