We need moor!

We also need MOAR!! Please keep this story going whilst we wait for "The Other" to be finished and published.  Once that happens, keep continuing!

Kermit, hast thou gone back into hiding?  Hopefully you are not having more health troubles.  Please get back to writing, we needs MOAR here!

Hello! Hello! Is there anybody in there?

Methinks that I am talking to myonself!  Be there anyone else here waiting for Promises to be Kept?

I'm still here. Still waiting. Lol

I check in when I see a new post...

We're all aging while waiting...

I'm just waiting while aging.  I'm not real good at either!

I seem to be great at getting older...

Well, getting older will hopefully continue for quite some time here.  I'm just not really good at growing up past my current stage.  Of course, I have had curmudgeon leanings since my teens so maybe I'm just aging into my personality!

I tell everyone that I stopped maturing at about 12, after that I've only got better at acting...

I may be an aspiring Curmudgeon, First Class, but my maturity level is still in the 12-15 area.  We do tend to get better at acting "adult-ish" as time passes don't we?
That being said, @kermit, Where, Oh Where are the Promises that were Made?  When will they be Kept?

Another story started and never finished

I just went and looked, @kermit posted on here on the 28th of this month, you just can't see where.

I'm still hopeful we'll see an end to this.

Good to hear that at least @kermit is still pretty good at not being dead!  Now we just need some more / MOAR of the story since "The Other" is hanging out in Limbo.

Now it appears that I am talking to myself in here!  Oh @kermit, where art thou?  I certainly hope you are successfully being not dead and are happy and healthy.  Please, Please come back and give us some more of this story while we wait for Family Stuff to be worked out on "The Other".

I'll jump in with this here too. Lol

Howdy kermit, If you aren't too busy being Dead or something Equally As Inconvenient, would you mind continuing this story now that "The Other" is ready to drop?  Happy New Year to Ye!

Working on it

Awesome!

OOOOOOHH!  We do like us some Artifact Type Things!  Yes, yes we does!

"The Other" is done and published, so I guess I should get back at this.

This writing thing is very time intensive and it's easy to allow life to get in the way.  After work, when the brain is fried, I could write or I could turn a piece of scrap steel into a flat and square piece that replaces the bolt and can be used as a bubble mount for leveling the scope on a rifle with a round receiver.  This is the beginning and ending of the piece pictured above in the mill:





Alternatively, after work, when the brain is fried, I could write or I could restore a bubba'd screw in a rifle that I picked up for a song because nobody could figure out how to remove the screw:







My local hardware store doesn't stock screws for a Redfield one piece mount that fits an 03A3, so it needed to be repaired.

Before:


Almost done:


Remounted:


Might as well make it period correct while we're here:



On the weekend, I could write or I could spend time with the real-life characters in the story.....







Or maybe, once in a while, an old lover will pop up and we'll go for a fling....



The problem with writing at home is that I'm at home.  I'm going to try something new.  You'll know if it worked when shit starts to appear here again.

Thanks for remembering us!

I have one of those XT.
I was at Sage hills in Reno.
It was used so i took it out for a spin in Doubles. I shot a 99 and took it home.

I use it for hunting now.

Prologue

The six men sat around a small campfire in silence.  It was a comfortable silence.  The silence of friends who don’t have to talk.  A variety of dogs lounged in between the camp chairs.  The only sounds were crickets and ice cubes clinking in glasses.

One of the men stretched, stared into his glass for a long moment, and broke the silence.

“I need to charge my phone.”

The simple statement caused a stir around the fire, as all six men stirred from their reveries and began the ‘old man about to get up’ preparations.  Glasses were safely stowed away. A couple of cigars were clipped into holders attached to the arms of the chairs. One gentleman tapped his pipe against the heel of his boot to empty it and then placed the pipe in his shirt pocket.  All of the men checked the area around their feet to make sure the dogs were out of the way.

Everyone stood up and stretched to a chorus of pops and creaks.  The man who had spoken began to walk towards one of the five camp trailers arranged in a circle around the fire.  The other men and the crowd of dogs followed close behind.  Once the direction was apparent, the dogs rushed ahead to the door of the trailer and eagerly danced in circles, tails wagging.  They seemed quite disappointed when the group of men continued walking past the door to the other side of the trailer.

A table holding a multi-outlet power strip festooned with phone charging cables was set up next to a generator.  The man flipped a switch on the side of the generator, opened the valve on a propane bottle attached to the generator by a hose, and then pulled the cord.  The generator started on the second pull.

