Cataclysm - Post 5

May 9 2012
Arrived at Larry's 2 days ago. Travel was without incident. Marcia stayed behind with her kids at our place. I feel much better now and not as stressed about the family being alone. I still took the nephews with me as the other guys families have kids. So I guess you can call this a guys mini-vacation.

Lots of work the past 2 days. We have all 3 cisterns designed, inventory list of supplies needed and a rough layout with scrap wiring. Yes...scrap wiring! It's easier for some folks to see it laid out and be able to read the design on paper. Especially since I won't be around when the systems are actually built.

We are planting crops. Yes...we as in me included. A huge learning curve as we are working 100+ acre fields and not my little 5 acres. We are planting corn and soybeans right now. Did you know that 30" corn row spacings give better yields than 38" row spacings? Me either...so see I am learning new information and hopefully next year I'll be planting my own crops for harvest. Also planting this time of year has a greater yield advantage of 99% than later dates for planting. Anything above 130 bushels per acre of corn is considered good. I'm not helping plant the soybeans so I'm not focusing on learning all those numbers. I'm running the disc and Larry is running the planter. We are making good progress as we have 500+ acres of corn to plant. We accomplished the first 100 acres after training the nOOb how to properly disc. lol

Ok...short entry! Off to plant more corn!

May 11 2012
All the corn is planted! Bad news from the Middle East. NPR states that Saudia Arabia is in military conflict. As I last reported, Iran had taken over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. This basically sealed off shipments of crude oil. It appears Iran is making a push for the capital of Riyadh. Reports are sketchy but it appears Iran is within 100 miles of the city. Israel is stretched thin and the US bases in Saudia Arabia are fighting and preparing for defense.

That news has sparked a rush to obtain all the gasoline and diesel. Prices are soaring over $10 a gallon and rising daily. Truck shipments have stopped and gas station owners/operators are now armed and defending from looting. One owner we talked too said when the gas is gone, he's leaving and letting them loot whats left. The military has been activated to guard any and all petroleum reserves nationwide. I cannot discuss yet but our gas situation is safe.

News from the bigger cities...food riots and store looting has erupted. All shipment for stores including groceries and basic needs have ceased until the military can devise a protection plan. As we expected, armed gangs are taking anything and everything. There are numerous reports of deaths and injuries. It will take weeks to get semi-accurate figures.

Heading home tomorrow and Larry is driving his truck. I am taking 4 horses saddled through the countryside. 2 of them I am keeping for now and the other 2 Larry will use to bring his family home if we run into trouble. The nephews are stoked as they get to ride horses!