The Frugal Series

by Josiah922



A day in the life of Mr. Frugal – Short Story

Rodney awoke to the sound of the wind up clock. Its alarm was buzzing while sitting on the steel filing cabinet beside the bed and displayed the current time of 5:30AM. The sun was not even up yet and a small 3 watt LED light burned from the light fixture in the hallway. He rolled out of bed clicking the button on the clock to silence the alarm. He picked up the clock and began to wind it up.

Rodney preferred the little wind up clock. It took only a few seconds to wind it up, it lasted the whole day and it required no electricity. He sat the clock back on the filing cabinet he used for a night stand that sat beside the bed. Rodney then picked up the windup flashlight and wound it for about 45 seconds. After that Rodney turned the one LED light on and looked around his bedroom.

He slipped on his work out shorts and headed for the “living room”. The Sheepherder wood/cook stove was cold now. The fire had died out during the night. Rodney cleaned the ashes from the stove and put them into the 5 gallon bucket. The ashes would be added to the compost bin.

Rodney reached into the utility cabinet and took out a pinch of dryer lint for tinder and a piece of fat lighter for kindling. He then started a fire with discarded lighter he had found. It was out of gas but it would continue to spark as long as the flint held out. The collection of pecan limbs that he had picked up yesterday from the back yard fueled the fire. The stove would allow him to cook his food and would provide heat for the small home.

It was getting a little colder but the physical training this morning would warm him up as the fire sprung to life again. He climbed on the stationary bike, flipped the switch to allow the capacitor to charge and began to pump. Within a few seconds the alternator connected to the bicycle had began to spin and charge the capacitor. The bicycle had no other resistance on it than the very small amount that the normal course of fiction gave. His legs easily pumped the needed speed through the bike. After a few more seconds the capacitor was charged and he turned on the small laptop computer.

Another minute rolled around while the computer booted up. Then Rodney launched his connection to his cell phone and started browsing on the web on his computer using the cellular wireless connection. It was his one luxury that he afforded. The laptop was running smoothly as Rodney checked his emails and looked at several free news web sites. After about 20 minutes he needed a break. He shutdown the laptop and slowed the pedals to a stop.

He walked to his kitchen to the refrigerator and filled a small glass of water squeezing a bit of lemon juice into the glass for a little flavor. He drunk the half of a glass down and walked back to the other end of the small home. He added a few more bits of wood to the fire in the stove and as the fire started to grow he quickly walked to the bedroom. Rodney put on his clothes from the day before so he could do his morning chores without messing up new clothes. He came back to the kitchen and stoked the fire. Rodney slipped on his boots and went outside carrying the bucket of ashes from the stove to get his morning chores out of the way.

It was November 19th and there was a fall chill in the air as the sun came up over the trees to the East. He breathed in the rural clean air and look around his farm. It was a small farm in comparison to others, but his 32 acres were already paid off and every spare dime he had went to better it in every way he could.

He first went to the utility shed located next to the barn. There was the custom Listeroid generator that powered the farm. Rodney set the handle, rotated it around till he got up some speed, flipped the switch and the engine sputtered to life. Within a few moments 13.5 killowatts of power was available to the farm while the engine lightly sipped at the fuel supply. Rodeny saw the couple of outside lights come on. He knew that the refrigerator and freezer would begin cooling back down over the next hour while he ran the genset. He looked forward to having a solar array at the farm so he would not have to waste the fuel. In this way the farm woke up each day.

Rodney visited his barn and started milking the three Guernsey cows. It had gotten a little cold and wet last night and Rodney had brought the three cows into the barn. After the milking the cows, they were released into the field. This weekend, the third and final cow would be joined with a bull from the farm down the road. The studding service cost some labor, but it would be worth it. He was hoping to barter one of the calves for a solar panel he had been eying in an alternative energy catalogue. The next would be bartered for two unrelated calves. The last would make its permanent home would be Rodney’s freezer. It would be good to have steak on the menu again.

He took the milk inside the screened in back porch. It was cool enough to be fine there till he delivered it later to the dairy far down the road. After he checked the fire, Rodney added another small bit of wood to the fire then back outside. He wanted to check the level of the rain barrels after last nights rain.

The two sets of four fifty gallon rain barrels were connected to the gutters of the house and the barn. As the first filled up it started passing the water to the next barrel and so on till the water spilled out the overflow drain on the last barrel. Over night all 8 of the rain barrels were now filled. It had not rained in two weeks and these rain barrels had provided the water to water the garden with without wasting the water from the well. Rodney had bartered for the last of the barrels with the local farmer’s co-op with two fat lighter stumps from the wooded area on his land. Maybe when things got more profitable he would try to build or buy an underground cistern to house several thousands of gallons worth.

Rodney picked up the 10 cubic foot contractor’s wheelbarrow (that was given to Rodney as payment for three days work from a contractor in town) and a flat nosed poly handled shovel from the barn. He scooped up the cow droppings from the barn floor. Rodney then headed to the compost bin and dumped the wheelbarrow’s contents into the pile.

After cleaning his hands and tools with water from the water hose near the barn. He filled up a water bucket to water the rabbits and chickens. He also brought a scoop full of ground up corn that he had prepared over the summer. It was coarsely ground up with a grain meal and then stored in 5 gallon buckets. The corn was placed into the chicken coop and the 6 chickens returned the favor with three eggs for the morning.

Rodney then walked through the garden and picked a carrot, radish and onion he thought he might add to breakfast that morning. The rabbit pin was located near the barn to block most of the colder air and directly over a worm bin where Rodney had been raising the worms to sell. He brought the worms once a week to the convenience store down the road where they sold them for Rodney. He snapped off the green parts of the gifts from the garden and dropped the green tops, along with a small scoop of rabbit feed, into the rabbit pin.

Rodney walked back inside cold from the brisk morning. He went to the kitchen that had warmed up finally. He then put some water into a small stainless steel boiler and then some homemade grits were placed into the water. A pinch of salt and pepper were added as well. Rodney washed the garden vegetables off and chomped on the young radish, carrot and onion while he waited for the water to boil.

He sat in his used Lazy-boy recliner looking over the list of stuff to do while in town. The list was written on a handmade notepad made from the back of sheets of junk mail stapled together. The recliner was found on trash day in sitting on the side of the road in the neighborhood 4 miles from his land. Rodney used his 1981 Chevy LUV diesel pickup to retrieve it and after a bit of cleanup and a handmade replacement handle was made it was good as could be.

Rodney finished off the breakfast and then cleaned all of the dishes immediately. After grabbing some clean clothes and a towel, he then headed to the shower. First he used the toilet and then reached into the shower to retrieve the five gallon bucket full of used bath water. He poured the majority of the bucket into the toilet which caused it to flush without using any of the water in the tank.

The bucket was placed back into the shower and then the water was turned on with the handle turned to hot. As he waited the minute that it took to bring the hot water through the pipes, the water was flowing out of the bottom spout and was being caught by the bucket. While he took his shower, Rodney placed one foot into the bucket. Water would run across his skin and (then due to the surface tension of the water) would stick to his skin as it ran down and wind up caught in the bucket. In the 5 minutes he took for his shower, the bucket had almost refilled.

He dressed quickly. He had several errands to run and “jobs” to do today. Rodney packed a small lunch and placed it into his backpack. He loaded the truck with the items that he would need for the day and then turned off the generator. Within another minute he was locking the front gate after him and heading to his first stop at the convenience store down the road.

It was called simply Sam’s Store or “Sam’s” by most folk. Sam Covington was the owner and he and his family ran the store throughout the year. Rodney parked the Chevy Luv next to the store and took a medium sized box into the store.

“Rodney!!” yelled Sam from the back of the store.

“Hey Sam,” Rodney said as he waved back. While Sam was thirty years Rodney senior, he hated being called Mister Covington. He was simply Sam and anything else always furrowed his brow. “I stopped by for some fuel. If that is ok?”

“Any time son. Let’s look at the books and see how much I owe you.” Sam walked to the front of the store to the counter and reached for a simple ledger. “Let’s see. We have sold a few of the little wooden figurines and the little wooden rubber band guns. Sorry the worms aren’t selling good right now. When are you gonna get me another one of those rocking chairs? I could sell 5 of those right now for $50 each easy.”

Rodney smiled, “That is ok. Definitely not good weather for fishing. I should be finished with one this weekend. I am about out of stain though.”

“I can order some for you.” Sam looked at the ledger closer and said, “$14 sold this week. Minus the 25% to me for the sale that brings your grand total to $59.38 credit on the books.”

“Great. I will need $12 in gas and another $20 in diesel for my cans.”

“No problem sir. Just pull around to the pumps. I will right it off of your ledger,” Sam wrote an entry in the book and Rodney initialed beside the entry. Then Sam noticed the box. “Whatcha got in there?”

Rodney smiled, “Well, I was gonna ask if you thought someone might like it.” He pulled out of the box a medium sized door wreath designed for Christmas and trimmed in red and gold ribbons.

