Security Breach at the SSUVFL!

 The SSUVFL stands for Super Secret Undisclosed Virus Free Location. It's what we call our little oasis deep in the woods of Minnesota. We love our land for the privacy, the peace and quiet that surrounds us and not to mention the abundant wildlife that we share it with. It is so wooded that we cannot see our neighbors at all. Being secluded like we are we have to take some extra measures as to not attract any meth-heads who want to set up a meth lab in the middle of our woods. 

So with the measures we have taken you can imagine our surprise when a vehicle drives down our driveway, past our house and into the woods it went. Let me take you back to the other day.

It's around 9 o'clock at night. I am in the spare bedroom watching TV. That's where I like to watch shows with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood in them while the missus watches her soaps in the living room. From my window in the bedroom you get a perfect view of the driveway and much to my surprise out of the corner of my eye I see headlights coming down the driveway. I yell to the missus "Gladys! put your bloomers on! We have company!" Not knowing who it could be at this hour, I walk to the front door to continue watching.

Would you drive down a road in the dark that looked like this? Maybe I need to play banjo music.

Most people will see the house and then drive to it. So I waited to see who could be interrupting my John Wayne movie marathon. But they did not turn to the house but they continued on into the woods beyond. "Gladys! Sound the alarms! They went into the woods!" Sirens start blaring, flashing lights turn on everywhere. A voice over our intercom starts bellowing "Alarm red! I repeat, alarm red! To battle stations!" I throw on my emergency shorts and start to head out the door to chase them down in the Ranger. I grab the closest gun I could get which happened to be a .38 snub nose revolver that's usually close by and jump into the Ranger. 

Living deep in the woods like we are I am our first responder whether I like it or not. The road into our woods only goes about 100 yards farther but then turns into ATV trails. So I get near the end of the road and see lights starting to turn around. Not knowing who this person is or how many might be in the vehicle made me a little nervous. So I pull up in front of them with my lights shining into the vehicle and I see a woman as the only person inside. I then pull alongside and ask her what she's doing out here. She said she was looking for her dog. I said we would keep an eye out for it but have not seen anything since we have cameras at the front. She then left with me following behind to make sure. 

After the incident it made me think. That lady had to be pretty brave or pretty stupid to just start driving into peoples properties. We have a sign at the beginning of our driveway that says Private Drive. Then after that you get to a gate that has a sign that says No Trespassing.

And finally not going to our house and telling us her situation? If she would have come to the door it would have saved us from having a potential heart attack. Secondly, should I have for just such a situation something more than a .38 snub nose revolver? What if the sh*t were to hit the fan? This world is getting crazy. For this situation it was fine because it just stayed on the seat in a case. If I would have showed up with, say my Zombie Slayer 3000 it might have freaked her out. The Zombie Slayer 3000 is my Zombie Apocalypse/Alien attack gun.

This is my AR build I'm working on. It's got a red dot scope on top. Offset iron sights in case the battery dies or there is an EMP. I have attached a bayonet that's really cool and I need to get a light laser combo for it. I then just have to sit and wait for the zombies/aliens. I hope I don't have to wait long though.

On a more personal note. I have reached some milestones this year. Some that I just don't know if I need to reach. For starters turning 62 and collecting Social Security. Secondly having our friends teach us to play Bingo like we are sitting in a retirement home or something. And thirdly my race to becoming decrepit is complete. In a nutshell. I fell. Not gracefully either.

I was mowing some brush on the property with a walk behind weed whacker. I was cutting a 4 foot tall thistle and it fell right on top of the mower. Being a thistle, I didn't want to use my hand to knock it off, so I used my foot to kick it off. Of course my foot gets tangled into the cable that runs through there. Then my world went into slow motion. I fell backwards trying not to land on my wrist that is already injured. So I landed on my elbow. To make it worse I fell on thistles I already cut down. So then I was picking thistle barbs out of my leg and arm. Luckily no one saw me. Next stop, the nursing home I guess. I bet they have butterscotch pudding there.

Until then.

