Aug. 29, 2009 - 9:08pm

- Transmission from Ren

Drak… As far as your gas situation goes, we have already caught more than one person trying to steal gas out of my truck. I have it parked in my back yard along with my wife’s SUV. We have them blocking in the back deck so it will be harder to enter the house. Plus we can keep and eye on the vehicles easier. I’ve also put up my Hurricane shutters to better secure us as im not sure whats going on with all of this rain and deteriorating environment. Im wondering if a Hurricane is coming or if a severe low pressure system has parked on top of us. As far as the people trying to steal fuel, Im assuming its for their generator as well. After brief negotiations with myself and a 12 gauge (Don’t worry no shots were fired) and they clearly didn’t feel like fighting in the middle of a monsoon. I gave them a few gallons to try and keep my community together. I don’t mind because my boat holds 42 gallons and it safely locked away in the garage….and siphoning some out is not a problem. Out of sight… out of mind. Luckily though the electric has been ON about fifty percent of the time, so when its on everything is pretty much operations normal, everybody hurries and takes a hot shower and we even try and get a load of laundry done! Kinda funny… it seems like the end of the world and were doing a load of laundry, gotta stay clean I guess! We could go outside and wash ... umm...screw that!.... and again…. We would like to maintain a low profile.

When the electricity is off im surprised on how long my battery backup keeps my router and switch up for my internet access. I have timed my laptop battery to three and a half hours so I know about how much I can use before needing a charge. Now I wish I would have gotten the bigger battery option when I was ordering it. Once again, hindsight is 20/20.

I am starting to get concerned. It hasn’t stopped raining since I got home on the 20th. Im beginning to wonder if I should stop taking gas out of my boat? My house is up kinda on a little hill… probably a whopping 17 feet above sea level. I am starting to get a little worried as the ditches and roads are awash with water… maybe two to six inches deep in some areas.

So here I sit, wasting time and hiding out, not only because its raining down pours outside, but we all have agreed that we should try and keep as low of a profile as possible. So far I have accumulated a few survivors. A few from church, a few family members and a marine corps buddy of mine thats out now. As soon as the rain slows, hopefully we will be able to scavenge for some food and some 12 volt batteries that I spoke about earlier. People have been trickling out of here a few families at a time, but to what avail? Where are they going, what will they find when they get there… and who are they in touch with and how? The only means of communication so far and any news has been this blog. So I guess this advice goes out to you MIKEN40. Stay put and stay out of sight. If your running into the infected… they will be half your trouble ( I have had only two encounters with them thus far). The other half are the ones still alive, that think they own everything that passes in front of them. Hence my new self taught lesson… there is nothing worse than trying to fight your way home. Only do it if you have too. I had too, I had my wife waiting for me. That’s how I got all banged up…… Good luck all, and keep your powder dry.

-End of transmission