Shadows Of Sanity And Survival (Old Preppers Die Hard Book 3) (9 page)

Farley played with the scruff on his face because he hadn’t shaved in  a month or two and he could probably be Santa with a beard if he wanted to by Christmas but decided not to make that joke..

“Look here, I need you alls advice on a couple things anyway. I know I went on and on about potlatches and such and how the value of property shouldn’t be considered, but these are modern times and we are modern people and folks look at things that way. I found for example not long ago a fine set of silver Stag knives. Becky, you know how much Jeremy loves that set that I’ve got and how useful they are in the field. The idea of having two knives, a big one for bigger tasks and a smaller one for those tasks that need more finesse we all realize these days. The boys are getting along just fine with their pocket knives and their sheath knives I gave them but I want to graduate that concept of two knives a bit. By the way I’ll be forever in debt to that Rural Ranger book that got me first to thinking about it. Before I got these I am wearing now, I once strapped a small sheath knife kangaroo style to my big blades sheath with paracord and rubber ranger bands. My problem is this: I’ve got this exquisite extra set of Silver Stag knives that came up for trade sometime ago at Barnett’s. Cost me a pretty penny in trade I might add, but they are infinitely well worth it in my opinion.

They were beautiful, hand built, made in USA, affordable, yet to some a highly considered and saved for purchase because knives of this craftsmanship and quality along with the fine tempered steel used don’t come cheap. These were knives to be treasured and passed down to other generations. This particular set of exquisite yet functional antler handled eye candy knives my heart said Jeremy should have them the first time I laid eyes on them.  I wanted him to be the proud possessor of these for this Christmas. But I feel funny giving them to him because I don’t have anything that fine to give Fong. I thought about this for some time and it’s a terrible thing to be a product of modern society and think this way, so that’s what brought me back to the idea of potlatch. It’s not the importance of the value of the item, its importance in meaning. I tell you what, it’s been driving me crazy for a few months since I found those two well matched and crafted blades and my first inclination was to proudly present them to Jeremy because of his love of my Pro Slab Silver Stag setup I wear.

These two beauties that I am giving him are just as fine, just as resourceful but quite a different blade style than some people would think to choose for themselves without the firm education in bushcraft that I’ve been trying to give them boys. It’s also an obligation and a responsibility that one would choose this particular styling over another. Now we all love big bladed knives and part of that is my sometimes regaling them with old stories about King Arthur and his knights and big swords and such from the medieval periods but we don’t live there now. I choose the styling of my knife for many reasons and tasks that I undertook as well as my military outlook on things. I can remember when I was in a quandary of which set I wanted to purchase and the owner as well as bladesmith of Silver Stag Knives was commenting on my choice of hip wear and I chose the particular pair I got from their fine line up of blades. See, I kind of got sucked up in the story of the Navy Seal that came to his shop that picked up the first prototype of that field and fighting knife thinking about it as a defensive weapon.

And yes, that blade style does lend itself to such a task and is the proper decision for that type of scenario.  Unfortunately, most everybody that looks at a knife imagines they are going to be sitting in all kinds of romanticized versions of fighting with those kinds of knives and forget about the mundane tasks of living such as we are doing now. Now, I’ve let Jeremy and Fong shadow fight the air with my favorite blade but getting either one of them little boogers to properly skin an animal without hitting it’s viscera or having to do that God awful anal cut without getting splashed has got them seeing the sense of shorter and more practical knives that has nothing to do with Merlin or Lancelot in their choice of blades. I love Bowie knives also but that’s another story and use. This new pair I bought has got a gut hook on it and in case ya’ll don’t know exactly what that is, it does a twofold purpose. But basically the way I will explain it to you is that you can make a small slit on an animal, insert a hook that’s built into the blade that’s dull on the surface that touches the innards or membrane layer so it doesn’t tear into the sacs and such and basically does the unzipping of say a deer out of it’s hide in one precise trouble free motion. It takes a lot of the expertise and carefulness out of the operation needed because of its specific design. It also serves another function, however, and that is removing the guts of an animal without having to dig your hands in which we all are kind of squeamish about. The bigger blade serves many functions and has the added value of having a machined watch case type of engraving finish that helps to hold oil on the blade when it’s stored.” Farley explained.