Trying to Catch Up

 I am so far behind on the blog that some readers thought that I had unexpectedly passed away. I assure you that I am alive and well (mostly well anyways). So here goes a quick abridged version of our goings on.

I left the world hanging about our April trip to the Blackhills of SD. We went out there because our "Good" friends wanted to throw me a surprise birthday party! Although telling us in advance really doesn't make it a surprise. But I will take what I can get. I turned 62 this year! That means that I can start collecting Social Security! Maybe I can finally quit slinging soup and enjoy the little things in life. Maybe even some of the finer things also since I am now collecting 3 retirement checks. Raking in the money.

So we went to the Blackhills with our new travel trailer and stayed at Jim and Barbs for a week. I guess since I was turning 62 they thought that they should teach me how to play Bingo. Being the respectful adult  that I am when it comes to dealing with people so much older than myself I just nodded and went along with it. Along with their friends Dan and Bonnie, we all went out to one of the local taverns where the bingo session was taking place. 

Dan, Bonnie, Barb and Jim.

It was a fun evening. Jim and Barb taught us how to handle the daubber so that we could daub like the best for them. I think if I remember right Barb or Bonnie won one game and got some bar merchandise or something of that sorts. Finally the last game was a blackout game that was worth several thousands of dollars. This is how close Lisa was to winning it.

We thought that if Lisa would have one we would have been chased out of town by the angry villagers with pitchforks and torches.  At the party itself, It was again Dan and Bonnie, Jim and Barb and Lisa and I. If you count the dogs that makes eight of us all together. Biggest Party I have ever had. Dan and Bonnie gave me a box of 9mm shells which didn't last a day when I got home but they were greatly appreciated. Jim and Barb gave me an awesome T-shirt.

I actually made $1.00 selling it at our garage sale. Thanks Jim and Barb! But I wasn't the only one getting gifts that day. I gave Jim and Barb a gift. Just a token of my friendship.

It was a coaster set with pictures of me in them. Four different pictures so that they can see my beautiful face every day and be reminded of me. The gift that keeps on giving. It was a fun filled week and then it was time to head home. Soup season was about to begin and that pretty much consumes most of our days.

This season we have cut out a lot of events that weren't worth the effort. So we are working fewer events but they are better events and we are still making about the same amount of money. When I am not slinging soup I have decided to build a shed on our property. Never having done one before I think it is coming along pretty well. I started in early June with just an idea I had inside my mind.

Started with a size. 10 X 16

Plywood floor.

Started building walls.

Shed walls completed.

There's a shed on one side and the other side will be a lean to.

The ceiling joists up.

The roof is on.

Most of the steel is on now.

I am about 90% done as of today. It is going along better than I thought. I mean when you hire "Cripple Guy Construction" you just never know how it will end up. (Cripple Guy Construction is me for those who may not have known.) I just have some trim work to figure out and to build my door for it. It will be nice to get some of the equipment we have out of the barn and into the shed so we can have some room to move around.

On a more personal note. The reason that I have had the energy to do that kind of project is that I am on a GLP-1 drug. After my hip replacement surgery and the complication that followed, along with my Achilles problem, I have not been able to get up and move for any type of exercise at all. At one point I could barely make walking through Walmart. My weight increased a lot more than I would have ever liked, but it did. So I was prescribed Zepbound in February. To date I have lost 56 pounds. My energy levels are back and I am feeling pretty good. I have some other nagging issues and am trying to work through those.

This drug is pretty amazing. They say it takes away all of the food noise and that it does. I have no cravings what so ever. I don't get any hunger pains. Sometimes I just have to eat something or else I could just skip many meals altogether. Which is weird because I loved food as I am sure you could tell. Side effects have been minimal. Giving myself a shot weekly has been fine because it is an auto injector that I just stab myself with. They say that you can't eat anything deep fried because of the grease. Take my word for it. It is true. I ate an order of French fries once and my body rejected it very quickly. LOL. Lesson learned. 

Now we are into August all ready. The summer has flown by. I shall try to do better with updates in the future. My bad.