After reading yesterday’s Ubi Libertas Blog post, Deb expressed disappointment that I hadn’t chosen photos showing how high off the ground I was while working on the utility side of the rig. Neither the header image nor the pic I included in the text captured what she intended when she grabbed the shots.
Okay, then — here’s one that does.
I’m a confirmed acrophobiac. I don’t like heights at all, never have, and the condition has worsened the older I get. When I’m up on a ladder like that, I focus on what’s in front of me and nothing else.
Yes, in this case I was probably 20 feet above the leach field below. Deb’s perception of the height, I think, was magnified by how narrow (relatively) the ledge is on that side of the fifth-wheel, along with a gravel surface that pitched away toward a rocky drop. The stepladder, planted as solidly as it could be, leaned away slightly from the side wall.
At one point, in order to get proper leverage on a couple of mounting screws, I did climb one rung higher on the ladder. Deb was there to steady it then.
Anyway, when the job was done it felt good to get both feet back on the ground.
Days are hot on the (mostly) unshaded homesite right now, sure to get hotter as the summer wears on. The “heat index” yesterday afternoon was in the upper 90s, and there’s a lot of sweat and strain goin’ on. The work never ends. But I’ll tell you what — The Mountain is the best office I’ve ever had.
I made a couple of adjustments to Mountain One when I replaced its batteries yesterday. First I physically tweaked the trailcam’s aim to get a better shot of what we’re after. Then I instructed its software to sync and record a daily test image at 2am instead of 2pm.
The first sync triggered this morning, as planned, acceptably sharp and illuminated by the cam’s IRs. Nighttime images are black-and-white, though in the Stealth Cam Command app (and via the Stealth Cam website) I can “colorize” them. (The animated GIF above illustrates the difference, which admittedly is subtle.)
Deb, Smudge and I were on The Mountain today, twice, but it wasn’t a high-effort day of slinging boxes and bringing the fifth-wheel up to snuff. No, it was time for catching up on stuff that simply needed doing, all while taking a bit of a breath.
I left my work boots by the side of the bed and wore loafers.
We had a couple of packages to pick up at the post office. On the homesite, we dropped off the few items we’d brought over from the bus and loaded up one tote and two boxes to take to storage, along with the generator’s now-empty gas cans.
Gassville was almost Mountain Home, so we drove another 12 miles to a business displaying a brand of portable buildings we’ve been considering. (We’re not getting ahead of ourselves — we just wanted to lay eyes on them.) Then it was back through Gassville, where we enjoyed a roadside lunch of burgers and fries at The DOE Boy Express.
We stopped at O’Reilly Auto Parts in Flippin for a bottle of STA-BIL® fuel stabilizer. Across the street we filled the gas cans (and the truck) at Murphy USA for $3.029 a gallon. Finally, we dropped off the fresh generator fuel on The Mountain and headed back to Harrison.
We feel good about how we spent our Tuesday and what we accomplished. We’ll get more packing done tomorrow and more hauling done Thursday. The beat goes on.
I’ve talked only briefly about firearms in recent months — Deb’s deer rifle, for example, and a pair of snub-nosed .38 revolvers loaded with snake shot. I suppose you may be wondering if we still practice concealed carry of defensive handguns.
The answer is yes — yes, we do.
Honestly, it’s a constant battle against complacency. Culture and climate are conservative, comfortable and supportive of the individual right to keep and bear arms. Violent crime is downright newsworthy in this corner of the world, and the farther into the Country one goes, the rarer it is.
That’s a recipe for letting unexpected threats sneak up on us. It was always such a quiet neighborhood. We work at being vigilant. Nothin’ like that ever happens ’round here. Being prepared, staying ready, is intentional, a conscious choice.
We keep each other in line.
And when we’re on our isolated patch of land on The Mountain? Same. The self-protection mindset doesn’t take a day off. It can’t. Once we’re settled, perhaps we’ll choose different tools than we’ve deployed in years past, but we’ll keep our guard up.
That’s just who we are.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB