T. Reeder - The Free Republic of Texas 2015 AD

All these things while not really for making a big profit would be able to pay for themselves while also be a much needed source of jobs for the locals who need one.

We all liked the idea of the “Mall” as we were already calling it, and as the land was owned by the ranch we didn‘t have to contend with anybody else opening a business right in the middle of our prepping plans.

We also thought about offering the Jonas brothers a shop building with everything to keep the fleet of ranch vehicles running while making a living with the garage and it would be bigger and more modern then their old shade tree shop with all the goodies to prefab just about anything that we might need down the road.

All these things would take money to start up but would also bring a return down the road which while not our main goal but would fit nicely with the plan overall.

We arrived home and decided to have lunch at Miss Ellie’s, it was a late lunch and she wasn’t too busy to join us and hear all we had gotten done, she was thrilled with the idea of having a doctor in town, even a young one, we told her about the Mall idea and she was all for it as long as we didn’t put in a café, which was good for a laugh because anybody trying to make it in a café here in this town would starve because Miss Ellie had the place locked down tight.

She got on the phone and called the garage and asked the brothers to come over for a cup of coffee and some pie, I swear the phone wasn’t down 2 seconds when those ol boys tore the screen door off the hinges storming in.

Now when both them boys was in the same room it got real small real fast, both were well over 6 ft and both weighed in at about 270 with not enough fat between them to fry an egg, and both were as black as the inside of a black dog as they liked to put it. after they got settled down Miss Ellie brought out a pie, notice I said “a “pie, not “some” pie, each got a half and while we talked, they ate, it was like watching two big ol hungry wolves going after a sheep, not a nice picture but a true picture.

Miss Ellie had just about raised them boys while their daddy worked, their mother had took off one day 20 odd years before and never come back, but Miss Ellie sure made it up with her love, those two were like her own flesh and she would have fought anything that come at them, not that anybody but a bear might want to try them, one thing for sure they could sure eat pie! Sing just stared with open unabashed admiration at the way them boys handled that pie.

After they were done and settled back with fresh cups of coffee and the last customer had left Ellie sat with us and she explained what we had in mind for them if they chose to make the move to the big new garage, both sat and listened with no interruptions until she was done.

Their names were Peter and Paul being as their daddy was a devout member of the nearby Southern Baptist church, most folks had trouble telling them apart so both were called Jonas, that worked just fine

They never even talked about it both just glanced at the other and then back to Jody and me and nodded yes, the only questions after that were about the shop and what they would have to work with, both were first rate mechanics who could make a better living in the city but were happy to be right here away from the problems of city life.

Jody told them to figure out what they would have if they were building their dream shop, tools, equipment, the works, they said they would get back to us in a couple of days and shaking hands all around they left much more quietly then they had arrived.

I couldn’t believe how fast we were going at this operation and the changes that would be coming that only a few knew about, but with Miss Ellie and the brothers Jonas on board we knew that base was covered.

It was now time to get moving on the building project, this was going to require some expert help in designing just what we wanted so we gave Sing the job of looking for just the right firm to handle the drawings and the work when ready, we wanted small firms who would be grateful for the work and less prone to talk too much as they were coming from a goodly ways away.

Two days later the Brothers came out to the ranch and we sat on the porch with iced tea and they showed us their list, it covered every possible thing that two really good hands on fabricator / mechanics could need or want to build almost anything.

Both looked a bit stressed about the size of the list but we put them at ease by asking if they were sure this was all they needed and what had they left off because of money worries, they fooled us by bringing out a second list which they called the dream list, one thing for sure, this shop would handle everything we could ask of it.

The Garage should have the ability to pay the brothers a better living then they had now, plus the expenses of the business, any profit would be banked for leaner times, but if the lean times ate up more then there was then the ranch would float it until it got back on line.

In the mean time we would have a sound fleet of vehicles that even an EMP couldn’t mess with. Not to mention all the other perks of having your own shop.

Sing had found three firms happy to bid on the entire job after seeing what we wanted. I asked her if one already had the job and the other two were just window dressing which got me a wonderful smile and a glass of water over the head! The girl was fun for sure!

The three of us now had to decide on just what else we needed to look at, vehicles of course, we wanted older rigs that had no or very few computer chips in them, all should be diesel and 4 wheel drive heavy duty crew cab trucks 3/4 ton or bigger, rigged to go anyplace and do whatever needed done to get there.

As we saw it we needed tuff trucks, no citified chick chasers for us. What make we left up to the brothers who said to stick with Fords as the Ford trucks were the biggest sellers therefore more parts available plus more in the wrecking yards that could be gone thru if the SHTF.

This was being left to the brothers, they would check with us when it was time to start after the building was done.

The next step while we waited for the contractors was to lay out the building projects around the ranch house area, Green houses, bigger barns, and all the out buildings we would need to survive and to keep the live stock alive. It was going to be a big job, and a long one, but fun too in a way!

Things really started moving, like warp speed as ol Capt. Kirk used to say, the contractors showed up three days in a row, all were looking good so we split it up with the biggest one doing the Mall as we called it, the other two were building the ranch stuff, one outfit on the new barns etc and the other doing the green houses.

The Green house bunch had a bit of a problem with the earth bag idea but once it was laid out for them they got with it, Sing had also found a couple who did small “Green” projects, which included a lot of earth bag stuff so she hired them to oversee the work as it went up, we had decided the upper part of the Green Houses would be a sturdy framework of 2x6’s with a heavy duty clear plastic membrane sort of stuff that would resist tearing and most other things but would not shatter and fall on the people working inside, plus if needed it could be patched with good ol Duct tape, how simple is that?

All we had to do was stock plenty of lumber and plastic and we could rebuild the Greenies as often as we had too, nobody asked why we had 5 ft walls of earth bags for the greenies, but we were ready with the “saving the earth” answer, we didn’t think saying they were bullet proof was a good idea!

The stock barns were also earth bag walls but went up to 8 ft, and were sitting on concrete footings, then coated with concrete, sealed and back filled on a slope away from the wall and the roof soffet would hang out 3 feet, the flooring inside would be earth compacted to the hardness of concrete almost, the roofs were heavy duty steel roofing, there was to be a place inside for all the stock if needed as shelter from whatever, all the roofs would have power washer to wash off anything bad that might fall from the sky…. Bad thought… also all the metal roofs were set up for rain water retrieval, and would fill large tanks under the barns, which could provide water to the critters if needed during any kind of problem that might stop the power to the wells, which was unlikely with the 3 big generators being set up in the power house building which would be set up by a different firm after the building crews had left.