A large man with a white beard looked at the generator for a moment and rubbed his right ear.  “Noisy sumbitch. When are you going to get that damn muffler replaced?”

All of the men smiled and began pulling phones from their pockets.  It was an old joke.  There was no muffler on the generator at all.  When all six phones were plugged in, the men and dogs began to work their way back towards the center of the camp.

The table holding all of the phones was directly in line with the exhaust pipe of the generator.

Two men ducked into their respective trailers on the way back to the campfire.  A third man stopped by a truck and relieved himself on the rear tire.

It was not his truck.

Eventually, with all the speed and grace of men in their sixties who just simply aren’t in a hurry, the group was gathered around the fire once more.

When all the glasses were refilled and the cigars relit, the tallest of the group asked “What’s on your mind, Gene?”

The man who had initially wanted to charge his phone stared into the depths of the fire and took a deep breath.  “The world has gone to shit. I’m worried about my boy.”

Nods and a chorus of affirmative grunts came from the group around the fire.

One man leaned to the side and farted loudly.  “That’s what I think of the world.  Why is today different?  It’s been messed up for a long time.”

Gene took the time to look at each of the other men in turn before he answered.  “It’s different because there used to be respect for the rule of law.  Not everywhere.  Not in the ghettos and barrios and sanctuary cities.  But if you got away from the blue cities people still respected the law.  Now they don’t.”

The man smoking the pipe blew a smoke ring into the night air and pointed at Gene.  “Your close, but not quite right.  People still respect the idea of The Law, but they’ve lost all respect for the jackasses who make the laws, the thugs who enforce the laws, and the corrupt, on-the-take judges who interpret the laws.  That’s our problem.  It isn’t that the regular people don’t respect the law, the problem is that we’re rapidly approaching a time where there will be no controlling legal authority.  Third world bullshit.  When things to tango uniform here it will make Rhodesia look like a walk in the park.  We’ve been talking about this for 20 years.  What makes you worried about your boy now?  Is he in some kinda trouble?”

“No, nothing like that.  The cartels and the gangs haven’t really reached Elko yet.  Too remote, not enough people to steal from, and the ones that are there are independent folks.  My worry is that I won’t be able to help him and his family when things do go from bad to worse.  I’m too far away.  Hell, look at the months of planning and coordination just to get us all together for a damn fishing trip.  Georgia to Nevada is even farther away, and I sure can’t jump on an airplane in full battle kit.”

The man sitting next to Gene reached over and poked him in the belly.  “Can you even get your kit on anymore?  You’re getting rather portly, buddy.  Might want to try a salad now and then.”

Gene took an ice cube out of his glass and threw it at the man who had poked him.  “Stuff it, Stimpson.  I’m trying to be serious.”

A man who had not yet spoken leaned back in his chair and said “Well, if you’re worried about not being able to help the kids ‘cuz you’re too far away, pack up your shit and move.”

The man with the pipe spoke up again, waving towards the big man with the grey beard.  “It’s not always that easy.  Can you imagine trying to move all of Dan’s shit?  If I get stuck cleaning that place up after he dies, I’m going to do it with 10 gallons of diesel and a road flare.”

The big man smiled through his beard.  “You might want to bring 20 gallons.”

Gene turned towards the pipe smoker and said “I’m working on it.  My worry is that things will fall completely apart before I actually get done.  Half my stuff there, half my stuff at home, and me thousands of miles from where I need to be.  And I’m not the only one with that problem….you have it too.”

Pipe man nodded slowly.  “I know, and I’m working on it too.  Probably a little farther along than you are.  I’ve already started moving equipment.  Getting two Bridgeports from Arizona to Texas wasn’t cheap.  Got any solutions other than ‘move faster’?”

Gene got up to refill his glass.  As he poured, he said “I think so, but we’re gonna need a map.”

Thanks for the update!

Also, I got to look at your pictures.

Using the drill press to apply pressure on the screw is great. I never would have thought of that. I'll have to try to remember that in the future.

Thanks so much for the update!  I suppose we can ignore the slackness due to doing "stuff" with folks such as them in the pictures, but just this once!

Wow, amazing work. Standing by for new updates!

Is Gene son honing his shooting skills at the Varmint Silhouette match held once a month in Elko.

Cool.  Thanks for the update! It's good to see this one isn't dead.