“Well, not my cup of tea, but I bet the misses would like it. You want to try to sell it on consignment like the rest?”

“Yes, sir. Twenty dollars?”

“Aww Rodney. I think twenty five at least. Let’s start there and we can always come down from there, if it doesn’t sell.” Sam wrote another entry in the ledger for receipt of the wreath and Rodney initialed beside it too. After filling up the cans, Rodney was again on his way down the other 10 miles toward town.


Chapter 2

The next stop was Summer Fields Dairy, the dairy farm down the road. It was a full fledged operation. They processed their own milk and made cheese and milk products. They were usually self sufficient, but Rodney worked for them during certain times of the year. The owner Mrs. Levey liked Rodney. He was always ready to help and was a hard worker. So they setup Rodney with a portable milker and allowed Rodney to trade his milk there for some of the end products (like milk, butter and cheese) or for medicines for his cows.

Rodney had brought just under 14 gallons to trade today. The foreman made the notation in his accounting program which tracked how much Rodney had brought and numbered the batch. Rodney would call in the balance in the ledger at a later time. He needed to get a small setup at the farm so he could process his own dairy products, but he had to prioritize the equipment purchases where he could. He said his goodbyes and hoped back into his small truck.

It was about 9AM now and Rodney pulled into the home of Ms. Lisa Hughes. It wasn’t much to look at, but the small single wide mobile home was home for her and her young daughter. Lisa worked hard, but had a little help in the area.

The breaker had popped again and the company she bought the mobile home from was covering the cost of the repair and sending a electrician out. The bad part was the electrician said he would be by between 9AM and 11AM to change out the breaker to see if that was it. Lisa HAD to be at work. She had only one vacation day left and she was saving it for Christmas. She was quickly introduced to Rodney through a friend and he was hired to house set while the electrician was there.

Before Rodney stepped out of the truck he turned on the RCA Small Wonder Camera. He looked at the camera and started talking. “It is November 19th 2008 at 9:02AM. I have just arrived at the Hughes residence and will make my way inside.” He left the vehicle and retrieved the hidden key in the flower bed under the medium sized stone. He opened the house door and went inside.

He sat the camera on the counter next to the door pointing back to the room and then stood in front of the camera for a moment. “Here is the time.” He showed his cellular phone to the camera and the time on the phone as 9:04AM. “I see here on the counter that you have my payment for the house sitting.” Rodney looked on the counter and saw a pack of four AAA Energizer rechargeable batteries with a note.

He sat on the sofa and removed his jacket. The note read, “Rodney, Thanks for house sitting for me. I can’t believe you won’t let me pay you something. The breaker panel is in the back bedroom. Thanks again. Lisa”

He pulled out a pen and then wrote the following on the bottom, “Lisa, You did pay me. The batteries are really needed. Thank you. Rodney”

He returned the note to the counter and picked up the batteries. He sat back down on the couch. Rodney made sure to sit in full view of the camera and removed a book from his jacket to read. He sat on the couch and read. It was paperback book of Rodney’s favorite author that he had picked up at the thrift store. He had swapped three older dress shirts for it.

After about 45 minutes there was a knock at the door. He went to the door and looked out the peep hole. “Who is it?” he asked.

A middle aged man holding a tool satchel stood at the door. “Yes sir. Electrician for Top Hill Manufactured Home. You have a problem with one of your circuits?”

Rodney opened up the door and showed the man where the breaker panel was. After about 15 minutes the man called out that he had found a loose connection. The electrician added that he would repair the connection and replace the breaker. Rodney walked to the back with the camera and asked the man to show him so he could show the home owner. The electrician showed him where the wire was a little loose and Rodney continued to film for a few moments while the electrician restriped the wire and secured it back into place.

Rodney interjected, “I am sure that Ms. Hughes would want you to check everything. Could you look at all of the connections while you are here? That way you don’t have to make a return trip.”

The electrician smiled and said, “Sure. I was just about to do that.”

After another 20 minutes the man was finished with the panel and was out the door. Rodney filmed himself leaving the key on the counter with the note and locking the door behind him. He got to the truck and showed the time on his cell phone once again and the stopped the camera. He would burn the video to a DVD so Lisa would have record of what happened and what was said.

His next stop was Jimmy’s Bar-B-Que, a larger bar-b-que restaurant that was always busy at lunch. The manager allowed Jimmy to work on the busy days at lunch, but he did not work for the manager. The servers were up in arms about getting a bus boy so they could spend more time with the customers thus making more tips, but the manager didn’t want to hire one.

After a discussion, Rodney was hired by the servers themselves for two hours on the three busiest days of the week to work lunch as a bus boy. Each server gave Rodney 10% of their tips which they immediately saw spike tremendously because the servers were now freed up to actually serve the customers. Rodney was doing all of the dirty work.

The servers all waved to Rodney as the shift ended and Rodney pocketed twenty two dollars for the two hours of work. He was now sitting in his truck eating his left over fried chicken and butter beans from the night before. The thermos full of sweet tea was still slightly cool and it was refreshing from the last two hours of bouncing around the restaurant.

Rodney continued to eat and watched the cars leave the restaurant. One by one they pulled into the street. He shook his head while he remembered the plates as he picked them up. Most of the people in the store had ordered the larger portion of food and each had at least some wasted food that wound up in the trash. They could have bought half orders of their dishes and not wasted so much food. What if hard times were to come? Rodney suddenly had flashbacks of his mother saying, “Clean your plate! There are starving kids in China…” Rodney grinned at the thought.

He finished his food and packed up the lunch bag nothing was wasted. The two paper towels he got from the restaurant were saved to be used in the stove when he got home. He grabbed his backpack, a 5 gallon bucket, his 32” reacher (a device that could pick items up without bending over) and secured the truck. His next stop was only three quarters of a mile away. “Why waste the gas?” he thought.

The walk was relaxing. He looked around on the ground while walking. Rodney occasionally paused to pick up an aluminum can or two. He crushed the can with his foot, picked it up with the reacher and dropped it into the bucket. The current payment for recycled aluminum was sixty cents a pound. At thirty two cans a pound each can was like picking up 2 pennies. Rodney shook his head as he imagined people throwing pennies out their window as they drove down the road.

After about 25 minutes Rodney made it to the destination. The Second Hand Thrift Store was Rodney’s home away from home. At ten thousand square feet of space the thrift store had everything from tools to socks and from clothes to furniture. As soon as Rodney walked in he knew he would be spending some of the money in his pocket because as soon as he saw David smiling at him he knew he had something to show.

David operated the thrift store and looked after his “regulars.” He nodded Rodney to the back of the store and came out from behind the counter. “Rodney McKaleb as I live and breath. Got a couple of things you might like.”

“Really David? What might those be?” Rodney asked as he followed him to the back of the building.

David pointed at several boxes as he said, “Well, the family of someone who died brought these in. They must have been a farmer. It appears to be some farming stuff.”

Rodney looked through the first box and secured his first find of a cast iron grain mill. The next box contained clothing, a pile of scrap leather, a leather punch and sewing awl. Rodney claimed the leather, punch and awl. However, the major find was a High Wheel Garden Cultivator with a bit of rust on it and a broken wooden handle. It would be easy enough to fix and was still be worth a good bit. Rodney turned to David, “How much for these?”

One of David’s eye brows raised a slight bit and then he answered, “I can’t take less than forty.”

“Done,” answered Rodney and pulled out twenty from the money he just earned at the restaurant and another twenty was pulled out of his backpack. He handed David the money when they had moved the items to the front of the store. David and Rodney said their goodbyes and Rodney left pushing the cultivator and carrying the rest in his backpack. It was sort of weird with the handle broken on the machine, but it was manageable. Once again he walked back to the truck, but this time he was on the other side of the road and he continued to pick up the cans that he found.


Chapter 3

The ride home was uneventful except for the extra stop he made near a neighborhood down the road. It looked like someone had pulled up a bunch of azalea bushes from their front yard and was replacing them with other bushes. The old overgrown plants were out at the road waiting for the sanitation people to pick them up. No one was around to ask. So, Rodney simply stopped, threw the bushes in the back of the truck and drove away. Technically it was not stealing since they were throwing them away anyways. So he felt no remorse about it. Still he would have rather asked for someone’s permission than just taking them. Later, Rodney would chop up the bushes and add them to the compost pile.

As Rodney pulled up to his gated driveway, he noticed a car sitting near the driveway. Rodney placed his camera from earlier in his outer coat pocket and pressed record. He knew that in his state that he did not need the consent to record as long as he was participating in the conversation being recorded.

He got out of his truck and started to unlock the gate while he kept an eye on the car. Sure enough a deputy stepped out of the driver’s side and another plain clothes man dressed in a dress shirt and tie and carrying a clip board stepped out of the other side. Rodney immediately locked the gate back. The men walked toward him as he turned to face them. “Hello there,” he said.

