Empty Aisles & Empty Hearts (Preppers Perspective Book 3) (2 page)

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Well before I was so rudely interrupted Charles, I was going to tell you how we are going to cook off a batch of hooch in about a day and a half.” Dennis said smiling.

“
Oh, yea you got that turbo yeast you been keeping refrigerated. You bought some off that expensive 24 hour and some of that cheaper but still quick 72 hour yeast etc. You are going to have to brew and distill it here though, I don’t have anything to power that electric still except my truck and an inverter. I am kind of light on gasoline Charles also and that is even if we can mix the ethanol we making with gas to run it.” Charles said getting excited about the project and its tasty prospects.

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I could lend you a couple of 12v marine batteries to go with that one you already got. On a sunny day with solar panels you could get a couple hours run at 600 watts that alcohol still pulls. We need to put up that marine alternator with those homemade pvc blades we created also. That thing supposedly will put out 1500 watts of power in a good strong breeze. We never did get around to buying a piece of pipe for a pole fpr it, but we can mount our wind turbine on a fresh cut oak or pine pole temporarily until we find something more suitable to use.” Dennis advised.

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Why don’t you just tell your mom we making gasohol and we clue her in on it being drinkable later?” Charles asked regarding the best place to run the still.

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That is a damn good idea! Simple enough reasoning and it’s not a lie actually. This first run though I want to do it using straight table sugar. You can keep that bread mash of yours going at home and I will do the insta booze vodka here. I got enough battery juice in that SUNRNR solar generator to maybe make 6 gallons if we don’t get any sun to help the solar panels out charging. Let’s see, my math tells me that will give me something like a case of quart jars (4 quarts to a gallon, 12 jars) so that is three gallons, then we got two pints to a gallon so I can get 6 pints out of the remaining three gallons. That is if my calculations are right, that tabletop still pulls a lot of power and has a very small capacity. Its fine for home use, but it is not for any kind of manufacturing or big distilling jobs.
If we plan to use it as fuel we must further purify it running through the still a second time. We should now have ethanol near 98% pure. By soaking it in or filtering it through 'Zeolite' you can have pure alcohol. This product will absorb the water out of the alcohol leaving you with 100%, 200 proof Ethanol. I say we leave that stage out and just make sipping whisky or vodka. I can trade that shit for chickens if we can locate any of the bar buddies who have some for trade.” Dennis stated.

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Let me do that, no sense you getting around them and they start remembering you are a prepper.” Charles said in slight admonishment to Dennis for him talking prepping at the bar so much.

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Hey that was part of my marketing plan. I had to make a living and prep you know by being a talkative prepper. Well it’s all hind sight now and we normally just talked in terms of homesteading with a prepper label put on it. You are right though; no sense me getting around anyone. I got plenty to do around here and you know more folks than I do anyway. I think I will get busy guerilla gardening once we finish our distilling of some barter and pleasure goods.’ Dennis said flinching as the back door opened and Monica and his mom came out to join the party.

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Hey Mom! Would you like a cold beer?” Dennis said with fake happiness and enthusiasm.

After a bit of back and forth about her saying we should save it for ourselves, Dennis and Monica finally got her to drink a few and loosen up, but she soon left them to their own devices and went back in the house.

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Well that wasn’t so bad.” Dennis said smiling a moment or two after his mother had closed the backdoor.

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I told you it would be alright, course she hasn’t seen you howling at the moon when you get on one of your whiskey trips yet.” Charles said reminding Dennis that whiskey was known to have some strange effects on him when consumed it in mass quantities.

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Ain`t none of us any kind of angels when it comes to the effects of that firewater.” Dennis retorted but he did hang his head and reminded himself to watch his imbibing limitations.

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How you feeling today Charles?” Dennis said in greeting to his friend early the next morning.

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I am fine, how about you? “ Charles asked as he came around the wooden back deck and had a seat.

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Your out and about pretty early today Charles. I was just about to make some coffee, do you want some?” Dennis said pointing at an odd gadget he had on setup on the picnic table.

