today we just kind of hung out and swapped stories. I gave monte the guns I found in freds house as they rightfully belonged to him. He seemed surprised I found them. He said he had searched the house before leaving and found nothing. It was odd.

Also today we had the first fresh milk since a few days after the infection. Dad had captured and slowly tamed one of the neighbors milk cows. He had fresh milk, and they had learned how to make cheese as well. Me and Matt decided to stay the day and night and pull out in the morning. Dad gave us several wheels of cheese they had made in the fall and fresh pork from a pig they had butchered. We asked about rolling through hettinger. Dad said there wasnt anyone alive that he knew of, and they made weekly trips for supplies. I wanted to check on a couple guys I knew there. We packed up everything and spent our last night shooting the breze and drinking some fine iced tea made by aunt June.

this morning I felt much better. I hadnt slept much but I felt I was past it now. The world we live makes you a hard person. Feelings are expensive and you keep them in check. If you dont, it can cost you your life. You lock them up in a tiny corner of your mind and only let them out when its safe to do so. Dad had saved several chickens so we had eggs, ham and fried potatos for breakfast. Me and Matt both ate heartily. We spent most of the day recounting our lives since the infection. Dad was quite choked up after I told the story of the dead head horde that nearly did us in. He said he would like to meet Jay sometime.

Dad talked about the first summer and the sickness. It was bad. Nearly half the survivors were wiped out by it. Once it had passed, it was gone. There had been other travelers and none of them had gotten sick. Kim and Monte had deicded to leave Lemmon after the sickness as people there started acting strange and some of them started living a communal lifestyle in the school gym. They said it was a bizarre existence with nightly wife swapping and other odd behavior. Matt told of the religious people he had run into. Dad said there occasional church serivces but none since the sickness. Monte then took me aside for a while. He said we needed to talk. I noticed he was wearing one of the 9mm pistols I had left at dads house. He had always been kind of a fudd when it came to guns. Only hunting style rifles, no semi-autos etc. I wanted to play told-you-so in the worst way but I thought better of it. He said my wife spoke of me after the outbreak and the fact my planning ahead that so many of the family made great fun of me for had probably saved all their lives. He said that all the ammo and weapons I had laid in had helped drive off dead heads and a group of bandits that attacked the farm. He apologized profusely for all the sport thye had of me in the past but I waved him off and told him not to worry aobut it. Petty shit like that doesnt fly in this world. You put aside stupid differences and plow on if you want to survive. That night we all had a drink and toasted to absent companions.

Well we made Lemmon today. I had high hopes when I saw smoke coming from the high school. They were dashed when a few stragglers walked out to greet us. The only person I recognized was the owner of the bowling alley in town. He didnt seem to know me until I told him my name. I asked about my family and he said he knew nothing. His body language said otherwise but I couldnt get anyhting out of him. We rode over to their house. It was a basic ruin. Part of the roof had caved in and it was obviosly uninhabited. I searched where I could and found nothing. There wer the remains of paper notes on the fridge but thyere unreadable. All the weapons I had stored were gone (not surprising) but the gun cases were intact and not broken in. I had hopes they had been taken by my family when they left. We checked the grandparents houses and found the same. Neglect and decay of a year with no repairs. I did find several guns in grandpa freds house and cased them to take back with me. They were nothing special but I wanted them anyway. We stopped back at the high school but none seemed interested in us. We had been there less than an hour and decided to pull out for my parents farm in lodgepole.