“Hello. Rodney is it?” asked the man in the plain clothes.

“Yes. My name is Rodney. How can I help you?”

The plain clothes man smiled and continued, “Well, Rodney my name is George Looper. I am with the Human Welfare Department here with the county. Do you mind if we come in?”

“Well, actually I do. What is this about?”

“I am sorry. What is your last name Rodney?”

“McKaleb. Once again, what is this about?” asked Rodney with a little sterner voice.

“Rodney. We have had a concern called in that was asking us to check on you to make sure that you had food and clothing and such. The deputy is just here to help. Truth is we can see that you do not have a power or phone line run to your house and the caller said that you did not have a job. So we were wondering if you and anyone you are living with are doing ok. We would like to take a look around your farm. If you let us, I brought a big bag of groceries with us that you can keep. How does that sound?”

Rodney’s head tilted to one side and answered, “Mr. Looper is it?” He nodded. “Mr. Looper, I can see that you are concerned and let me assure you that I am fine. I don’t live with anyone. No wife or children. Hopefully that will change one day, but I guess I just haven’t found the right lady yet.” Rodney faked a giggle.

“I purchased this farm a few years ago and have been using it as a sort of test. You see I am doing an independent research of organic gardening of the 1800’s. I use very little machinery but do have a generator for emergencies. I have a cell phone if needed.” Rodney pulled his cell phone out of his jacket then continued, ”and of course my truck here.”

Rodney walked to his truck and pointed to the bushes and bucket of cans as he continued, “I am a practicing conservation, recycling and renewable farming techniques. At this time I have finished my college studies and am independently wealthy so I do not need a job but choose to take a few odd and end jobs in order to try to be more self sufficient. The money and items that is produced from those little jobs contributes straight into the research.”

“I see.” Mr. Looper thought for a moment. “Well, if you will just let us look around we can get this all cleared up.”

“I am sorry Mr. Looper. I really do not wish to do that.”

With one hand propped on the hilt of his gun and the other on his waste, the deputy finally spoke up, “You really do not have a choice. Let us look around and we will be on our way. If not, we can go get a court order.”

Rodney turned to the officer and his eye brow lifted, “Of course I have a choice, or you would not need a court order. I have explained to you that I do not need any help and that this is an independent research facility studying farming techniques of the 1800’s. I am clearly not malnourished or in poor health. I have nothing else to say. I am now going to unlock the gate and drive through. You do NOT have my permission to enter. Good day gentlemen.”

Rodney unlocked the gate, drove the truck through, got out and locked the gate back. The whole time Mr. Looper and the officer tried to talk him into letting them onto the property. Rodney just ignored them, finally smiling and waved goodbye.

When he arrived at the barn he unloaded the bushes into the already medium sized pile of limbs next to the gas powered chipper. He sat the gas can from the truck down next to the chipper. He mentally added a diesel powered chipper to the list of things to one day purchase. Tomorrow he would chip up the rest of the limbs and add their resources to the compost pile.

He took the diesel can and topped off the fuel in the generator and the 5 gallon can setting beside the generator. The way Rodney used it this small amount would probably last him all week. Once again, Rodney set the handle, rotated it around till he got up some speed, flipped the switch and the engine sputtered to life. The rest of the diesel was poured into the tank of the truck.

He would run the generator for a few hours tonight. He wanted to research on the web concerning the actions Mr. Looper could take and (being reminded of the new batteries) wanted to charge up some batteries tonight. Rodney’s first course of action would be to just not leave the farm for the next week. Except for a few jobs that could be rescheduled or could be skipped, there was nothing he needed that was not already on the farm.

Rodney thought for a bit as he walked inside and cleaned out the stove again scooping the ashes into the 5 gallon bucket. He used another pinch of lint and the out of fuel lighter to spark a flame, and then the paper towels from the store were used to increase the fire. He didn’t like to stretch the truth like that, but it was none of their business as long as he wasn’t hurting anyone. He added a piece of fat lighter to the flames and the wood caught almost instantly.

Rodney walked to the kitchen and took out the last of the fried chicken and beans from the night before. He would warm these back up on the stove and tomorrow he would see about cooking up half of the large ham he had in the freezer. That would keep Rodney in meat for days. “Maybe that would convince Mr. Looper he had enough food if he did manage to come back with that court order,” Rodney said aloud. He added a little more wood chips to the fire to finally get the oven going and then walked to the truck outside.

He picked up the awl, punch, mill, leather and new set of batteries from the truck, but did not return to the house. Instead he walked to the barn. The generator puttered along as he walked past the utility shed and into the barn. Rodney walked to the corner of the barn and opened a cleverly disguised door in the floor revealing a stairwell to the basement.

He walked down the concrete steps and opened the large steel door. He turned the corner and continued down a hall way to another steel door. Rodney then flipped a switch and the darkness snapped to light. He flipped the batteries in his hand as he walked through shelves and shelves of all types of food in five gallon buckets, canned goods and other equipment.

He reached the shelf storing an assortment of battery types and added the newly acquired batteries to the back of the line of packs of tripe A’s. He then took the oldest pack being the one at the front of the line and placed these batteries in his pocket. This left ten packs of triple A batteries still on the shelf.

He then went to another shelf and dropped off the grain mill next to the other two mills, the manual corn sheller, manual meat grinder and the manual sausage maker. Rodney then eyed the leather and leather tools. He could try to sell some leather items at the store over the winter. Of course, he would have to learn how to make those things, but that was what it was about. Rodney would carry these back to the house to practice with over the next week.

The door at the end of the basement stood before Rodney. It was a door that was different than the others. It was only thirty-nine inches by seventy-two inches. Rodney had not been through it in a week and decided to open it. Beyond the door was a crawlway slightly larger than the door’s width. He crawled through the opening and the tunnel continued on slightly downward then turned another corner into the room beyond.

The room was constructed by Utah Shelter Systems and was a place of sanctuary even more secure than anything else on the farm. The room was a full 12 feet below the surface of the ground. Rodney walked in and sat on the bunk bed and remembered that before the fields were cleared of the trees that this was the first addition to the farm. It had cost as much as a house in one of these neighborhoods Rodney had went through today, but it was the most important building on the farm. It was here that everything centered around and it was here that was the true purpose of the farm.

They took from each other by force and by secret. Their leaders created a business out of leading the people they swore to serve. The people ignored what they took and when someone said “We ought to do something,” they are thought of as extremist. The extremist, who incorrectly care more for the life of a plant or animal than the life of a human that was created in the image of God himself.

When the takers up there had finally taken too much, it was here that he would come and stay. He would stay here until a time when the takers could be taught to return to the way of life that worked well for their fathers that had lived before. Where people took care of themselves, their family and their land; and everyone used every resource for the good of humanity without destroying that resource or themselves in the process.


Frugal Too


The clanking sound of the bed side clock woke Rodney up. His eyes cracked open even though it was still dark in the room and he blinked. Once again Rodney reached over to the bedside steel filing cabinet that he used as an end table (and a clock stand) and turned the alarm off. The current time was 5:30AM.

He wound the little alarm in the dark till the spring was tight. It would not need winding again till tomorrow. Why use a plug in clock when the use of this clock is free and performs the same function? Rodeny said, “Waste not, want not. My Momma always said,” mentioned Rodney to no one listening.

Rodney picked up the windup LED flashlight and wound it for a full minute before turning it on and using it for his light this morning. He looked at the light switch and thought of the light it could provide. With the CFL Fluorescent Bulb that only used 14 watts of power (but gave off the equivalent light as a 60watt bulb) it would be easy enough to flip on the light. However, the light from the windup bulb was free and the generator was not running yet. Rodney only ran the genset for a couple hours in the morning and evenings.

In times past at his old house Rodney had grown tired of the power company. They had misread his meter several times. Sometimes Rodney would watch the power company truck just drive buy on the days that they were supposed to read the meter. There was even the time when they branched off Rodney’s utility pole to pull a new line to his neighbor’s house. They stretched the additional power line right across Rodney’s land without even asking. The power rates also increased to the point it was crazy to continue to pay it. Rodney had reached a decision that on the farm he would not be slave to the power company.

He limped down the hall toward the living room/kitchen in the small house. If you were to ask Rodney why he was limping, he would use phrases like “pure stupidity” and “being a knucklehead.” In short, he didn’t see the hole in the late dust hour two days ago when he was doing his chores. Usually if it is late Rodney always wore his Energizer 3LED headlamp. It gave ample light and was powered by 3 rechargeable batteries that Rodney could charge up while the generator was running. However, he had left it inside for some reason and paid the price.

His left ankle twisted sharply as it found the hole. Since he was near the barn when it happened, he hopped and hobbled down stairs to the storage room underneath the barn. Through the secret door and into the main room he made his way. The storage room was basically a lower basement for the barn and was just as big as the barn’s footprint. He hobbled to the side and found a set of crutches he picked up at a thrift store for a dollar. They were in the medical equipment storage area of the basement. Faster than he arrived thanks to the crutches, he returned top side to the house.

