The Longest Hour-The First Day

I found a sort of new notebook in the burned out shop of a what used to be a book store and a package of pens that were unopened, something that hadn’t been scavenged from the destruction I suppose. I’m going to try and document our “journey” as we try to survive what has become something I never would have imagined in my or my sons lifetimes.  We only survived the attacks by barricading ourselves in the basement of what used to be a hardware store not far from our home.  After about 12 hours of constant bombardment we slowly made our way through the rubble to the surface.

What I saw as we came through the debris was destruction I can only compare to what I saw in an old history book my father had of what had happened to England in WWII. I heard the cries of women, children who were trapped in the rubble, the boys and I did our best to get them out, as we tossed the rubble we could lift, the cries stopped and only then did I know that they had probably died, I couldn’t do anything more for them, I have to protect the boys and myself.

We walked for what seemed to be hours through rubble and destruction finally coming into what used to be a quiet suburban neighborhood of laughing children, friendly neighbors, solemn nights and silent streets. My home leveled to the ground, charred skeleton of years of memories. We made our way through the remains to retrieve anything we could of that life. I recovered a shotgun and an old Springfield rifle that were passed down from our Grandfather and thank God I kept them in firing condition from the rubble along with the fireboxes that contained passports, old pictures, our marriage license and some of the things that I thought important enough to keep, stuffed them into my backpack and looked for the one thing I needed to survive out here: Ammunition.

The lock box I kept ammo in was buried deep in the basement under some chunks of concrete. I have a box of shells for the shotgun and 2 boxes for the Springfield. Henry and Ryan loaded them and put the remainder in a backpack, we looked for anything edible and of course we needed water and I’m not seeing anything like that anywhere. Its starting to get hot, and we’ve got to find shelter somewhere safe.

I think today is the 25th of June  2034. God Help Us

The Longest Hour

Introduction:

This is a fictional (or is it?) diary of Scott Simmons and his family as they try to survive a post-apocalyptic region of mid-America. This fictional account takes place in the year 2035 after a failed attempt at reconciliation with far east countries, particularly China, North Korea and Russia. This is a diary type recollection, let’s set the table.

In 2034 after almost 16 years of negotiations the far east countries have resolved to decimate the United States both economically and by terrorist tactics. NK has hidden nuclear weapons grade missiles deep within the underground that were not found by inspectors in the years of 2019-20, The Chinese-Russian connection was a clandestine project that helped NK to hide these weapons.

In 2034, President Amanda Akila gave the go ahead to launch military strikes against NK to prevent launches of hundreds of ballistic missiles at the US and its allies that intelligence operatives had uncovered as part of a global takeover. The resulting retaliation of NK, China and Russia created WW3. Most of the US is without electricity, have literally no means of transportation, little food and has become the proverbial “Wild West”.  It begins……..

New “book”

I’m going to start a new “novel” sort of, another diary type book that will explore the adventure of “Scott Miles” a survivor of the apocalypse of 2025, a ficitional (or is it?) account of the effects of the current world and how it effected the future. I hope it inspires me to be a better human being, offers insight into the future, and develops my writing skills..Hope you’ll read it..

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What happens now?

I can’t help but worry about the state of our nation as the political season seems to me to be full of WWE Smackdown type rhetoric. I’m tired of the party fighting among themselves. I am a Cruz supporter and of course I’ll support the nominee, albeit I’ll be holding my nose when I cast my vote if my candidate is not the nominee. What is going on the world right now, how are they ( the ones who hate us) looking at these elections and plotting the terror that will set this country on end. I am scared for my kids, I’m scared for my family, I’m horrified at what “might” happen to the nation if the wrong person takes the reins of the country. Scares the shit outta me actually

 

Journal 0705

The day after the holiday is always the most brutal, even though it is on a weekend,, thought we would go unscathed but alas, after going into Cargo Largo to take advantage of some sales.. some asswipe decided to punch my drivers side window out on the car and steal……nothing.. well I say nothing, but C’s wallet was in the console, but all important things were in her phone case.. so they didn’t get diddly.. now we’re stuck with getting a new window that insurance won’t cover as we haven’t met deductible.. cleaning up all the minuscule pieces of busted safety glass all over the interior, finding a piece of clear plastic to cover the window as I”m sure it will be at least wednesday before they’ll have one in stock, and then being pissed at dirtbags who feel compelled to destroy property.  Bumper is stringing words together nicely now, soon won’t be able to turn the voice off. he’ll be an orator for sure.. or at least I hope he is.  J and I watched the Royals walk off against the Twins today.. pretty exciting to say the least, later today we blow up some blackcats and sparklers as J didn’t get to last night.. will be fun..back to the real world tomorrow… finding clients, selling insurance, creating relationships with new customers, working on this audiobook, dubbing, voicing, producing some commercials and generally trying to decide what to do, to be my own boss.  Decisions, decisions.. SQUIRREL

Journal-0623

I’ve not spent a lot of time with my Journal and I really should, there are so many things going on in the world and my life right now that I can’t keep up. Lots to think about in coming weeks and days, and I worry about the legacy that I haven’t yet attained for my sons. It literally scares the shit out of me..

I can’t help but comment on the recent tragedy in South Carolina

Racism is not hereditary, its taught, it’s learned, its slammed into our kids heads by their peers and ultimately their parents or guardians.

I grew up in a Navy family, that means every 3 years we moved, like it or not I had to make new friends almost constantly. I was taught by my parents that everyone is the same, no matter their skin color, we are all the same. As a boy, I made friends with anyone who would be my friend, it mattered not in the least to me what color they were, where they lived, what kind of clothes they wore, how much money they had, if they wanted to play baseball, trade shoes, bikes, sit next to me at lunch, play catch after school, build tree forts, smoke cigarettes, whatever IT DIDN”T MATTER.