we went cross country to avoid any posible problem crossing into ND. It took a little longer and some complicated navigation but we got there. the farm looked just like it always did. Everything was kept up and in good shape. We rode up to the house not expecting much. I was totally dumbfounded when Dad walked out. We kind of stood there for am awkward moment and then hugged hard. Matt walked over and I introduced him. Dad invited us in. I was blown away when I walked in the house. There was both of the parents in law, my uncle Vaughn, aunt and uncle Bill and June and my brother in law Mike. The absences were quite conspicuous. Mom, my wife and daughter, aunt Gene and sister were all missing from the equation. Dad motioned for me to come outside. In the backyard where the apple trees were were their graves. Dad said that the first sumer after the infection, some kind of sickness tore through the area. No one knew what it was or how to stop it. If you got sick, you died within hours. It was random who it took and who it didnt. You simply feel into a feverish coma and never awoke. It was a crushing blow for me. Dad held me for a while, and I needed it. We walked back into the house and the other had some food ready. Potatoes, meat and some greens. I didnt feel much like eating but mechanically fed myself. Dad had built a fireplace on the south side of the house and it had a merry fire burning away. Matt asked me if I was OK and I shook my head. I needed a littel time.

Im writing tonite from a tent near Morristown SD. One of our sleds broke down on the trip to lemmon. It was a simple cracked fuel line, but we had to leave the sled and scrounge a chunk of line from morristown and the light was gone by the time we got it fixed. We decided to camp in a small copse of trees about half a mile off higway 12. the trip was bascially uneventful until the breakdown. We saw several burned out cars and trucks along the way. We hope to push through to Lemmon in the morning.

Not much to write tonite. Me and Matt worked all day laying in supplies for the tirp. We've decided to run two sleds for the trip for several reasons. One to eliminate the need to pull a sled and two if one of the sleds broke down we could tow it with the other. We found a nice twin track wheel horse sled in a garage across town that had a lrage cargo compartment. Perfect for us. We loaded down and got ready to move out in the morning.

We spent most of the day discussing my idea and this is the plan we came up with. We have roughly eight to ten weeks of time before the river ice breaks up. This is my time frame to go west. Me and Matt will gear up tomorrow and tuesday and head west on wedsday. One day to lemmon, one day there, one day to lodgepole, one day there (if needed) one day back to lemmon, one day back to mobridge is our minimum time frame. Add a day for problems and you get a week. Maximum is 21 days. After that Jay and Jed would mount a rescue mission and come after us. We worked up a provison load for 14 days. If we needed the full three weeks we'd either be cut down to minimum rations or scavenge food. We would both carry similar weapons so ammo loadout would be compatible and interchangable. We gave Matt a FPW for this. His M4 already used the same magazine and we gave him extra. We also cased and took along a 30-06 bolt action with scope for long range work. We also packed up plenty of camping supplies in case we found no one and had to make do for oursleves.

Ive been thinking. now that Matt and Jed are here, one or two of us could leave to check up on the outside world and our families and still have two back here to guard the fort. I know Jay wants to head east to check out his clan and i want to go west to lemmon and lodgepole to check my family. you could make the ride in one day to lemmon, granted it would be a hard day but you could do it. another day to go to lodgepole and and a day back on each leg. its doable. we'd have to pull a good sled with supplies and gear but we could do it. we'll discuss this all tomorrow and come up with a plan.

it was cold again today. the sun was out but it was minus degrees all day. we mostly hung around the house and shot the breeze. Jed found my old heroscape toys and fell in love with them. i guess they were just what the kid needed as he played with them all afternoon. he fell aslep for a bit and then bounced right back up and back onto what he was doing. Matt found my bookshelves downstaris and i told him to help himself. he spent the evening burind in my copy of "harry potter and the deatly hallows". Jay kept to himself most of the day. i kinda got the feeling he maybe was having a bit of the "meloncholies" as i put it. Those feelings we get now of what was and lilely will never be again. it get to a guy after a while. you learn to cope with it, but somedays it really bugs you that rides at disneyland will probably never move again, we'll never see another bottle of good french wine and sadly, we'll never see another new epeisode of NCIS.

The boys slept late. i think it was past ten when they finally woke. they ate some chips and other odds and ends. Matt wanted to get his sled ready to move and i went outside with him. I told him there was nothing left in peirre and if he wanted he could stay here. Me and Jay had talked late after they had gone to bed and worked something out. I told Matt they were welcome as long as they pulled thier share, with the caveat we could askl them to leave if something happened. Matt agreed.