It was a simple sprained ankle but it hurt good when he put weight on it the first day. Rodney had been staying off of it and put an ice pack on it the night before. He started to go into town to his doctor, but it was not necessary. The joint just needed time to heal. Rodney’s foot was swollen, but there was no bruising and no deformity to the foot. The swelling had gone down after a couple of hours more with the ice pack and he was able to get around better after the first day. He could now walk lightly on the foot and was doing his chorus with out the aid of the crutches. Needless to say the hole is now filled and the danger removed.

Rodney cleaned out the wood stove and put the ashes in the bucket to be taken to the compost bin. He grabbed a bit of drier lint and his new gadget he just traded for. It was a Coleman Lantern Spark Igniter that simply used a flint (out of an old lighter) to produce a spark. The spark was all the dryer lint needed to start a flame. Rodney then added a fat lighter stick wrapped up in an old fast food bag he found on the side of the road. The fire grew easily and started consuming the finely split wood that Rodney added next.

Next Rodney got dressed, fired up the generator and did his chores. The cows were milked. The rabbits, chickens and cows were fed. Rodney returned to his warmed up house. He grabbed the container out of the freezer and started warming up the cooked ham in the skillet. Grits, eggs and ham was served for breakfast that morning and was ended with the pallet unpleasing taste of a multivitamin tablet. He always took vitamins when he was sick. They sure couldn’t hurt his body when it was trying to repair his ankle.

Rodney loaded the Chevy LUV Diesel truck with four rockers for Sam and for a day of travel. Today Rodney was going to deliver the rockers and see his “banker” in the big city. Dumas was about a little over an hour away at about 65 miles away. However, this was business and a very important trip. It couldn’t be helped.

He carried a backpack to the truck and threw it in. Rodney mentally went over his check list and made sure he had everything he needed. He drove the truck out the main gate, locked it behind him and then pulled onto the country road. The first stop was Sam’s Store.

Sam’s store was busy as a bee hive this morning. Sam started selling breakfast at his store and the farmers and workers in the area mobbed the store every morning for some of the best biscuits this side of the Mississippi. They served the biscuits with sausage, ham, bacon and eggs. They were a big hit with the locals and the added traffic meant the Rodney’s items that he sold were selling well.

Rodney pulled up to the pump and waved to the clerk at the front counter in the store. She immediately waved back and turned on the fuel pump. Rodney began to fill up the truck with diesel. He had three quarters of a tank and his 20 gallon transfer tank in the bed of the truck was full. However, he wanted to be topped off.

He finished pumping four gallons of gas and pulled the truck over to the side of the store. Sam had already come outside and was smiling as Rodney got out. “Hey Sam. Looks like the breakfast sales are still going good.”

Sam faked a smile, “To tell you the truth, it is getting out of hand. My wife just started this for a little extra money. Little did we know that everyone would love the idea so much. We need to hire someone else to do the cooking or my wife is gonna divorce me. The bad thing is we can’t find anyone and if she throws one more pan at me, ain’t no one gonna work for us.”

Rodney laughed. He had seen Sam’s wife shake her finger and fuss at Sam like a two cats in a sack, but he couldn’t image she would ever leave him.

“Great, I see you brought the rockers,” Sam said. “I have already sold two of them.”

“You have?” asked Rodney.

“Of course. You said you would be by today with them and I knew you always keep your word. So I went ahead and took the money for the chairs.” Sam turned to his son Max, “Get those inside and go ahead and call the folks who already paid for the chairs. Tell them they are available for pick up.”

Max answered, “Yes sir.”

The two men walked inside and Sam deducted from Rodney’s account the cost of the fuel. Sam showed Rodney that his account had increased over one hundred dollars this week alone. Sam assured Rodney that the other chairs would sell easily and he would have close to $300 in the account. Rodney instructed him to send $100 to Verizon Wireless to double pay his bill so he wouldn’t have to worry about it for a while and to order an item for him. The item was a specific charge controller and would be the first part of Rodney’s PV solar panel system. Sam agreed and Rodney was back on the road in a few minutes.

It was 9:02 on the clock when the Chevy LUV headed north down county road 89. Rodney turned on the radio to entertain himself, but the news was getting worse and worse. He took out a Lock/Lock container of homegrown carrot slices and chomped on them while he drove. The Dow Jones had dropped another 500 points yesterday and today it was opening up 50 points down. Some weird weather the past year had already forced up grocery prices up over 30%. It was a good thing that Rodney produced most of his own food and had everything paid for or he would be negatively affected by the news.

The trip was uneventful and Rodney arrived at the Dumas Commons Mall at 10:09. He parked his truck in an area frequented by the security guards and locked the doors. Rodney walked in carrying his plain black computer backpack. When out in public Rodney tried to appear as gray as possible. Being “gray” meant looking like everyone else. Walking around in camoflauge or OD green military clothing sort of stands out and Rodney wanted everyone to ignore him.

Rodney walked, still slightly limping, past the stores of clothes and shoes. He walked past the stores of electronics and music CD’s. He walked past the store of decorative pictures and frames and walked right into the store so named “Executive Jewelry and Coin.” He walked through the front set of doors into what appeared to be a glass walled foyer.

The foyer was not made of glass but a bullet resistant barrier. The second set of doors was opened by a pressure pad on the floor, but would not open till the first set closed. A panic switch, which was worn buy the three employees inside could disable the inner pads and lock the two doors. You might steal something from this place, but you weren’t going to get very far.

A young woman behind the counter smiled at Rodney as he entered, “Welcome. Can I help you with anything today?”

Rodney had not met this woman before thus explaining why she did not recognize him. Her nametag read “Charlotte.” Rodney returned the smile, “Would you please inform Mr. McGaha there is someone here to speak with him please? He is expecting me.”

“And you are?”

Rodney’s smile dropped, “Since he is expecting me, does the process of you informing Mr. McGaha that I am here, require that information?”

Charlotte’s eyes grew a bit cold as she looked at Rodney for a few long still moments. Finally came the answer, “Not at all, sir.” She walked behind the counter and into the back room.

A few more moments passed then a very charismatic man in his early thirties walked out and waved Rodney to the back office. Charlotte was standing beside the man and bowed her eyes as Rodney walked past her and the man to the back office. Both men sat down in the smaller office as Rodney started the conversation, “Good to see you again Mike.”

“You too cousin. What is wrong with your leg?”

“Had a bout of stupidity and twisted my ankle. Trying to stay off of it for a day or two more. How is your mother?”

“She is doing great. She says to tell her favorite nephew thank you for the time you spent with her after her stroke. If you hadn’t been able to sit with her for those 3 weeks, I do not know what we would have done.”

“That is what family is for,” said Rodney then paused. “Well, down to business.”

“Sure. We had a pretty good month and I have been selling those gold ounces off for you.” Mike pulled up a screen on his computer. “Minus my cut and the ordered parts you still have twelve hundred nineteen dollars. In addition, there are five remaining unsold gold eagles. If you want to drop the price on them a little, I probably could sell them a little quicker.”

Rodney smiled and rolled his eyes, “You and I both know the spot price keeps going up. They will sell soon. I am probably gonna ask for you to sell a few more.”

Mike smiled, nodded and handed a print out of the ledger to date over to his cousin. “The parts that you wanted have already come in.” Mike picked up the first invoice and read, “First is the 135watt Kyrocera 12 volt Solar Panel. Altenergystore.com had them on sale for fifty dollars off.”

Rodney immediately inhaled through his teeth, “Oh man, I should have went ahead and took advantage of that sale.”

Mike smiled, “Way ahead of you. Instead of just the one panel that you wanted I ordered two. I know that you don’t like me using your money when you don’t know where it is going, so consider it a gift and a serious thank you from Mom and the entire family.”

“Thank you, Mike. I appreciate that. You really didn’t have to, but it will be very appreciated. Did you get the other items?”

“Yes sir. The inverter you specified (that will automatically remote start your genset to charge up the batteries), four six volt two hundred amp hour batteries, cables and connectors. If you will pull around to the back of the store, I will help you load them into the truck.”

“Mike you are the best.” The two men continued to talk concerning the balance of Rodney’s gold and silver at the store and how much should be sold over the next three months. He handed Mike a printout of a list of fruit trees from meyerlemontree.com and had Mike order the 6 trees listed (e.g. 2 Kumquat, 2 Pear and 2 Tangerine). It was always better to plant trees in pairs instead of one tree at a time. It helped the pollination.

They would be shipped Sam’s Store which is where Rodney got all of his supplies shipped to. He also picked up two half ounce gold eagles and twenty silver eagles from Mike to be used to barter for an unrelated bull calf and to have on hand just in case. Rodney made plans to come back in April and order more supplies, and he would decide what the next improvements to the farm would be.