Also I can't blame you for prioritizing time with your family over keeping a bunch of freeloading readers happy on the internet.

(even if I am one of those freeloading internet readers)

Another Freeloading Internet Reader requesting Many MOAR Episodes!!!  Please?

Checking in after a long hiatus from a paid membership. Watching the Other thread go from fiction to fact. Hope the other Librarians present are well. @kermit - please keep on keeping on.

Internet Freeloader chiming in again.  Would love to see you back @kermit.  Please keep on keeping on here if at all possible.

I suppose it is Quite Pretentious to quote oneself, but I was here last.  From Freeloader Freddie and all the MOAR Monsters, will there be any MOAR or is it time to Stick A Fork In It?  Please say it ain't and bring us the MOAR we desperately desire Oh Great @kermit!

This is on my subscription list and pops up occasionally.

I have a few things I read annually: this, Soldiers Son, Sean Bastle series, Spartan series.  

I would be delighted to read the conclusion to this. I need to know how to finish raising my family!

Not dead yet.....just had to focus on other things for a bit.

Yes, there is moar

Many are still here waiting impatiently...

Attached File

I really do love this story.  It has a tone to it that hits home.
I hope you get a chance to finish it someday.

Yay!  I will sit here with baited (shrimp) breath and wait for the MOAR to arrive fresh and crisp from the mind of kermit.  I'm glad you weren't busy bein' dead or anything so inconvenient!

Hopefully you can write more. I like this story.

Now you gots me a-qoutin' meself!  You once said there would be MOAR.  I am at least one still waiting on the MOAR you done promised.  Will you please bring the MOAR to us?  Thank You Kindly!

Fuck be upon me......has it really been 5 years since I started this thing?

Damn.

I just got back from my Dad's funeral and brought a bunch of his stories home with me.  Reading them reminded me of this unfinished story.  

The last couple of years are really a blur.  I was in a writing funk (I'm sure nobody noticed) for a while that was keeping me from continuing the story.  Then the 'rona came along and everything I was writing about started coming true.....

I looked around at the world, read the tea leaves, and decided that there was shit I needed to get done.  I spent 2020 making sure that my shit was in order.  In 2021 I took care of the kids, grandkids, and friends.  Finances, food sources, water sources, shelter both fixed and mobile, spare parts, upgrades, repairs, tools, stock to make things from, gardens, transportation, all of it.  The time I could have spent writing was spent finding stuff, fixing stuff, or making stuff.  Two and a half years and an obscene amount of money later, I'm at the stage where I'm doing final verification on everything and watching my retirement investments go into the shitter.  It turns out that dumping a bunch of money into durable goods in '20 and '21 was probably a good thing.  

Work kept going through all of it.  (Yay, I'm essential!   )  Along the way I've lost a couple of good friends, my dog, my Dad, and my wife's brother.  

I couldn't take my Dad shooting for Father's Day, but his rifle went with me.  





I'd like to think that he could hear the steel ringing.....







Now that it's time to make the popcorn and watch the world burn, I guess I can start working on the story again.  

Things rattling around in my head that need to come out somehow......


-  Mary and the kids packing up and leaving
-  How to dispose of 6 dead bodies  (Anybody remember the chorizo reference?  Sweeney Todd did not work alone.....)
-  Arrival at the ranch
-  Retrospective:  Story time with Nana  (For 800 years we've fought you without fear, and we'll fight you for 800 more)
-  Kevin prepares for his trip, conversation with Victor
-  Picking up Trapshooter12
-  Wind and mirage, part 1
-  Delivery of Grandpa's gift
-  Jim and Ernie
-  Nana's recipe book
-  Wind and mirage, part 2
-  2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7
-  Gabriel's revenge
-  Gotta have a fast car in there somewhere

...and a bunch of other fragments.   Don't expect all these things in this order.  

We are all patiently (? lol) awaiting more content.

Sorry to hear of your father, I lost mine last year.

Sorry to hear about your Dad kermit.  Glad to hear you haven't abandoned the story (and us Freeloaders!) whilst you were distracted by Life (tm).  Please put all of those ideas to paper electrons so We the Freeloading Readers can have our MOAR fix!  Thanks for what you have done for us and all you will do!

My condolences. I don’t know what to say other than that’s a beautiful rifle and you have reminded me to write some things down for my children.

Your story is one that I read every year or so, even knowing it isn’t finished. I’m not the only one I’m sure.

Glad you’re back.