Jed nodded his assent when informed of the agreement. we gave them one of the back bedrooms and took them around town to get any gear the might need. Both were short or clothing and helped themselves at alco and andersons. we also loaded in some extra chow and other supplies. I asked Jed if he wanted a better weapon and he refused. he said he was comforatble with his shotgun.

that night i dug out the last can of hersheys syrup, some condensed milk and malt and made "dead head milkshakes". the boys loved them. it was bit like i had my family back.

whew its been a big two days. first of all the biggest news. two survivors from Bismarck ND arrived yesterday. Two brothers, Matt and Jed. they rode a snomobile down the frozen river all the way here. we'll take it from the top.

it was late afternoon and Jay was up on the barricade popping rounds at a dead head that had wandered up and started hollerin for me. i thought maybe he needed help and came a foggin' with my FPW. Instead of a dead head he had spotted a snomobile. i grabbed a flare gun from the nearest firing point and shot a red multi star in the sky. the sled slowed turned and headed our way. Jay relaoded and i flipped off the safety. We had no idea. the sled pulled up and two kids got off. One couldnt have been more than 11 or 12. they were well armed. both had glock pistols, the taller of the two had a M4 and was dressed in desert camo. the younger had a cut down youth 20 ga pump shotgun and both had packs. the sled was loaded heavy with ammo cans and a long gun case. the two dismounted and the older walked up to the barricade. jay lowered the ladder and i climbed down.

"Howdy."

"Hello. Um, can we trade for some gas? we're about dry."

I grinned. "theres plenty for the asking. You guys hungry?"

the younger of the two perked up at this. I waved them over to teh ladder.

"What about our sled?"

I motioned for Jay to open the barricade. "run er' in and Jay will close up behind you."

"can we keep our guns?"

"Heck yeah. this aint no place to be unarmed."

Jay fired the cat and moved the barricade. the older of the two ran the sled inside while the younger covered him. these two had been around the bend a time or two by the look of things. the younger had a predatory look about him that belied wisdom beyond his years. the older looked as though he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. All too common now.

He killed the engine and climbed off. the younger looked at me and Jay hard. "come on boys. we got plenty of chow. Jay fire up the genny and we'll cook." Jay nodded and went to crank it up.

We cooked potatoes, ham and tomato soup. the two boys ate like wolves. the older looked at us a littel self conciously and i smiled. "Eat your fill. Theres more where that came from." He smiled and laid into his plate. when they were finished we cleaned up and retired to the living room. There was a balnket across the top fo the couch and the younger asked if he could borrow it.

"ill one up you. theres a made bed in the back room. its a littel cool but help yourself." his eyelids were heavy and he plodded off to bed. The older nodded his thanks. Jay brought out a bottle of schnapps and three glasses. He poured three glasses and handed them to us.

"To us. to being alive." we clinked glasses and drank. it was a good moment.

The young man sipped his drink. "well i guess i best fill you in. its been a hell of a year eh?" We nodded our assent. "I lived in bismarck for the last ten years. mom and dad both worked in management and my sister worked at home depot. i was a junior when the shit went down. Jed was just a kid. he had to grow up mighty fast." He grimaced and took a swig. "there was a group of about 15 survivors that shacked up in a third story apartment complex. Mom and sis got cught up in the first infections so all that was left was Me Jed and dad. it was...ugly there in teh first weeks. Dad had to shoot several survivors who tried to riad our apartments. it was a war zone. after about a week the water gave out and we had to forage for more. Dad got wounded in a gun battle with bandits. i ended up doing most of the scavenging with Jed. then a group of religious people showed up and took over the fourth floor. mormons or something liek that. they spent alot of time praying and such. Im not much of a church person i guess. they shared what food and supplies they scrounged and we kept the zombies at bay. they were anti gun i guess cause they had no weapons and refused the few we tried to give them. little by littel the zombies got them all the first summer. one of the women went whacko and jumped off the roof. that was messy. Dad wouldnt let jed look at it. they moved away after that and we never saw them again. a group of mixed people replaced them after a couple weeks. they were drunks. Bad drunks. they partied every night. one got drunk and came after me and Jed shot him with his shotgun. i took his M4 and his uniform. he may have been a soldier, i dont know. anyway things basically went on like that until three days ago. we had smelled something like gas fumes for a day or two. the refinery was shut down of course but there was still plenty of stuff around there that was flammable. Dad got worried and found the sled. he packe dit up and locked it int he downastrais garage.

