Got bored. Was wandering around town a bit today. That damn dog showed up and started chasing me down the street.

It bit me in the leg and dragged me down.

 I had to shoot it because when I shook it off it came in for another go. I had the 1911 and just shot it, right in the face.

I feel sick, like bad Chinese sick. That was someone's dog I killed. I know I was only defending myself but it was still someone's pet at some point.

Still no idea what to do. Someone alerted me to the fact that I hadn't explained how I dealt with keeping the laptop charged and the satellite modem/phone monster I made supplied with power.

I found a solar panel marketed towards the sheep industry back in the army surplus store after I went and poked around in there for a bit again. It's designed to go to an electric fence and mounted it on the body of a desk lamp so I can adjust it's position in relation to the sun. I took the giant tractor battery out of the back of my old truck, the one I drove before the bombs went off, that'd been sitting in the bed for about two years now and am trickle charging it.

I rewired the connections and have a powerstrip duct taped and connected to the battery and solar panel. I can plug the satellite phone and modem into it, and plug the charger for the laptop in as well to charge it up as needed. It works a lot better than my first attempt which was a mess of hot glue, plastic and wires.

And there you have it. A simple adjustable solar charger for on the go. I'll post plans if I get bored and screw around in paint. And If I find a working camera, that'll be the first thing I take pictures of and upload I guess.

Merry christmas, hope everyone else had a better holiday than me.

It's christmas eve, there's snow falling. I'm back at my apartment wondering what to do now. No hometown to go to.. well not for now anyway.

I'll come up with something to do tomorrow I guess.

My mom came out to meet me. We talked, she explained why she argued against my being allowed in. The logic's solid so I can't really complain. My dad would have come out to talk with me too but he's already getting into arguments with the other ranchers on how to take care of the silly amount of cattle Coalinga now has.

anyway care package aqcuired, contents are
Weatherby Vanguard rifle in 5.56/.223 + 500 rounds of ammunition
Weatherby SA-12 shotgun + 250 rounds of birdshot + the bucket of oddball modded loads I made a few years ago for my brothers.  I'll need to sort out the confetti rounds.

A few pounds of powder and an assorted number of primers

It hit me later that I'm an idiot and there's a bunch of reloading supplies back at my apartment. I guess my mind didn't make the connection the first time I saw them probably a month ago?

I also got a couple canteens and notes from people that want me to act as mailman for them.

Really..it kinda pisses me off that these people don't want me in the community and turn around and want me to deliver their mail. Not sure what I'll do.. Might use them for fire tinder or something, or deliver the notes.. not going to be the freakin mailman forever though.

News is, in short. they aren't going to let me in.

In the long it's got to do with their concept of letting outsiders in. Right now they know they can sustain the population until law and order has resumed. Sounds like my own mother argued against letting me in on the grounds that she didn't want to deal with some of the other kids that were outside the valley when it all happened.

Anyway sticking around here till tomorrow, the mayor came out to deliver the news and said something about some of the people in town organizing a small care package for me.

Got the radio working now, can hear Auberry radio, and a couple other stations, one of them obviously U.S. military giving out directions to survivors..... It gives people hope I guess.

It's outright snowing now and getting colder. Odd since Coalinga's always been a bit under the snowline in even the coldest winters, and when it did snow it was more like sleet, but this is undeniably snow.

And the rain's now turned to snowy slush and temperature's dropping fast.

Someone from town rode up on a horse. Climbed up on the gate, saw me, I waved and they went off on one of the gate guys. Sounded angry, couldn't really hear too well , I was a bit of a distance from the gate following a rabbit.

After a while he came out to greet me. Turns out he was one of my classmates when I went through high school and he apologized and explained the situation.

As soon as they knew it was actually happening and saw the flashpoints on the horizon, some of the ranchers started herding all the cattle from Harris Ranch across the highway overpass and into the valley, and a public meeting was held, and it was decided that they wouldn't let any outsiders in until some form of larger government had been re-established.

He's going to go back and bring my appearance up at the town council meeting tomorrow night. There's a lot of people like me, away at work or at college with Coalinga as their home, that were outside when they made that decision, and I'm probably not the only one that made it through.

Spent the rest of the morning messing with the radio on the jeep to see if I could get it working again. No dice so far.

Still waiting out in the hills.. I don't think they actually told anyone in town I'm out here and are waiting to see if I'll go away.

Saw some kit foxes....if they're so endangered you'd think the end of the world would have wiped them out or something.

Kinda drizzly today and yesterday.