Getting set up (Part one)

Today Chaos was our resident God. 25 people racing around in the rain trying to resurrect heavy equipment (hidden for several years). Discuss the best possible overall community layout, look for sources of water, (I know, we are right by a river, right? Wrong, I will discuss the great CAFO disaster of 2017 later), seek out any harmful fauna that the horses might get into (yeah, we use horses), figure out how to secure access/egress points to our new enclave, set up the stables, (oversized Hexayurt), and see what we could do to help the farmer that so graciously allowed us to set up shop here. Get the picture? With this many plates in the air, one of those plates was bound to crash to the floor. As it turned out, two plates.

While we were struggling to deliver the old, multi-use bobcat to the site, someone sounded an alarm. Something was coming our way. Sure enough, our “something” turned out to be an all too familiar blue and white CSoD (City/State of Detroit) Hummer. These things are incredible. They use an old technology of a turbine engine driving a generator that rapidly charges HUGE capacitors. The capacitors in turn run the electric motors used for propulsion. These things are quick and they are MEAN, however they do have a weak spot. If you can compromise the capacitors, it will discharge throughout the entire vehicle, degaussing all of the electronics. I am digressing here; let me get back to the story…

So this CSoD vehicle shows up in a spray of mud and bravado and four private security contractors exit the vehicle. Young, buff, and looking for a fight was the best way to describe them. After flashing their ID, their leader announced that they were looking for conscript violators. After telling these kids that all of us were over 50 years old and that if we really had any children, they would be over the age to serve, they insisted on searching everywhere. Search they did; all the while, doing a very poor job of hiding their enthusiasm. They tore thru compartments that you couldn’t hide a joint in, let alone a teenager. There was only one close moment with these young bucks. We did have one member of our community that was of conscript age; Kim’s daughter. Kim is our lead horse consultant. (Perhaps you will see a post from her time to time on this blog) When the Hummer showed up Kim’s daughter was moved to a small room in the stables behind Felix.

Felix is a horse that is, well, kind of unmanageable. The only ones that are able to approach him are Kim and her daughter. When the contractor came into the stables to search, all went well until he got to the stall containing Felix. As he attempted to enter the stall, he was met with what horse trainers call “Snake Face”. I don’t know what that young man was thinking, but I approximate it to “Something is not right here, and I should back off here” (I am sure that the actual wording was a lot more salty.). When the agent did in fact attempt to extricate himself from this uncomfortable situation, he was introduced to his second challenge of the day, Carter.

Carter is Kim’s GS. Carter is big, vocal, and very protective. Imagine the scene if you will, kind reader, where this young man is caught between the Scylla and Charybdis. He decides to take out the dog only to realize that several members of the community have shown up and have drawn their weapons… Must have been an interesting conversation in the Hummer on the way back to Detroit! Shortly after this event took place, the second plate crashed to the floor.

While we were busy laying out our new place, the farmer came to us and asked what we were doing with all the layout lines. We explained that we were setting out the general layout of the settlement and we were trying to figure out the best place for our crops. The farmer asked “You didn’t know? And so our epiphany began to unfold…..

Next, The CAFO disaster of 2017