the next day dad went out to dig around. about three hours later a huge explosion shook the whole frickin' city. We waited and waited for dad but he never came back. fires burned in the entire half of the city that was near the refinery, im assuming from buring debris. they got worse and worse over the next day and ahalf or so. when the block next to ours started burning, Me and Jed pulled out. we just made it to the river when another large explosion happened. we ran past the edges of town a full throttle with burning debris falling around us. it was unreal. i figured dad must have been killed in the explosion since he didnt come home. he was smart enough not to screw around with anything that might blow up but you never know now. We had enough fuel for around 200 miles but when we stopped at Fort yates to scrounge some extra chow, someone started shooting at us and punctured one of our spare fuel cans. we're just about bone dry now. My plan was to head for pierre as it was the capital i thought any type of structure would remain there. crappy idea but it was the best i could do."

He grinned then emptied his glass. Jay lifted the bottle and he nodded. Jay refilled his glass and he knocked it back. I cold see the kid was worn out hard.

"Theres another bed in the other back room if you're tired." he nodded.

"ill rack out with Jed. Help keep him warm." I nodded. There was a few nights id've liked a warm body to snuggle up to as well. "you guys keep a watch?"

"Not yet." i replied its still cold enough the dead heads are frozen at night. they need the sunlight before they thaw. gets a bit wormer we'll start running a night watch. the barricade is pretty much impenetrable but we do a perimiter run twice a night."

"If you need a watch, wake me." he siad.

I nodded. "Sleep. it looks like you could use it."

more tomorrow im tired, and a littel drunk.

inaugeration day. the day when we put our new president into office.

right now i dont think we have a president. i have heard nothing of any existence of a governemnt since the outbreak, besides the faxes i wrote aobut earlier. i monitor shortwave once in a while and have powered up a ham radio to listen globally but didnt pick up much past garbage. im not naive enough to belive that we are the only survivors, but we are few and far between, thats for sure.

yet another beautiful day. and it was despoiled by my first dead head sighting of the year. apprently the 35-40+ degree temps were enough to thaw out the ragged bastards for another year. i was feeling particularly pissed off at this interloper so with Jay covering my back, i went out and had me an old west hook and draw showdown. i found an old Colt SAA in a house across town complete with a gunfighter style fast-draw holster rig. there isnt much 45LC around but i found enough to fill all the loops in the belt and the gun. I (of course) had to yell out several classic western one liners (there isnt room in this town for the both of us etc.) before drawing and fanning the Colt like a wild west outlaw.

And after completely missing all five shots, and flipping Jay the bird for laughing his ass of at me, i finished the dead head with a second cylcinder full.

heres hoping for another frost or two.

very nice day today. the temp was up in the high 30s and snow was melting everywhere. no dead heads yet but the time is coming.

did i mention this is the weekend we held our dart tournament and i dont miss it a bit? i even took out my rimfire pistols and did a bit of plinking at empty pop cans today.

garbage is a continuing problem for us. we have a large steel dumpster but when it fills we have to fart around hauling it to the dump. over the winter we've been just throwing it in the back of the dump truck and when its full driving over to teh edge of town and dumping it. our scraps feed the birds and maybe we'll get some squirrels or some other small critters to show. eventually it will get to be too much but we've been doing that for over a year now and its still not much so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Now this is one weekend i dont mind the world having ended. This was the weekend we always held our regional dart tournament. it invarably ended in bar fights, arguments over dart scores, and lots of drunk morons. i can sit back, enjoy a 35 degree day, and soak up the sun.

finnaly started to warm up today. things started to melt, the roof thawed off and the sidewalks are showing through. we replaced the winter barricade gate with the regular one as we have ot start worrying about dead heads again. the Cat loader fired right up as it had been in the sun all day.

wicked migraine today. kept me down for most of the day. lots of aleeve and dark quite time is about the only cure. i feel a bit better now but im going back to bed shortly.