“I don’t think Fong would be overly jealous if you gave Jeremy those, he knows how much he admires yours. Now me on the other hand is different, those are gorgeous!!” Becky said with a smile before continuing.

“Do you have anything in particular for Fong or are you still looking?” Becky questioned.

“Yea I got real lucky I guess on that one. I got him what in my opinion is the best hand axe ever made and a book to insure that he loves it. My favorite book for prepper kids or for that matter adults if I ever gift them a good hand axe is a classic about a boy who receives an axe from his mother and ends up using it to survive all by himself in the wilderness. The Ax is an Estwing sportsman’s axe and the book is Hatchet by Gary Paulson. That’s an Estwing on the cover by the way.

“I would say that I managed to come about as close as I possibly could in finding something that could be appreciated as much those Silver Stag knives Jeremy is getting. Those two boys are a good team and having to depend on each other’s capabilities daily could mean the two different tools (Gut Hook and Axe) might be a good thing for them to have to ask the other to share.” Farley declared.

“Oh I read that book when I was growing up! It’s a classic and on most schools reading lists. It’s a wonderful story and one of my very all-time favorites! Very appropriate to these days and times, I think you did real good choosing gifts for them!” Becky said giving Farley a pat and an unexpected hug that made him beam a smile and get tongue tied for a moment.

“Now then, ah hem.” Farley spluttered before regaining his composure. “I see them boys heading this way. Time for this stuff to go back in my Santa sack, also known as an old government duffel bag that has a hole needing mending! We will talk more about my paperwork and this bag and a box or two back at my cabin later.” Farley declared and buckled the bag shut.

“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.”

Aristotle

4

SAWING AWAY AT SURVIVAL

“Come along boys, I reckon it’s time I go ahead and let you borrow a couple of my prize possessions. You all got some work to be getting done while I go out by myself on a little foraging and politicking trip for a few days. Now is the time that we all need to getting very serious about getting ready for a long hard winter and that means firewood first and foremost as the main attraction for this week. But that is not only thing I need you all to do. I need your help gathering and cutting firewood albeit doing with a twist. I need for you all to try and do most all of your gathering and cutting wood down along and around my old trap line around the perimeter of this place. The reason that we are going to have to do it this way is that I want you to utilize some of that wood that you will be cutting for constructing deadfalls. Now listen up, I don’t want you to set them deadfall traps up just yet, just see that you have everything you need there in position with your triggers all cut and smoothed made up for later on in the season on site and ready. The extra branches and debris from our clearing out some dead trees along the trail will create some good habitat for the wild game to hide in that I am hoping to draw back over here and with a little thoughtfulness on your parts you can channel the game trails by those readymade sets you will be building that will also be seasoning the firewood. The animals will get used to the smells and those sets position as part of the scenery so they might do better and catch more game if the forest and field critters are comfortable with the new available cover.” Farley declared.

“You going to try to stay closer to home this winter, Farley?” Jeremy asked hoping that this was going to be so.

“Hopefully so, that’s the pan but who knows? Either way the job needs to be done and you bright lads got tasked to do it until I get back to help you. I haven’t put too much pressure on the game close to home and it will take a spring birthing season to start replenishing the deer herd in these parts. You can’t believe how over hunted the woods everywhere are now, thankfully most folks don’t know how to hunt or trap the other critters living in the woods, so we will still be eating ok I hope.” Farley said somberly.

“How many deadfalls you got planned for us to get ready for setting Farley?” Fong said anxiously just itching to going back to more trapping and snaring and doing less Farm chores as he called them. Farley had advised them both previously to let the game go back to feeling safe around the confines of the resort in hopes more animals would seek refuge there. The less they had to go far from camp to hunt or trap the better this winter.

“Well that kind of is confidential right at the moment if you know what I mean. I don’t want you all talking much about that and getting all the folks around here overly worried on a number. We got ourselves a real hard winter coming; the signs are all around indicating that is so in my opinion. . Trees have been dropping more acorns than normal; ducks were hatching earlier and in bigger numbers etc.” Farley declared looking at the falling leaves and then went on to tell them a few more reading the signs tricks.

 
Cleveland
 
weather guru, Dick Goddard put together a laundry list of “signs” of nature in 1978 and it is still relevant today.