Mike shook Rodney’s hand and left nodding to the lady behind the counter as he walked out the door. Rodney continued straight through the mall and out to the truck. He slid his backpack into the passenger seat and fired up the engine. Two more stops and he would head back home.

Rodney pulled into the Dumas Area Food Bank parking lot. The food bank was a soup kitchen and a place where needed people could get free food from food that was donated to them. Rodney had heard the place was helping many people in the area who had lost their jobs and were otherwise on bad times. It was a quarter to noon and he was getting a little hungry.

There was a small line at the front of the office, but he pulled around back to the delivery door. He got out of his truck and knocked on the door. The door opened and a short slightly overweight and slightly balding man popped his head out saying, “Hello. I am sorry, but you have to go stand in line in the front.”

Rodney giggled, “I am not trying to get food. I am giving.” It was then that Rodney noticed a woman sitting in an older diesel Chevrolet Suburban parked beside him. It was sort of an odd site to see a small petite woman sitting behind the wheel of the larger truck. The Suburban looked as if the paint was peeling off and the tires were a bit worn. It had definitely seen its better days.

“What’s that?” the older man asked.

Rodney turned back to him. “I need to drop off some food for you to pass out,” Rodney said as he smiled to the little man who was actually listening now.

“Oh, well. In that case, thank you very much. What have you got?”

Rodney motioned to the truck, “Several store bought cans of vegetables and a 5 gallon bucket of white hard wheat.” The store bought vegetable cans were nearing there expiration dates in two more months. The five gallon bucket was from his prepped stores, but it was about to expire in another year and he needed to rotate it out. Rodney was trying to cut back on his carbs and he just couldn’t eat it all himself. He thought about feeding it to the cows, but knew it would do more good here.

“Wheat?! What are we supposed to do with that?”

Rodney’s eyebrows shot up as he answered, “Mill it and then cook it.”

“What does this look like a bakery?” The man paused a moment then continued, “I’ll take the vegetables, but you can keep your wheat.”

Rodney almost told the man to forget it, but his compassionate side stopped him. He handed the man a half of a grocery bag full of canned vegetables. The man smiled, said thanks and went back inside.

He turned back to his truck and the woman was immediately in front of him. He startled for a second as his hand immediately went into his jacket pocket.

Also startled she blurted out, “I am sorry. Oh please, I am sorry.” She nervously paused and her shoulder length brunette hair covered her face a bit. “Did you say you had some food?”

“Yes, I did. Do you need some?”

Her head bowed slightly, “Uh, yes sir, if you don’t mind.” She pulled her coat a little tighter. “They won’t let me have any food because I do not live in this area.”

Rodney motioned to the truck with his left hand as he kept his right hand in his jacket pocket. “It’s just whole wheat, but you can make bread from it easily enough.”

They both walked to the truck as she started talking all at once, “Oh, yes sir. My momma taught me how to cook. I can handle it.” Rodney popped the lid off with the lid wrench and tugged at the mylar bag inside to get the wheat out. It was difficult, but the bag finally slid.

“Sorry but I need the bucket,” Rodney said. She reached with two slender arms and took the bag of wheat.

“Not a problem.” She held it with one hand and offered the other in greetings, “My name is Martha.”

Rodney paused a second before pulling his right hand out and shook her hand. “Rodney.”

She smiled and continued, “Thanks for this,” she said as she jiggled the bag of wheat. “I moved to Dumas eight weeks ago from the country. Only found one job and I got laid off two weeks ago from that. Wouldn’t happen to know of anyone hiring around here would you?”

“Sorry no, I am not from here and the way things are in the economy I think any job will be a bit hard to come by.”

“Ah, well thanks again,” and she nervously made her way back to the car.

Rodney turned back to the truck and left. As he got to the edge of the parking lot he looked back to the unmoved Suburban. Just then he caught a glimpse of her hungrily shoving the wheat grains into her mouth. Rodney knew better than to get involved with someone so desperate, but he pulled the truck back into the parking lot and up to the truck.

She was trying to hide the wheat when Rodney tapped on the window. He saw loose clothes piled in the backseat and some smaller furniture poking out underneath the pile. She rolled down the window slightly.

“Want to go get a bite to eat? On me?” Rodney offered.

Martha looked questioningly at him. “Uh….” Is all she could manage to get out.

“Look, you are hungry, I am about to go eat anyways and I would like to talk to you about a job offer. How good are you with breakfast foods?”

Rodney did not eat out very much. On occasion he ate at the bar-b-que restaurant near his home where he busted tables or a seafood restaurant nearby, but the visits were few and far between. Over the next half hour Rodney and Martha sat, talked and ate at the country style restaurant on the south side of Dumas. Well, actually she did most of the eating and Rodney did most of the talking.

Rodney had never seen anyone eat so fast in his life. After Martha had finished off the main course, she started asking questions about the job offer. Rodney explained the situation at Sam’s Store. Martha agreed that she was interested, but shamefully admitted she was living out of her truck, had no place to live and not enough fuel to get there and back.

After a lengthy phone call to Sam, Rodney and Martha stuck up a deal. Martha would go interview with Sam and if she did not get it, he would pay for her gas back. No harm, no foul. If she did get it, then he would let her park her car at his place until she could locate a place to live. There were a couple of older smaller houses for rent in the area and she might afford one of them. Martha smiled and shook hands to seal the deal.

Before they left Martha had asked for a “to go” box where she kept every scrap of food she had left which was basically some fries and a half eaten piece of bread, she pocketed her extra napkin and poured the remaining contents of her glass into a small thermos she kept in her large purse. She even place two packs of catsup in a Ziploc bag that was also in her purse.

For the first few miles of the trip back to Sam’s store, Rodney kept looking in the rear view mirror half expecting the Suburban to turn around back into town. Rodney was surprised after the first 20 minutes had past that the SUV was still following the Luv Truck. He pulled over at a large warehouse looking place.

Martha pulled up next to Rodney’s truck. After rolling the window down, Martha asked why they were stopping? Rodney explained, “Just got a little errand inside.”

“What is this place?” Martha asked.

“It is a surplus store called The Outpost,” Rodney answered. “Want to come in and look around?” As soon as Rodney said it, he had wished he hadn’t. The way she took those things from the table she might be more than just frugal. She might be desperate to actually steal something.

“Sure,” she answered as she got out. She tapped Rodney’s shoulder as they were walking to the surplus store entrance, “How far are we away from the Store?”

“Oh, it is a good 45 minutes more. I promise this will be quick.”

As they walked in Martha spied the bathroom and motioned to Rodney that she was heading that way. Rodney nodded back. Martha made her way through a row of camping gear and noticed a few items on her way.

“Mr. McKaleb!” came the voice of a little girl. Rodney turned to see a blonde pig tailed little girl no more than nine years old bolting toward him. She jumped into the air and hugged his neck.

Rodney faked a backache and lowered the girl to the floor. “Ouch..Oh.. Tonya, you are too big for that. You are growing like a weed girl. You are gonna break my back!” Tonya giggled back at him as she let go. “Where is your Mom?”

“Right here,” came a voice from behind the counter.

Rodney walked to the woman and hugged her neck too as both their faces grew a bit longer. Susan Striblin was the widow of Rodney’s best friend. He had died six years ago in a deadly car accident. Susan had continued running her husband’s store and continued to raise her daughter on her own. Rodney tried to check in on her whenever he could. Of course, her running the only military surplus store for about 300 miles helped him come up with an excuse too.

Just then Martha exited the bathroom and Rodney looked to Susan. “Hey this is an acquaintance of mine, her name is Martha. Be nice, she is sort of down on her luck.” Susan looked at Rodney as innocently as she could and punch him in the shoulder right before Martha looked there way. “Hello there. My name is Susan.”

“Martha…. Martha Lott,” she responded. It just dawned on Rodney he had not even asked her last name. Martha looked around nervously not liking the attention.

“Susan, did you get that package for me?” Rodney asked.

Susan smiled, “Yes, of course. I brought him this morning. Drive around back.”

After driving around back Rodney saw in the back of Susan’s truck a large chicken cage with a young New Hampshire rooster in it. Susan had brought it from a family member's farm. Rodney would use it to add to his small flock of New Hampshire chickens at the farm. Also there was an egg incubator, egg rotator and brooder light. Susan started to load the cage over to Rodney’s truck.

“He looks great,” Rodney said. He had selected the chicken breed of New Hampshire because they were dual purpose egg and meat producers. Rodney had a total of 7 hens back on the farm that he used for egg production. He had 18 when he started but had been culling the flock down and eating the meat they produced. Now he would add the unrelated rooster and the meat production would begin again.

Martha asked, “You raise chickens?”

Rodney smiled, “Yes. I have several animals on my small farm. Chickens were the first animals that I started raising. They were cheap to purchase and are cheap to raise. A decent chicken coop and simple fencing provides a home and will keep them safe. They provide meat, eggs and highly concentrated manure for fertilizer. Not too much to raising them.”

Martha smiled like she was hiding something.