Do you remember that show "House"? You probably dont. it was a show about a doctor who diagnised all these bizzare diseases and maladies. Pretty good TV. it killed time. thats a big deal now. killing time.

in the winter we have nothing but time. time, time, time, time, time.

staring at four walls. we've read and re-read the books in the house over and over. you can only sit in front of the reloading press for so long before the monontony gets to you. No internet, No TV, No radio, no tunes (for the most part) i do fiddle around with a guitar i found but its BAD. guitar hero skills DO NOT transpose into a real guitar. i always wanted to learn how to play a bagpipe but never did.

lots of things i think about that i never did. never flew to rio for a weekend full of high dollar hookers and blow, never climbed mt everest or K2, hell never even went to disneyland or knotsberry farm for pete's sake.

woke up to heavy snow, high wind and bitter cold. God i miss the weather forecasting system.

im mostly over the flu but the remnants are still there. ugh.

ate the last of canned peaches in town today. That i can find anyway. i like peaches, they're one of the few things i can eat when sick and keep down. there are still pears and mandarin oranges but no more peaches. another "end of an era" moment. itll be many many moons (if ever) before we see peaches in this part of the world. we can grow apples and most types of berries here but no fruit like that.

Sigh.

Got enough juice to go outside for a bit today. Cool but not cold, light breeze and lots of sunshine. jay was busy with odds and ends around the house and yard. not much else to add.

still sick but getting better. ugh i hate the flu. i kinda wonder how it got here in the first place?

Ugh. I caught the flu Jay had a while back. Not fun. most of the gatorade is rancid but we have a few bottles left. it helps. cant hardly keep liquids down and no solids at all. abject misery.

We moved and chopped wood all day today. im tired and my back hurts. that is all.

nice day today. high 20s, no wind. i shoveled for several hours and cleared the walkways around the house. other than that i read a couple books, and hung out. I also compiled all the data on the outbreak i was albe to put together.

i read through the faxes i found at the clinic. they basically said that a new strain of extremely commuicable "virus of unknown origin" was sweeping unchecked across the country. the virus could be spread by body fluids of any kind, including sweat, saliva and tears. infected subjects were to be quarrantined and hospital personnel were to have no contact with them whatsoever for any reason, including lifesaving measures. Apprently efforts to revive infected subjects in other hospitals had resulted in infected hospital personnel. they re-animated shortly after and spread the infection through bites, and other means. several major hospitals had been completely lost due to lifesaving efforts.

the government had shut down all the major traffic routes in and out of the country and closed the interstate highways to all traffic to prevent the spread of the infection. in later stages of the day of infection they dropped bridges, shot down unresponsive aitcraft and destroyed ships and small watercraft with missiles to prevent the spread. Armed forces manned roadblocks also shot up cars and trucks that refused to stop for searches and used LAW rockets on any cargo vehicles that didnt stop. as the governemtn lost control of areas they attmepted to cordon off the completely infected areas with little effect. The speed at which the virus spread baffled all communicable disease experts, and defied any means of eradication or sterilization. the only effective means of detroying it was heat. 135 degrees farenheight generated 95% mortaility and 170 degrees farenheight generated 99.9% mortaility. 200 degrees created full 100% mortaility in test subjects, but it also killed the human hosts in all testing. the fax didnt say anyhting further on the virus and just gave a bunch of standard viral safety precautions and some beuracratic BS as well. there were also half a dozen pages of gibberish that were faxed from the FBI to the hospital administration office. the gibberish could have been a coded fax sent to the wrong machne or just random gibberish. i have no clue which.

