Chapter 6

This new information cut the discussion of moving the tanks short and had James and me in my pickup again, heading for town. I knew exactly which trailer he was talking about and I knew where it had been parked the last time I saw it. We went there.

The propane place was much worse for the wear; however, the empty tanks seemed to still be in order and the trailer we needed was still on its wheels. In fact it was hooked to the tow ball on a two-ton truck which had two giant tanks on its back. These weren't the type of tanks normally put in place for home use it was carrying. They were delivery tanks which the propane place used to deliver fuel. After looking around at the gauges on the tanks I could tell they were both full.

I didn't now and had never known why such large trucks were called two-ton trucks. I happened to know they weighed around eight thousand pounds empty. Still, I knew they were commonly called two-ton trucks. James and I were able to get one of the five-hundred gallon empty propane tanks loaded into the trailer for carrying them and we headed out for my new accommodations -- or George's former place -- or the brick dry kiln -- or whatever we would be calling it next.

We were lucky in that the truck we borrowed happened to have a good supply of fittings, copper tubing, and the flaring tools used to make the connections. It was relatively easy to set the tank and connect it to the one already in place. When we were done we used one of the delivery tanks from the truck to fill the one we'd just set for our use and everything seemed to work fine.

Next we dragged the handy trailer up the hill to the house place and moved the tank there down and set it beside the one we'd just put in place. Another thirty minutes of work had it connected too, and then we filled it from the delivery tanks and we also filled the original tank from the delivery truck. Sarah, Karen, and I would be fixed up for propane and electricity until something went horribly wrong, but I wasn't discounting that possibility.

We drove the delivery truck to James' house and refilled his propane tank while we were at it and then drove it back to town and parked it at the place where we'd taken it from in the first place. We returned to his home then.

Sarah and Karen were sitting around talking to Gertie when we got back. I gathered them up and took off after James, who was heading back to our place on the tractor to feed the cows. We made it before he did, and when he got there I paid careful attention to how he took a roll of hay off the stack and then set it out for the stock.

After he was done he said a roll of hay every other day would probably be all they needed, but I asked if he knew about other cattle that might be stranded with no one to watch over them now. He started naming off the places he knew of and I asked him to hold that thought until tomorrow when we could go and check on the possible owners and think about gathering the cattle and bringing them up to join the ones I was now tending.

Sarah and Karen put together a meal as soon as we were back inside and it was great. If it wasn't quite as good as Gertie had done -- well that would never come out of my mouth. It was one hell of a lot better than I could do. James and I had done the propane deed to make sure the Generac kept generating, but it had also helped us in other ways too. The oven and cook top were gas models also and so was the water heater.

We made use of the water heater right away and we each got a hot bath with plenty of help washing. It was a little cool inside our new digs, but lighting a space heater cured that quickly and we left it going and went to bed where we made plenty of heat on our own for a few minutes. The place was warm and toasty when we woke the next morning.

It let us get moving earlier and we had a good breakfast before long. The girls seemed happy to cook now that they had a proper setup to cook on.

"What are your plans for the day?" Sarah asked me, after I'd eaten.

"I thought I'd see if James would go around with me and try to gather some more cattle. I don't want them all, but we could probably use a few more head here and it'll be best to get them while they're still alive and before they break out of the places they are now. They'll have to find their way out sooner or later or starve. No doubt they'll be much easier to catch now.

"That's a good idea, but I think you should also look around and see if you can't find another four-wheel drive pickup for us to use," she said.

"That's an excellent idea. I'll keep my eyes open for one while we're out today," I said, making it a promise.

After putting on a good coat I headed out to the pickup and started it up. The roll of hay I'd put out yesterday was about half gone and I guessed James had been right about them needing a roll every other day.

When I made it to his house I could see they were already up and about since Gertie was in the kitchen and James was coming back into the house. He told me he had been out gathering eggs and he asked if I wanted to start with some chickens of my own.

"It would probably be a good idea. I guess we could put them in the side where the hay is stored."

"You could, but you'd need a hen house first. I know several folks had one and we might be able to move one of them. We sho-nuff gonna have to furnish all our own eats now," he said.

"Well, there is still plenty of canned food at Wal-Mart and it will just go to ruin there. In fact they had a lot of meat still in the coolers and with the building down it a lot of it might be frozen from the snow and ice now."

"Did it blow the whole place down?" he asked.

"It ruined the building, but a lot of the stuff is still there. It is a little tricky getting in there to get it though."

"I'll bet it's a mess."

"It is for a fact, but there's still plenty of stuff in it that's useful. The biggest trouble is deciding what to take."

"I might want to go up there and take a look around. It'd be nice to just walk in and take what you wanted without having to pay," he said.

"Well, it is, kinda, but then again it's a little spooky with nobody around."

We got into my truck and I headed out under James' directions. He guided me to another place about five miles down the road and when we drove up the house was completely burnt out. We got out to look around and we found a way down into a storm cellar that had been right under the house. We banged on the door but got no answer and it didn't take long to find out why.

Once we made our way into the storm cellar we found two bodies. They weren't burned and there were no marks visible on the bodies. In fact they looked like they had just been sitting around and gone to sleep. I figured it was about what happened. No doubt the fire took all the oxygen from the storm cellar and suffocated them.

"Well, they won't be needing their chickens now," James said.

"Nope, I guess you're right. We might as well check them out."

Outside it didn't take James a second to go right to the henhouse and the chickens set up a racket when they heard James opening the door. No doubt they had missed a meal or two. James took a basket from near the door and gathered the eggs first and then he told me where to find the food for the chickens and I fed them. The well still had enough water pressure to fill their water troughs too, but I could tell it would be gone before long.