After a few minutes of loading the two got back underway and traveled straight to Sam’s Store. Rodney said a few brief words to Sam and his wife, introduced Martha and then waited by the truck and car for Martha to talk with the couple. The interview was short, for a second Rodney thought it was “too short”. However, Martha was bouncing out of the store with a smile on her face, “They said to be back at 5 AM tomorrow.”

Martha and Rodney traveled to the farm and Rodney showed her where to park her car. Martha got out and evaluated the farm. “Now this is cute. You HAVE got a little farm going. Oh, French Lop rabbits!” she said as she walked to the rabbit cages beside the barn.

“You know your rabbits.”

“I will have to admit that I was raised on a small farm. We raised rabbits, chickens, pigs and cows.” Martha said a little shyly. She looked at the dirt filled broken steel pin beneath the rabbit cages. “What is this?”

Rodney used a small stick to scoop up some of the dirt to reveal its tenants. “Worms.”

Martha nodded, “Raising worms?”

“The rabbit droppings feed the worms.”

“Waste not, want not,” they miraculously said together at the exact same time then immediately laughed.

“Right you are. Very smart. I hadn’t thought of that. It also is great fertilizer. You might want to take it a bit farther though and raise some Brim, Catfish or Tilapia fish in a small pond or tank. Use the worms to supplement the feeding of the fish.”

After Rodney fired up the generator, they spent the afternoon introducing the rooster to the hens, feeding the animals, milking the cows and cleaning up a bit. By the time supper came around Rodney was ready to offer Martha a little bit more on the deal. Martha was unpacking a few things from her car when Rodney said, “Listen, there is no need of you to stay out here in the cold. I can sleep on the couch and …”

“No honestly you don’t have to worry I will be fine.” Martha started unpacking what appeared to be a small tent. “If you don’t mind, I can set this up on the back side of the barn and be perfectly fine.”

The tent was a thick canvas material and once erected it was a full 12’x12’ in dimensions. The unique thing is that the tent was outfitted with a chimney hole. Martha pulled out next a very small square stove. She explained it was a Sheepherder’s “Packer” Stove. Within a few minutes she had the tent and stove assembled and ready to go.

Rodney impressed at her resourcefulness showed her to the wood pile and set her up with enough wood for the night. “You don’t have to keep a very big fire going. It is pretty easy to heat the tent enough to stay warm in,” Martha explained.

“Well, would you like to come in for dinner?”

“Please,” Martha answered and then quickly added appearing very appreciative. She then said, "Could I trouble you for a shower?"

Rodney blushed. He had forgotten all about her needing a shower. “Oh, of course.” He immediately headed inside and started the fire in the stove. He decided that since she would be a while he might just go all out and fix a nice dinner for his guest. He took two back pieces of a butchered chicken and placed it into some boiling water on the stove. He also managed to start a small pot of field peas in another boiler before Martha came in.

Within a few moments he had to shown her the bathroom and gotten her settled. He presented her with a small bar of soap and a small bottle of shampoo. These travel sized portions were taken from a hotel that Rodney had used in the past while out of town. He gave her a towel and returned to preparing the meal.

“Is it ok if I take a bath? I will take a shower if a bath would waste too much water.”

Now Rodney was acting shy. “I use a water well. Feel free to use as much as you like.”

Dumplings were pretty simple to prepare. First you boiled some chicken to the point the chicken was falling off of the bone. It did not have to be the breast or other good parts. The back pieces that were generally frowned on would do fine.

As those were boiling you sift flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Cut in shortening and then stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Shape the dough into balls. Then roll out the balls and cut the dough into small squares. When the chicken starts to fall off of the bone add the squares to the boiling pot and add salt and pepper to taste. In a few more minutes the chicken and dumplings were ready.

Martha was in the bathroom for a good 35 minutes before the door finally opened. “I do love a good bath. I haven’t had a long one like that in a while,” Martha said as she came into the living room. She now wore a pair of sweat pants and some sort of fleece pull over. Her dirty clothes were in a bag at her side.

Rodney stood looking at her for a slightly uncomfortable moment then said, “Dinner is ready. Chicken and dumplings, field peas and tea.” Martha added her left over bread from lunch and the meal was ready.

The two ate and once again struck up a conversation quickly. The first topic was the plan for the next day. Martha would leave out a little before 5AM to make sure to be there on time and would work until they didn’t need her. Rodney would do his morning chores then back to town to bust tables at the restaurant. Martha agreed to just hang out at the farm until Rodney made it back.

Martha noticed the alternator that was hooked up to the exercise bike and asked about it. Then Rodney explained that it was his way of forcing himself to stay off of the Internet. When his legs wore out he got off the Internet. Rodney commented that with all the information out there he could spend all day online.

Martha then turned the conversation to Sam and his wife asking what kind of people they were. Rodney explained that Sam was extremely trustworthy and told her of his arrangement of barter with the items that he sold at Sam’s. She asked if Rodney thought that Sam would create the same deal with her? Rodney simply answered that she would need to take that up with Rodney.

Rodney ended dinner with a small portion of a king sized Hershey’s Chocolate Bar for them both. He had a sweet tooth and just a small piece of the chocolate bar usually hit the spot. The chocolate was wonderful to Martha. It was a welcomed sweet right before bed.

After dinner Martha thanked Rodney and said her good nights. He started to walk her out to make sure she could find her way in the dark, but Martha answered simply, “No need.” She then put her shoes back on and produced a Kaito Voyager hand crank radio/light from the bag. Rodney appeared interested in the device so Martha gave him a closer look at it. The radio had a flashlight built into it and could even be used to charge a cell phone. You could charge the radio itself by plugging it in to an AC outlet, twisting the crank dynamo or use the small built in solar panel.

The day went much as expected except that when Rodney woke and made it outside Martha was already gone. He thought for a second that she might have finally tucked tail and run, but her tent was still here and she did not seem the type to leave something that valuable behind.

It was a bit of a long day. Time seemed to slow down at the restaurant and it was a bit longer today than Rodney remembered it in the past. Rodney’s ankle had started to ache a little after running around on it. Guess the strain had not fully healed yet. He collected his shared tip money from the other servers, said his goodbyes and left. For some reason the Chevy Luv Truck made its way to the local department store. Rodney hated these stores, but he wanted to put together something for Martha.

When he made it back to the farm he saw Martha coming around the barn with a big smile on her face. “Hey there,” he said.

“Hey there yourself,” she answered back. “I got a surprise for you.”

“What surprise?”

She smiled bigger if that was possible, “It is in the back of the barn.” They walked around the barn and she made him cover his eyes. Then with a “Ta Da!” she pulled his hands down and he saw the surprise.

At first he did not understand it. It was an “A” framed little house about 4 feet wide and about 5 feet tall. The top half of the house was closed in with plywood and the bottom was opened. It was like a little triangle house on stilts.

“Now I know that it is not finished, but if you cover the bottom part with chicken wire and put some hinges and latches here so these doors on the top will open, you will have a fully functional chicken tractor.”

Rodney’s eye brow raised up, “A chicken tractor?”

“You put the chickens in it and they scrape and chew up the ground that is lying underneath. They also add their droppings to the soil to fertilize it. Up in the top there are laying bins and a roost. It is also a place to get out of the cold. We can cover the whole thing with a tarp which will add to the insulation.”

Rodney knew he could move a couple of the chickens into the tractor at a time or help raise the meat chickens separate from the main flock. The chicken tractor was a wooden framed enclosure that could be moved around the garden or lawn to allow the chickens access to the grass to sort of free range through the area. When the grass at one place was depleted the tractor could be slid to another fallow area of the garden.

“Where did you get the wood for this?”

Martha was smiling again, “Well, this fellow stopped by the store this morning. His truck was piled with lumber to throw away and I sweet talked him into letting me take the best pieces.”

Rodney’s stomach turned over for a second for some reason. Then Martha continued, “I saw all of your wood working tools and borrowed some of the hand tools and some screws. It didn’t take too much to put together. There is even a ‘left over’ pile. Several more 2x4’s and a little bit of plywood. I thought I needed to repay you for the hospitality you have shown me. So, thank you.”

It was then that Rodney remembered his trip to the store. “Oh I got something for you.” He quickly walked back to the truck and pulled out the bag. “Nothing special. I just thought that you would like them.”

Martha opened the bag to see several different bath soaps with different fragrances, some candles and several types of moisturizing shampoos. As she looked through the bath items smiling more and more as she noticed the next bottle, Rodney walked toward the barn to retrieve some of the stored chicken wire that he had put up in the back of the barn.


Frugal For You


The suburban pulled into the drive as Rodney walked back to the house. He did not know why he was smiling. Maybe because it was Christmas Eve, may be just because it was a good day or may be it was because she was home.

