Where has the past year gone????

    Here we are, its been over one year since we made the move to SC and what a test of patience and discipline we have endured. As most of you may have known, I experienced the job hunting nightmare that many Americans faced under the Obama economy. It was well over 6 months after moving up here that I found a job here in SC with the USPS, and let me tell you this, what a fucked-up organization. They cant even hire people with benefits because of the career postal employees sucking up all the money, yes I was a Postal Support Employee (PSE) as a Mail clerk. The five weeks I was there, I did more than the other two mail clerks who had been there for a combined 45 years. What a shame that this great American institution has been destroyed by the Postal Workers Union. I tell you, I was glad the day I got the call. This call was what I was looking for. My current place of employment is so much better and I take great enjoyment in who I serve and talk to on a daily basis, except the drive I make everyday.
    
     So with the stress myself and my family endured, we had additional stress with one modular home contract falling through because the VA now appraises modular home the same as mobile homes. So when the appraisal came back, it was $20,000 short of what the appraisal was, so let's say I am not coming out of pocket for that. I had the money, but no doing it. JUGM and I regrouped and found a custom home builder that was actually cheaper than a modular home with what we wanted in a house. STAY AWAY FROM MODULAR HOMES, banks are starting to shy away from them. Got pre-approved and had the ball rolling until another road block popped up, a property owner who had a wife who was resistant on us getting a easement document signed by her husband who was the actual property owner. What he didn't realize was the property he had bought was a tract that my grand-father once owned. Also, my father had been using the easement for over 43 years, which the statue of limitation for easement use in SC is 20 yrs, well he had that doubled. I had been using the easement for over 28 yrs and JUGM has been using it for 20 years.
    
     Well we went to our family attorney here in town and he told JUGM that he couldn't help us because he was the closing attorney for the other property, but we did get a one hour free consultation from him and he said he would send him a letter. Well, by god he did as it was hand delivered. He basically told the property owner that you better sign the document because you are about to be lit up with a lawsuit, which you will loose and if they seek damages, this is something you don't want to spend money on. I was so pissed off, I had it already in my head to do a counter suit seeking no less than $500,000. Well after a month of multiple attempts from myself and JUGM and using all available means to show a judge our attempts, we finally got the document signed, but now we are a month behind schedule. I still have something up my sleeve for those MF's. More to follow.
   
     This past Saturday, the family I took of for a day together. We went to our new Cabelas and did some browsing. I managed to pick up a 500 round brick of Federal Champion .22lr. My Ruger 10/22 is smiling. Ask Stephen and Duke, that's all I shot through my 10/22.

     Next, we went to a REI located in a town near us. We are making another addition to the Hennessy Hammock Family, yes JUGM is getting her own hammock. If you get one, order it straight from them, you get extra stuff with it. These Back Diamond caribiners and omega rappelling rings make set-up so much easier. If it comes to the day that we have to bug out, we all can light weight and leave a minimal foot print in our travel.

 One of the good things we have up here is a very large garden. Saturday night we had some of our harvest from the spring garden.

Fresh green bans and fried okra

    Today, our neighbor came up to visit. This neighbor has done so much for me and his best friend, my dad over the years, we gave him 5 dozen eggs for him and his family. While he was here, he was able to watch me and NW do a review of the Survival Bush craft cook set. I was happy with the construction as it is made in Germany, but I do have issues with it. I purchased the smaller version and now I wish I had purchased the large version. It does the job with using twigs and pine cones for fuel, but I find the air flow to the tinder a bit to constrictive and the effort to boil water did have some human intervention. I will probably purchase the larger one and give it a try. I felt it took too long to boil water. See, when you actually purchase products to try out, you can be honest about their functionality without the bias of a company sending it to you and kissing their ass. There are to many sites out there that do this. 

   Well it is getting along into the night, I have to do my rounds of the property before heading off to bed. I know that I sit at a computer for 8 hours a day and the last thing I want to do is jump on and add to my keystrokes for the day, but I will make a honest attempt to let everyone know how things are going. Next up on my plate, going to my first amateur radio club meeting this week. With my extensive background using every available communication the U.S.Navy has to offer, I feel it should take me no time to get my technician license. Harry, Matt, Kymber, get ready because I will be talking your ears off.

Senior