Greetings Me Droogs N Droogettes!
So I finished Don Shift’s Book:
![](https://bigcountryexpat.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/dad-1.jpg)
My thoughts:
Not Bad.
I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10.
The story is about your basic suburban drone.
‘Ross’, the main character, is some techno-geek who used to work for the Goolag. The story, at it’s core, is civilization doing a s-l-o-w slide into anarchy as multiple events, from extreme weather (unseasonal freezing) and an overtaxed power grid, plus the ¡violence! that goes along with fuel shortages and pre-election stupidity, Ross and his family are caught in the middle.
Utterly Unprepared.
Now, it’s well written, and pretty descriptive of the way shit could slowly start going to Hell in a Handbasket, and this guy seems to be clueless throughout. His brother, a war vet who had seen Iraq and Affy had tried to tell him to start prepping a-ways back. Ross’s reaction was to buy just enough Mountain House to stave off complete starvation, but has done ‘stupid shit’ like leaving his shotgun at his brothers house several states over. This forces him to buy a shotty after all the gun stores are cleaned out for three times the going rate, and ammo for it being like $50 a round for buckshot…
In fact it’s one of my main complaints is that this dude keeps fucking up and doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes. From talking to the cops (never talk to the cops) after defending his family, to being conned into a bushwhack while going to get gas that by all rights he should NOT have survived, Ross pissed me off more than he had me cheering for him.
All the negatives aside, Shift does do an outstanding job in describing the possible societal situations that come about by an exceptionally s-l-o-w breakdown of Bullshit. From the “sick outs” that the majority of the Cops do when shit starts getting “really reelz”, to the organized cartel based Hijacking of critical food supplies. He also covers the issue that no one has really discussed in depth that being what I call “the right of refusal” in that the majority of Truckers decide that “it ain’t worth their lives to take loads into a shooting gallery.” Truckers start to say not just no, but fuck to the noes regarding rolling into hostile territory.
This leaves everyone in a bind.
No food?
Uh Oh.
There’s also a subplot about the rain and snow doing a melt, and that the dam and levee is gonna burst! that I find humorous. Reason being is that throughout ALL of the Shitfestivus, from Gangbangers trying to kill him, to EBT riots and people killing each other over a bag o’beans in the grocery store, Ross stays put in his rapidly falling-the-fuck-apart town. Even worse is that his family is stuck there ‘cos he won’t GTFO of town like an intelligent
Fucking Moron.
Sorry Don. Just my opinion.
IMO also, anyone with half a fucking brain would have bailed after the first week of Hell. See, Ross is a bit of a cuck. In that his wife is a former porn-chick (lesbian enema porn) who brought the bastard spawn of another man into his highly paid Google Life and subsequently baby-trapped him….
Leastways that’s how -I- read it from a purely red-pill POV.
He doesn’t want to “…leave the house they built together behind, as she (Rayleene) had been abandoned by all the men in her life, from her father, to her first babydaddy…”
Sheesh.
Fucking cuck.
Otherwise, for a glimpse of what MAY happen, it’s 10 for 10.
The other thing is the Flamethrower Ross eventually builds… it annoyed me that it was pretty much in the last two-three chapters that he gets off his ass and builds the fucking thing. I expected it to be a LOT sooner and a few moar crispy bad guys… The other thing is I’m not sure it would function as Shift tells it… the again, I’m NOT playing with liquid propane or propane accessories…
![](https://bigcountryexpat.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/hank-hill-propane-salesmen-1024x427.jpg)
Who the fuck you think I am?
Hank Hill?
I designed and built what -I- consider a much safer alternative, as far as the word ‘safe’ can be used when discussing using and building devices to throw liquid fire on other human beings, with the intent of burning them to death for games and prizes.
![](https://bigcountryexpat.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/MINI-768x1024.jpg)
So yeah, give it a read.
It’ll entertain you. Link HERE
Otherwise, another weekend spent going up to Gretchen’s parents place. Leave in the AM… got another slew of ‘minor repairs’ to do… lightbulbs on the vaulted ceiling (not looking forward to that as Dad’s ladder is ten million years old and more rickety than him)… other ‘minor shit’ that they just can’t do… and Computer Repair/Hard Drive replacement…
Mom tanked her lappie so I have to figure out Hardware tanked or Software tanked? Won’t know ’til I get there as she just tells me “it won’t turn on!!” This from the lady who didn’t know where the power button was a few months ago…
Enough ‘stuff’ tho that we have to spend the night…
Meh. Do what I gotta do.
Latest on Gretchen is that we’re waiting on the MRI Results. Tomorrow we have a teleconference with the Doc to figure out our next steps. Things look ok (considering the circumstances) and we’re just driving on. We greatly appreciate you all for all the support. I can’t do it without y’all as my sounding board.
Not sure if I’ll be able to poast tomorrow as we’ll be flat out… if not I’ll get back with you on Sunday.
More Later
Big Country
![](https://bigcountryexpat.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/17b5df6cc7d2eb7c.png)