Martha was a hard worker. There was no doubt about it. She had suggested and helped implement several major improvements to the farm. The first was looking up on the internet and helping to figure out the best place to mount the beginner solar panel setup which was on the southern facing roof of the barn. Rodney wired the power into the main house, but also wired in a cut over switch to the underground area of the farm to be used if needed. The generator was wired in and would cut on in the even of too much drain on the power system or not enough charge being generated by the panels to charge the batteries.

It went well except for Rodney hooking up two of the main wires backwards. Luckily Martha noticed it and actually got into a small fight with Rodney over it. She forced him to reexamine the wiring after she stormed off in a huff to her tent. The error was found and corrected which saved the solar panels from a potentially damaging installation. A few minutes later Rodney was apologizing and she was forgiving him.

It is said that every good relationship needs ONE good argument. Well, that was theirs. As soon as Rodney realized that Martha was loyal to helping the farm succeed even at the point of standing up to Rodney himself, his view of her changed. She was now a trusted friend.

Next was the idea of planting some blackberry bushes along the back fence line. The bushes were found on one of Martha’s walks. Whenever there was little to do, Martha walked all over the county roads. Rodney turned her on to collecting cans as she walked and she also picked up anything else that could be salvaged from the side of the road. The blackberry briars were located on the right of way of a county road and could be transplanted to the fence line easily enough after the last frost of the season.

The chicken tractor was working wonders on the garden. It was moved around the fallow areas and the soil was benefiting the ground with the added fertilizer. She also suggested a light on a timer be added to the chicken coop to fool the chickens into thinking it was not winter. Egg production increased slightly due to the additional light.

She also made a contact with a farmer in the next county that had stopped at Sam’s on day. After some friendly talk he asked her to have Rodney give him a call concerning a swap of a bull calf for a female calf. Sure enough the deal was struck. If everything worked out they would have an unrelated bull calf in the spring.

Martha got out of the suburban carrying a large covered dish and made her way inside. “Hey Rodney,” said Martha with a sweet glimmer in her eye.

“Hey,” Rodney said back while smiling from ear to ear. “How did the turkey turn out?”

She smirked, “Did you have any doubt? It is fine, but I will let you be the judge.” Martha had been cooking the bird at Sam’s Store all morning. Sam let her work the morning while she cooked the turkey in the store oven. Rodney had done all of the chores and was now setting out all of the side dishes that he had prepared. Then each went to get ready for their evening together. Tomorrow was Sunday and Christmas. Neither had any work to do and it was going to be a true day of rest.

Martha went to get a shower and dressed for dinner. When she came out of the bathroom that night she was stunning. She had brought out the simple black dress from her old clothes with matching pumps and even some light jewelry. She had worn pants and coveralls for so long that the site of her was almost breathtaking to Rodney. “You look amazing,” was all he could manage to say.

She blushed and said, “Thank you. Not too bad yourself.” Rodney was wearing his only suit. It was a black Italian business suit. His father had always told him that every man should have at least one suit. That way he was always prepared to attend any formal events that may pop up. Rodney had not worn it in 6 months when he wore it to a funeral, but it was still in great condition and fit well.

They both sat down to dinner. The turkey earned from Martha’s hours at the store tasted wonderful. The side items including deviled eggs, butter beans, field peas, corn bread and baked sweet potatoes. They made small portions not wanting to waste the food, but the turkey was so large that they would have enough leftovers to eat off of for the rest of the week. Rodney even picked up a small bottle of wine for the occasion.

They retired to the couch where the wood stove continued to keep them warm. Rodney turned on the Midland XT511 crank radio. While trying to find some softer music the radio came across a station giving the latest news report. “.. and the DOW dropped another 726 points today 10% higher than yesterday bringing the total to just over 6000 points…” Martha shifted a little with a worried look. Rodney decided against the radio and to skip on to the movie.

He fired up his laptop and browsed to www.hulu.com and watched the Christmas movie called “A Christmas Carol.” Martha kicked off her shoes, curled her legs underneath her and leaned against Rodney’s shoulder. Rodney threw a fleece throw over them both and both sat still while watching the movie.

Minutes passed by and then hours. The rooster awoke Rodney with a start. Martha still laid on his shoulder on the couch. He gently shook her and she woke. “Oh my! I must have fallen asleep.”

He smiled, “I guess we both did.”

“Best night’s sleep I have had in a long time. Oh, I look a mess. What time is it?”

Rodney looked at his watch. “About 8:25. Why?”

“Oh I got to hurry,” she said as she ran out to her tent and changed her clothes. Rodney went back to his room to change. He was hoping to spend the day with Martha, but evidentially she had something planned. I guess his surprise would have to wait.

An air horn blasted twice in the distance. Rodney could tell it was at the gate. He grabbed his jacket and ran to the picture hanging beside the door. He released a clasp on the bottom of the frame and it opened. He removed the Glock 21 with an Uncle Mike’s inside the pants holster. He grabbed the double mag holder and put it on as well. He had just walked out the door as Martha was running past the house yelling to him, “Stay inside Rodney. I got a surprise for you.”

Rodney was naturally curious, but snickering to himself a little and remembering his trust in Martha he turned and walked back inside. He thought for a second of replacing the firearm back in its hidden place, but Rodney did not like people on his property and decided to keep it for now.

Minutes passed and a lot of heavy machinery noises could be heard from outside. Rodney busied himself by cleaning up the kitchen from the night before. There were a few dishes that had remained unclean. It was about 9 minutes later when the noises stopped and Martha came through the door.

“OK. Do not kill me, but I got you a Christmas present. Close your eyes and come outside,” Martha instructed.

Rodney did as he was told and stood in the open air with his eyes shut until he heard the words, “Now you can look.” He opened his eyes and saw there in his drive way a Massey Ferguson 50A Backhoe Tractor.

Rodney blinked in disbelief as he thought, “How in the world could she have afforded this?”

“OK Before you ask, it is just on loan for 10 days. I am bartering with Mr. Rounds. He said he would trust you with his life so the tractor was no problem. He said they are REALLY SLOW right now and don’t need the tractor over the holidays. Mr. Rounds lends us the tractor and I will drive his wife up to visit with her daughter in Oakville for the weekend. She is getting to the point that she does not like to drive anymore and she has not seen her daughter in a long time. It is almost a 300 mile trip one way, but I can get as much gas as I want from Sam and it is not like I am driving across the country.”

She continued, “Use it to resituate some things on the farm or maybe even put in that catfish pond that you have been thinking about. I know you have already had a soil analyst out here and the plans are already drawn up.” She paused a second, “Well, what do you think?”

“I think that I need to show you YOUR present. Follow me,” said Rodney as he walked to the edge of the wood area of the acreage. The cool wind blew through the trees and revealed that there was a large form Martha had not noticed last night in the darkness. It was covered in camouflaged netting made out of burlap. Rodney pulled the burlap off of the form to reveal a small used 13’ Scamp travel trailer.

Rodney explained that the trailer was used but the mechanicals were in good shape. The interior was another story. It seems that some college kids used it for spring break this past year and trashed the inside of it. With the damage and the poor state of the economy Rodney had gotten a good deal from the previous owner. Rodney had already thrown out everything that was torn up and washed everything on the inside. He then discussed a few different things that she could do to the trailer to customize it.

It seems that the stove that was in the camper was trashed and so was the heater. It would have to be a custom job but they should be able to put Martha’s Sheepherder’s “Packer” Stove that she used in her tent in to the trailer. A solar setup could be added later on to give her a little power to run smaller items. The AC still worked but would require more power than the solar system could put out for any length of time so Rodney would run it off of the house during the summer. Also the small trailer had a very surprising bit of storage for being so small.

“It needs some work, but would look and work great afterwards. I just don’t want you staying in that tent anymore and … well, you would always have a place to stay, if you ever wanted to leave.”

Martha wrapped her arms around Rodney and hugged his neck. “Thank you. You are a good man … but I have a place, for now, here with you.” They kissed and then walked hand in hand back to the house to warm up.

The farm chores were soon done and Rodney took a turn at the tractor. Martha and he decided to sacrifice about 1/2 acre as a catfish and brim pond. A pond was just an all around good idea. The pond could be used for critical water needs during a drought, irrigating the garden or orchard, watering livestock, or even fire fighting. There are intangible benefits such as enjoying wildlife drawn to small bodies of water too that make it a real benefit. In the end he could even open up a business allowing people to fish there and charging them per pound of fish caught.

The land had a small slope to it that ended in a lower area near the cow pasture. The lower area would be the perfect spot. Rodney would have to add a water pump (to help with aeration) to the list of things to buy, but that was not too hard to accomplish.

Rodney also planned to dig the pond a full ten feet deep. This would aid the aeration and allow for a longer usage before having to be rebuilt. The top soil of the area would be added to the compost pile and the deeper dirt would be piled up for future use.

It was the end of the fourth day when the pond was done. Well, the digging part was done anyways. Rodney would wait till the spring before he started pumping water into the pond. The weather web site at NOAA.com was predicting a front to move through the area next week. The rain from it should start the process of filling it up.