We are such a PC society now that you can’t say what you feel, think or mean without offending someone.. it really is a problem that is beginning to grow…

This kid who sat in a bible study group for an hour, then stood and killed these beautiful people will die either in the gas chamber, or by the hands of his cellmates. I feel for his parents, I don’t know their background, I can’t seem to find any credible evidence of who they are anywhere, I can’t imagine anyone teaching their children to hate someone enough to take their life.

I will say this.

I am teaching my sons the way my parents taught me. Love everyone for who they are, treat everyone equal, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.. The Golden Rule ( or at least one of them), Don’t judge anyone for the color of their skin. Be kind, be sincere, be giving, compassionate and loving to all with whom you meet.

btw, A flag didn’t move this kid to massacre 9 people, he wanted to start a race war , those are his words,.. its not 1952, we’ve evolved from that horrible time in our countries history,, or have we

Journal-610

Lots of things to do still this summer, finish the living room remodel, create a business plan, find an SBA loan, get licensed in P&C and start thinking seriously about the future of Larson & Associates,, yes I know, catchy name.. SalChris Productions is still my freelance business, and will continue to be so.. 2.5 is starting to speak a little more clearly every day, soon he’ll be rattling non-stop superlatives at break neck speed.. or something…. 6.8 is on a mini-vacation with Mom and Gramma somewhere in the middle of Kansas, where I understand the heat is beating down mercilessly on the plains..

Goals for rest of the week, include the above business stuff and finding a way to humanely dispose of a very persistent mole who has made a mockery of my already mock-able lawn.. Writing a business plan will be my most challenging project as I’ve never attempted one, and am researching how exactly one creates a business plan, what it involves, and how many innocent plans will be strewn about in crumpled balls of frustration.

Taking the spray painted finish off some mid-century finds C got in a thrift store that we are going to redo either in stain or perhaps chalk finish for resale.. finding a way to create a neat lampshade from a wire basket that once held golf balls.

Making sure the Drake under my Peony bush has plenty of space to hatch her ducklings, we have 9 eggs under the bush and that would be really something neat to see..

Ahhh The Birthday

Milestone birthday today I guess, 55.  Or is it?.. you start to think to yourself, wow, I’m 5 years away from 60.. crap!.. I’m at odds with my career, do I start my own business? Is it too late in my life to do this?  My answer is NO its not too late and I am going to start my own business. You are as young as you feel, and that means I’m still feeling 30ish.. with a 6.8 and a 2.5 year old in my life, they force me to think younger, to know that I can do this, they drive my ambition, my outlook, my life, I have to have some legacy to leave them. God help me live to be 100, just so I can watch them thrive and grow. C starts a new chapter in her career life, working with her mom and I really believe she’ll be great at it.. Until I can get our business going, then I think I’ll need her expertise to help me grow our business. I’ve done a lot research in the last two weeks, trying to make a decision.. think I have, Go Independent, more products, less start up cost, more opportunity to serve my community and clients… I’ll share this new life adventure as it becomes more of a reality than a dream..

J-Day 7

Big day today, it was the last day of Kindergarten for 6, he’s officially a first grader, and I’m sure he’s just as excited as we are. Baseball in full swing for him and 2 will be right on his heels I’m sure.. Big decisions to be made in coming weeks and months. I have a goal in mind that I have to follow through on and I hope we make the right decision. I am confident God will guide us to the place we need to be. I put all my faith in His hands,, or Hers,,( I don’t know, I’ve not yet met God and don’t plan on it for at least 50 years)

Been working  on some improvements to our home with C, we’ve redone a powder room and laundry room, now starting on living room

Would love to create some furniture, along the lines of SteamPunk style, kinda like this shelf we made out of gas line pipe and pine scarred and stained. Need the YardCrashers dude to come fix my backyard though 🙂  wonder how to go about doing that…

J-Day 5, 6

Wow, unless you really keep on stuff like this, time just moves way too quickly.. Memorial day weekend brought a couple of goals  to a close, we started the reno on the living room, scrapped all the popcorn off ceiling, sanded the faux wood beams down to re-stain, took cabinet that blocked view from living to kitchen out and definitely changed the the flow of the room. The Fung Shei is strong in this area now or whatever the kids are calling it now..

We took 6 and 2 to the cemetery to lay flowers at the graves of their Great Grandfather Rollie and to their aunt Whitney, it is hard to imagine that 10 years have passed since that awful day when the news of her accidental death devastated our families. We do know in our hearts, she kissed the foreheads of our sons before God gave them to us, so we know she is always there watching. It’s faith like this that keeps the threads that weave our family together strong.

We have ducklings (well technically they’re still in eggs, but still…) the drake laid her 9 eggs under our huge Peonies bush and has been keeping them warm, hope they all survive, it will be fun to see them walking out of our yard into the lake, and it will be a great teaching moment for 6.

My mom is soon to be on her way driving across country with her sister headed to Nebraska, I think this is probably the last time they’ll make that drive, I’m not really comfortable with them driving such long distances. She’ll stay a couple of days and then head back to Arizona. We don’t get to spend much time with them as they live so far away and it costs way too much to fly there.. Maybe a train ride to Phoenix would be a fun trip.. have to check that out..

Goals this week: Get Part D plan written for client and apply at State Farm

Narrate another chapter in this long novel , and promote the current crop of my audio books on social media.