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What in the world is that?” Charles said standing up and going over to the decks railing for a closer look.

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Isn’t that cool as hell? It’s a SunRocket Solar Kettle. You seen it before but probably didn’t know exactly what it was when it was closed up. I had it hanging off a backpack when I went to the beach last summer.” Dennis said pointing at the unique device.

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Come on and I will show you how it works. That is one useful gadget let me tell you if you have some strong sun to work with. Check this out; it’s a solar thermos and kettle in one! It is really pretty ingenious. The SunRocket is an amazing way to heat and boil water by simply using sunlight. Depending on the weather conditions, The SunRocket can heat water in as little as 60 minutes and this thing will work anywhere the sun shines! You see they use a shock resistant evacuated tube just like the ones on expensive roof mount solar hot water systems, boosted by reflective panels to absorb solar heat. I like it because its so portable. When opened it can heat water in as little as 30 minutes the company says and then when closed it can keep hot for hours.  The contents only come in contact with pure clean glass making it safe and healthy to use. It holds 17 ounces of water and weighs about 2 pounds.” Dennis said explaining some of the wonderful features the device had.

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That’s pretty neat. Who makes did you say makes that?” Charles said examining the solar kettle closer.

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It is made by a company called Sun Cooking who is Australia’s largest retailer of solar cooking products and accessories. They make all kinds of things using the latest in solar thermal technology. Remind me to show you a solar oven later. Let’s go get you a cup and get ready for some coffee, I need it this morning. “Dennis declared and started heading towards the backdoor.

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Before you do that, I wanted to tell you that Monica’s brother Floyd came in last night from Birmingham.” Charles said watching Dennis stop in his tracks and give him an inquiring look.

Floyd had recently got a job about 85 miles away from Dennis working in the big city doing IT work after a long spell of unemployment. The reason for Dennis’s questioning look Charles was sure was one of a bit of trepidation. Dennis and he had not planned on having a extra mouth to feed and Dennis’s preps were going to be stretched thin as it was.

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Ah, hell, we got to play adopt a puppy then?” Dennis questioned? He liked Floyd well enough on normal days and they had talked a bit of prepping in the past, but having him suddenly thrust in their midst with little to no preps of his own sort of freaked Dennis out a bit.

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He will most likely be moving in with me eventually, he is going to stay in that old trailer down at the trailer park for awhile first though.” Charles said thoughtfully.

Floyd and Monica had inherited an older three bedroom trailer and had not sold it yet. It was parked in a mobile home park about 10 miles away from Dennis and Floyd had stayed there until he took his new job. Dennis and Charles looked at each other for a moment with neither one of them wishing to talk first.

Charles finally broke the silence by assuring Dennis that it would be alright and they would all muddle through somehow.

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I guess your right Charles, we can certainly use his help on a lot of projects, but he is a pretty big boy with an appetite to match.” Dennis said stating the obvious.

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Look Dennis, I am not asking you to feed him much. It’s not fair at all to you to take on so many people. Monica and I will share rations with him and we will just have to make do and hunt more to make up the difference.” Charles suggested.

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That sounds agreeable now but we don’t have our bellies trying to touch our backbones yet. There is going to be some jealousy issues as well as other emotions going on amongst us all soon enough over food.” Dennis said trying to foresee some of the squabbles that might go on over sharing the least little thing.

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I got it under control, you just tell me how you want things done and we do them that way.” Charles declared in voice that said he was the patriarch of that side of our little tribe.

“
I know you do buddy, shit that means I got to arm him too with something. Well we will sort that out later. If I remember right he has been deer hunting before so that old 303 British Enfield of mine might be the ticket. Damn I sold off a SKS and a Shotgun last month curse my luck, oh well I got some kind of outfit for him. I just got to ponder it. I got that short Mossberg cruiser but it’s not a hunting weapon. It’s a good carry for him though if he is doing some field work putting in some gardens though. We got a lot of tilling to do and no friggin fertilizer for the crops by the way.” Dennis said thinking about their situation.