there was a fax i found in the sherriffs office detailing the international efforts to control the virus, it also contained a global SITREP. this significantly out of the ordinary and i can only surmise it was disseminate information as far as possible before the communications system fell aprt. the chinese, indians, pakistanis, russians and the south africans all resorted to the use of tacitcal nuclear weapons to attempt control. al efforts failed and resulted in the deaths of millions of uninfected people. china used several strategic nuclear devices in the rural northern areas of the country to cut off the norther populace (which was heavily infected) from pushing south into the populated areas. Russia detonated one, a 300 megaton plus "super-bomb" in the heart of moscow, which at that time was heavily infected. The government lost most of thier stalitte assets after the EMP from the massive explosion wiped them out. Before one NRO sat died it transmitted two pictures of the moscow crater. They depicted a landscape wiped clean of anything and a viod in the ground that rivaled the grand canyon. the shockwave was felt across the entire planet and the fallout covered the entire asian continet and hte majority of the pacific ocean. Luckily for the US the material used in the bomb were heavier than normal fallout and sank out of the atmosphere more quickly than normal.

Despite that, the enitrety of indo-china, southeast asia, most of ausitrailia, japan and all of southern china were heavily irradiated. the only portion of china to escape was a small section of the northern area where mostly nomadic Tungusic people lived. the fact it survived was that a freak loop in the jetstream pushed 99% of the radioactive materials south and east, covering japan. the kamchatka peninsula survived the radioactivity but was completley infected after a cruise ship beached itself near a military naval port after becoming infected and the captain (in his dying moves) aimed the ship twoards the nearest landmass. All human eminations ceased within eight hours.

According to the fax, besides the south african nuclear efforts, africa itself was a black hole of information. Complete lack of anything. South america degenerated into a mass of warring factions in a matter of hours after the infection began. Littel data was availble but what there was indicated massive infrastructure damage and almost total infection. As of 1800 hours that day, all human eminations ceased. the central american countries fared much the same.

the odd duck out of the bunch was panama. the last ELINT (electronic intelligence) DHS got out there was the defenses were holding and the canal was secured. Infection was holding steady and the infected areas were in the process of being "sterilized", (your guess is as good as mine on how they did that). According to satalite images taken several hours later, security permiter walls were in place around governemtnal buildings and the canal secuirty zone was holding. the last images taken of panama before the DIA bird fell to the russian blasts EMP field was of panamanian troops securing naval facilities on the eastern coast and the atlantic end of the canal with troops securing it.

Alaska and canada with thier naturally colder temperatures saw the virus spread as fast as any other area but not the massive collateral damage that resulted in warmer climates. the population suffered the same masive die off as any other area but the dead heads froze solid within a coule of hours.

the middle east was a massive blur of violence. the entire region dissolved into a writhing orgy of death and destruction. Many US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan loaded onto planes (some hijacked) and headed home. most of these aircraft were shot down upon reaching US airspace due to fear of infection and lack of proper clearnce codes. ground assests were mostly destroyed. Nuclear detonations were detected in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Syria, turkey and Jordan. Reports of Chemical warfare filtered through just before all communications ceased when a large EMP device blanketed the entire region with electrical energy, detroying almost all electronic devices. Satalite photgraphy was minimal over the area and only a few images made it back. those depicted massive infection, burning oil wells, and a huge oil spill that covered a third of the medditerannian.

Militarily the entire planet was wiped out. the russians irradiated the vast majority of thier hemisphere with the massive moscow blast. the naval asests that werent irradiated in the pacific (mostly sub fleets of various nations) sank each other in sub on sub warfare after command and control failed and sub captains moved on their own initative. Most of the atlantic surface assest were recalled by thier home contries and any surviving US assets were commanded to return to Norfolk Naval Station at flank speed. Several altercations between surface craft of various nations operating in the atlantic resulted in more than a dozen ships sunk and the SOSUS nets indicated limited sub warfare. Shortly after the Norfolk recall order a nuclear weapon of unknown origin detonated at the main gate of norfolk. After that, Cheyenne mountain assumed command and control authority and told any surviving surface or subsurface naval assets to report to Guam (it escaped irradiation by a narrow margin and as of the report was 100% infection free) through the panama canal If possible. If not possible the captains were to assume command of thier vessels and "defend the coasts of the United States, and attempt to control the spread of infection at any cost". Shortly thereafter NORAD ceased transmitting.