Here are the 
20 Signs of A Hard Winter
.

•
        
 
Thicker than normal corn husks

•
        
 
Woodpeckers sharing a tree

•
        
 
Early arrival of the Snowy owl

•
        
 
Early departure of geese and ducks

•
        
 
Early migration of the Monarch butterfly

•
        
 
Thick hair on the nape (back) of the cow’s neck

•
        
 
Heavy and numerous fogs during August

•
        
 
Raccoons with thick tails and bright bands

•
        
 
Mice eating ravenously into the home

•
        
 
Early arrival of crickets on the hearth

•
        
 
Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers

•
        
 
Pigs gathering sticks

•
        
 
Insects marching a bee line rather than meandering

•
        
 
Early seclusion of bees within the hive

•
        
 
Unusual abundance of acorns

•
        
 
Muskrats burrowing holes high on the river bank

•
        
 
“See how high the hornet’s nest, ‘twill tell how high the snow will rest”

•
        
 
Narrow orange band in the middle of the Woollybear caterpillar warns of heavy snow; fat and fuzzy caterpillars presage bitter cold

•
        
 
The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter

•
        
 
Frequent halos or rings around sun or moon forecast numerous snow falls.

“I have been thinking on the situation that we are in boys and we might need to be considering taking in boarders of a sort. Actually it’s more akin to garrisoning the fort or staffing the guard shack if you want to look at it that way. Whoever comes to stay with us will of course need food and we don’t have the extra stores to support them. It would be a last ditch effort thing mind you if we have to hole up with basically strangers and gather in the country side you might say to make a stand. It’s doubtful it will get down to all of that but I am not so sure I can dismiss the notion so easily or entirely. Either way, we need us some help around here and bringing in a few folks or families to help get us a better agricultural existence and defense going makes sense to me. Also being able to quickly set up a trap line close to home is becoming a necessity. See young bucks, normally you would set a trap line in hope of getting furs etc. in winter for trade or sale in spring in normal times, well that market is pretty much dead and unnecessary anymore. We eat what we catch so we need less worry about money or clothing and besides there is no market. I have been able to provide with your help pretty much what we need so far around here but we got to look at a bigger picture. In Africa, you have professional hunters people depend on that bring in “Bush meat” for trade to villages and such, here we have been lucky enough to trade for foraged canned goods occasionally and to get other things we need or want but this will be the first hard winter and folks will be dying like flies that made it so far. The need for community hunters and trappers will be at a all time high if we are going to try to help reconstruct this little bit of civilization we got around us.” Farley said not much liking the idea of trying to interact with folks who by now had pretty much become reclusive and didn’t take kindly to any strangers but like the song Bob Dylan wrote “ The Times They Are A-Changin” once again. He had that old song on the Mp player he traded Dump for the Aero rifle and reminisced moment thinking on the words.

Nowadays outlying cabins and houses of survivors needed to band together to fight a common threat just like when we had our Indian wars settling this country and Farley figured that their little military vacation resort was the closest thing to something that could be turned into a fort he could think of. His self reliant and hermit-ish ways railed against the notion but he didn’t see very many alternatives. He couldn’t help but think about though, that the refuge they had all been enjoying to themselves for these many months would end up being its own kind of hell with sick, cold and likely diseased people milling around and arguing over the few scraps of food available while waiting on some unknown terror to possibly attack them for whatever possible reasons.
“Got to be something better to do than that, but what?” he considered.

“We already got a dozen or so of those portable snare triggers you taught us how to build we can add to your trap line.” Jeremy stated.

“That’s good, lots of uses for those and good to have in reserve. Make some more for me if you would when you get time and I will trade you some of your favors back. I am thinking maybe we will take a bunch along with us to set up if we go to rendezvous or if Dump Truck and I can set up some outlying scout camps. He and I have been talking about maybe forming us a minute man force or some kind of quick response teams sort of like mini militias. I will explain more about that to you men later, meantime think deadfalls, figure 4, Paiute, split stick whatever because you will have the heavy logs around to create those things from our timber cutting.” Farley declared and then went to his gear and pulled out his two amazing saws to do the task with.

Silky Saws Big Boy