Aug. 22, 2009 - 5:56pm

- Transmission from lblair57

WTF is going on!? There are columns of black smoke off to the east. The TV is showing re-runs or the test pattern…..Electric power comes and goes…My neighbors have heard rumors of civil unrest, but other than the billowing smoke there’s no confirmation. I took a drive earlier and everything is closed. The only traffic I saw were first responders and they looked like they knew what they were about. Serious and focused. Four or more to a vehicle. No time stop to talk but they eye-balled me pretty closely. You could see that their vehicles were bristling with weapons including M-79 grenade launchers and LAWs. These guys are ready for some shit!

I’m locked and loaded and keeping watch on the street from the second story corner windows. My wife is scanning the back yard through the sliding glass patio doors with her AR-10. Both kids have their AK’s ready to rock and roll. We’re all wearing web gear with extra mags. It’ll be dark soon. Nobody has any night vision gear. The sun is setting in the west and we can see a red glow reflected off the smoke to the east. Tonight we’ll hunker down in the basement with a couple of neighbors. We’ll keep 2 armed guards on 2 hour shifts till the sun comes up. We have plenty of water but food will be an issue in a couple of days. We’re re-packing our go-bags but for now we’ll wait and see what our next move will be.

- End of transmission

Aug. 22, 2009 - 5:03pm

Seems like I have been making more decisions lately I would have found absolutely crazy a week ago. Spent the better part of the morning ripping up the floor boards from my backyard deck. Such as shame too, they where stained a beautiful redwood color.

As I worked as silently, the neighborhood was sporadic with different sounds. Sounds that, quite honestly, I have never experienced before in real life. Closest thing I could describe it to is some some war torn movie taking place in Serbia, and that's what it sounds like outside my door.

There where a few planks where stubborn and would not budge. When they did, they groaned as the nail was pryed out of the wood they have been set in the last 10 years. Wincing along the way, last thing I want is to draw attention to us.

Now the be planks cover all the windows of my house, except for a few places that have a tactical angle to view the surrounding area. First and second floor. I used screws instead of nails to remain as silent as possible. Now that our house is secure i can focus on other things. I need to find time to sleep.

• 3 gallons of gas reamining
• 30 days of food
• 20 days of water