Mount weather was infected shortly after the beginning of the outbreak by a civilian employee and the Continuity of government plan fell apart. The president never made it to any of the aircraft designated for his use as the infection took over the air base where they were waiting for him before he reached it. Nightwatch crew launched thier aircraft after all ground personnell were infected and attempted to access the aircraft. Air Force One was infected on the ground and shortly thereafter caught fire and exploded on the tarmac. The president escaped mount weather shortly before the facility was sealed and at last report had dissapeared into the virginia mountians near Blumont. It can be assumed that he either had a classified secure location there to hole up in or it was a last ditch panic move by the secret service to aviod infected people.

According to the report at this point all other COG personnell were either missing, infected or dead and command and control ceased to exist. The DHS command center in washington complied the report, transmitted it to all stations and federal offices, and ceased operation. All local DHS offices were to assume local command if possible and to minimize effects of infection. All surviving military forces were to defer command to the local DHS agents in charge unless a officer of Colonel rank or higher was still in command. All federal agencies were to defer authority to the DHS or military command in charge of the local area. Police and private security forces were to follow the orders of thier chiefs or employers respectivly and to do anyhting nessecary to prevent the spread of infection.

At this point the fax degenrated into a mass of random letters, numbers and characters. I assume this hapened due to massive overload of the telecom system. it continued for seven pages, none of which was readble. the last twenty pages of the fax were satalite photos, infection and death estimates and recovery projections. None of it was good. The recovery projections showed that unless a COG certified person could take governmental control within one year of the start of the infection, there was less than a 5% chance the US would survive as a country.

Its been a year. No government. Bye bye USA. Depressing aint it?

being as its the new year (and me and Jay desperatly needed a morale boost) we charged up my laptop with teh solar panels and inverter and watched a bunch of NCIS episodes i downloaded years ago. Nothing like two grown men, sitting around a laptop on the kitchen table, spellbound by the antics of Gibbs, Dinozzo and Abby. We evne had chips, dip and cold soda we left outside for few minutes.

Cold. Wind. Snow. all in copious quanitities. i hate winter. everything we shoveled out is now packed full again. Hey at least ill get some good muscles out of this.

God im hung over. the one thing in this godawful hell hole we live in that DOESNT spoil is liquor. the beer went over months ago (except the guiness for some odd reason, but i drank all of that in town within the first few months) and the hard stuff and wine is all thats left. i found several nice cheateau' LaFeyettes' in a house across town. never knew anyone here had the tastes for 1000$ a bottle wine. i think before long itll be just the distilled spirits left. most of the wine ive found this winter has frozen and burst. the schnapps kinda turns to jell-o but doesnt explode. the pop thats left is well.....Odd. diet soda went over in short order, maybe eight to ten weeks and it was shit. regular falvored pop like sunkist, mountain dew etc etc lasted six to eight months before going bad (we drank most of it before it went bad) but pepsi, coke and generic cola are all still good. must have something to do with the acidic nature of it. some of it has frozen and burst, some of it hasnt.

while im on the subject of snack food, the chips are stale but edible, and all teh dip except for bean dip is still good as long as it was in cans or jars. the stuff in plastic is done for. the oils in it react with the plastic and make it NASTY. andyhting with chocolate is rancid unless it was sealed in cellophane and protected from the elements. plastic wrapped cany bars (like 99% of them) are all crap. i throw them out behind the stores to let the birds feed on. i found one box of edible o henry bars in the last three months and it only because it was inside someones deep freeze by itself. crackers, cookies and stuf like that is stale but edible, unless it had chocolate in it. those are garbage.

for the most part if it was canned, bottled or packaged in plastic its still OK to eat unless it needed ot be refrigerated, or it got froze when it shoudnt have.