Martha was leaving tomorrow and she was busy getting packed when the horn blew at the gate. Once again the Glock handgun was taken from its hiding place and Rodney worked his way down to the front gate. Sam was there standing at the gate beside his truck with one of his sons waiting patiently on the passenger’s side.

“Sam, how are you? What brings you out here?” Rodney asked as he walked to the gate.

“I need to ask your advice about the store.” Rodney looked curious. “You haven’t heard?” Sam asked with a worried look upon his brow.

“Heard what?”

“It is collapsing. The economy is getting worse.”


We Are All Frugal Now


She was supposed to be back yesterday. Rodney looked forward to all of the meetings that he was going to now. It got his mind off of her. In the past four days since she has been gone, he has made himself busy with the meetings and expanding the garden at the farm.

Rodney thought about what limited supplies that she had with her. However, he was not the kind of guy to let her go on a trip without supplies. The night before she left he pulled a folded item that looked like steel and wheels, two large ice chests, and a large 7000cc Camoflauged Hiking Backpack into the living room and went through the contents with Martha.

The folded item was a Cabelas Super Mag Hauler. Rodney explained that if she had to move on her feet she could use it to tote way more items than just on her own. The carrying capacity was about 550 pounds. The ice chests were a convenient and insulating container for what was next. The ice chests were filled with several gallons of water and food including some gorp, jerky, dried rice, electrolyte drink mix and canned vegetables. Ice could be added quickly to keep any of it cold quickly enough. Next Rodney showed here how to turn a soda can into a small alcohol burning stove that would boil water very quickly. You don’t really have to make it fancy. Basically just cutting off the bottom of the can worked.

Finally, they looked at the backpack contents. Martha’s eyes had gotten as big as half dollars coins when she saw it, but she never asked how Rodney had it or where he got it from. She knew that he was worried about her and she just resolved within herself that it was a loan. Rodney painstakingly went over the contents and the proper use of each. Some of the items it contained were:

Garraty LED windup flashlight
2 GI ponchos w/1 liner
100 feet 550 cord
MSR Miniworks EX water filter
Katadyn Micropur MP1 Purification Tablets
SAS survival manual
Small handheld CB radio w/extra batteries
About $1000 in small bills
10 Silver Eagles
personal hygiene ditty
Camper’s toilet paper rolls
Camper’s soap
pack towel
first-aid kit
zip-lock bags
space blanket
electrolyte drink mix
ski mask
heavy boot socks
insulated gloves
hiking boots
Tyvek hooded/booted overall
P-100 filter & safety goggles
Nitrile gloves
Rubber garden boots
Roll duct tape

He also geared her up with a youth model Remington 870 pump shotgun chambered in 20 gauge, and a bandolier of shells. After an hour of training the next morning she became quit proficient at the shotgun pretty quickly. He felt better that she was a little more suited to take care of herself while away. She left with a hug, kiss and a promise to be back as soon as she could.

Rodney tried to busy himself immediately. Rodney began to receive regular contacts with other folk in the area. He had met with the dairy farm owner, Sam, a nearby mechanic and a local farmer over the next few days. Rodney had so many suggestions for each of them.

To the dairy farm owner he suggested hooking a generator up to running the milking and processing machines for the cows and to even barter with additional employees to help manually milk some of the cows as well. Some people were buying straight milk from the dairy and processing the milk themselves into milk, butter and cheese. The dairy even held a few classes for those that were interested to teach them the forgotten skills.

Everyone was wanting to start gardens in the area. Seeds were being bought as quickly as possible and everyone was digging small “Victory Gardens” in their back yards. Rodney pulled out a small amount of heirloom seeds that he had collected over the past two years from his own garden and gave them to Sam to sell. The asked price was a little higher than normal, but it only discouraged the potential buyers for a little while.

The small packets of seeds brought in a good return: 4 oz. Black pepper, 12 quart sized canning jars, 5 lbs of sugar, and 10 gallons of diesel (from Sam himself). All except the diesel remained with Sam to sell. Within a few days the seeds were gone and Rodney said he might have more in the Spring. He knew that he would. The collection he sold so far was only a small percentage of what he had stored from his own gardens.

Rodney also suggested to the dairy farm to barter the manure to folks in the area. Most were happy to collect and haul the manure themselves for the small gardens they were building. An advertisement was posted at Sam’s for the manure and an expected price. In addition, he had chosen to slaughter a few of the cows for meat.

Seeing another opportunity Rodney bartered for the tallow and hides left over from the slaughter of the first three cows. At first the farmer didn’t understand and then finally figured it out. The tallow could be combined with pot ash to make soap and the hide could be cured to leather. Sam’s wife bartered for the items immediately offering some of the finished soap and store credit in trade.

Finally a deal was struck for a yearling bull. Rodney would put the bull with the older cows and start up his small heard a little more early than planned. This should insure milk, eggs and beef would be on the table for a while to come.

To Sam he suggested a whole restructuring of his store. It seems that most of what he had in the store had been bought up in the past couple of days. There was a run on supplies. Sam’s suppliers were telling him that their deliveries would be delayed. He was running out of things to sell and of course customers.

The value of the dollar was dropping by the day. So Rodney explained the use of true silver and gold coins as barter sources based on the current spot price. Partially silver coins like pre1965 dimes and quarters could be used since they contained about 90% silver and of course the pure silver coins like American Eagles could also be used. Immediately Sam put a sign in window saying “We now accept silver coins as payment.” It was the talk of the store almost with every customer. Rodney stayed there most of the first day explaining to everyone how they could barter for items here at the store.

It was a pretty simple process. If you had something to sell, you would give it to Sam on consignment. Sam took a small portion of the profit for housing and selling your item for you much like what he was already doing with Rodney over the past months. Rodney suggested that Sam could also rent out some outside tables so people could setup their own booths and sell their own items. Before you knew it Sam’s convenience store turned into a barter fair every weekend with constant items being sold by Sam during the week.

Rodney immediately spurred the new “currency” on by hiring several people to help prepare the additions to the garden plots of the farm and making pot ash and charcoal from a small stand of pines that were cut down earlier in the year. The ash was added to the garden for natural fertilizer and the charcoal would be used later or sold. Rodney paid them with a meal and silver dimes for their time. The more silver coins in circulation the more “currency” would be used as a medium of exchange.

The farmer’s name was Jeremiah and he had the oddest request that would have stuck anyone else but Rodney as fearful. I say fearful because it was just a wee bit illegal in days gone by. The younger farmer asked Rodney how to make what in some parts of America is called “Moonshine.” Of course it is best known as Alcohol Fuel or ethanol today and that is what the farmer had in mind. His is grandfather had taught him some of the tricks of making moonshine, but he could not remember all of them. Jeremiah had a knack of growing sorghum and sorghum was perfect for making “shine” out of.

After a little search on the internet Rodney not only had the answer, but a form (called ATF Form 5110.74) that allowed the farmer to file with the ATF to be a “small alcohol fuel producer” and ‘legally’ produce an alcohol fuel. Rodney also printed out the guidelines or additives that rendered the “fuel” unfit for beverage use so the law enforcement would not have any problem with it. One of the things you could add was just mixing it with normal petroleum gasoline which Jeremiah was wanting to do anyways.

After spending about an hour with the farmer and sharing the information, Jeremiah was so happy about the being a “legal” operation that he gave Rodney an IOU of 25 gallons of alcohol fuel or 50 hours of manual labor if he did not have it paid to Rodney in 6 months. Also Rodney communicated the plan to Sam who was ecstatic to hear that it could possibly supplement the gas shortage.

Greg, the mechanic, was simply needing food. He was a good mechanic and had a fair supply of parts but did not have the skills to grow his food. Greg was glad to hear of Jeremiah’s efforts with the alcohol fuel. This meant he would still have customers seeing that the alcohol would keep a few cars on the road for a while longer. He went straight to work trying to locate the E85 converters for several different makes of trucks. At about $350 to $400 each he could only afford to purchase a few, but each was almost priceless and would allow one more vehicle on the road.

As soon as the news got around, Rodney secured Jeremiah’s first conversion sale to the dairy farmer’s wife. She had a three year old Honda Accord and promised a slaughtered cow to Greg for the upgrade. Greg accepted happily and rewarded Rodney with 2 hours labor fixing anything he wanted.

The sun was going down and Rodney wound up the radio on the bench for a minute. Then he sat in a bench swing listening to the local AM talk radio station broadcasting more bad news and patting one of the rabbits from the pin. The evenings were getting warmer and more enjoyable as the quietness of the evening came. The rabbits always relaxed Rodney when he petted them while they sat contently in his lap.

He could hear a vehicle coming up the road and he turned off the radio. Rodney strained to track it as it neared the gate to the farm. The vehicle slowed then stopped at the front gate. Rodney smiled as a horn blew a coded pattern of small blasts to Rodney’s ears. He looked at the rabbit for a second as he smiled and said, “Let’s go let that truck in. Martha’s home.”