Ninja Cow Farm LLC

At the POD we handed out pallets of water and food, all while sometimes not receiving water and food ourselves. When we did get some food, it was from the Salvation Army in a to go box. The food sustained, but it wasn’t mom’s cooking of a primo hog/cow from our own farm, hot off the stove and tasty. It was neat to see Spork experience what food can be like and get a comparison from what he knows as “normal” food and what the rest of the world thinks is normal. We did make sure he had his favorite food when he got home (Chinese pork ribs with rice, from our pigs of course!)

After working a few hours at the POD, then packing everything up and cleaning up, we headed back to the county emergency operations center (EOC). This is where all the powers that be converge to coordinate all response to the disaster. Troopers, Sheriffs, Fire and rescue, shelters, Red Cross, EMTs, hospitals, and CAP (plus many more) were there. Everyone works together to utilize their assets as best they can. The EOC is the heart of the response and is a busy place.

Once we left the EOC, we progressed to a local school that had been set up as a shelter. The cadets all grabbed a football and started playing a fun game of football. The senior members were all worn out but the cadets were still going strong and having a large time. Eventually we came in for a debrief where the major theme from the cadets present was that they enjoyed the day and had had fun. Fun?!

Folks, these kids had stood in the sun most of a day, humping cases of water and food as fast as they could go. They never received proper breaks, resting in between cars when it slowed down. When we tried to get them to take breaks, they refused and jumped back into the line to work if someone pulled up. Between cars, they talked to the deputy sheriffs and the guardsmen, soaking up knowledge. To everyone it was yes sir, yes ma’am. They were unfailingly polite and always attentive and helpful to the military, the police, and to the civilians.

Except for Spork, all were there without their parents. All of this is volunteer. No pay, no recognition. If you weep for our youth, you need to attend a CAP meeting and feel restored. I certainly did. These kids ROCK! But now it was time to bed down for the night. But that’s our next post.

With Hurricane Matthew barreling down on us, CAP sprung into motion. I’d sorta heard about some of this disaster stuff. And I knew they had all kinds of training that senior members (read old guys) and cadets take. But neither Spork nor I had taken anything related yet. But it was neat to get all the official government briefings on the progress of the storm and the preps underway. Kinda felt like I was one of the cool kids getting the inside scoop.

Our commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Beckett started hitting the squadron with instructions to get training on certain emergency services so we’d be ready to deploy. Spork and I soaked up as much as we could and got ourselves checked off as best we could in the short time available. Once the hurricane was over, and we’d recovered to something sorta normal here on the farm, Spork and I received our tasking to get to Washington, NC and start helping. We weren’t sure if we were staying overnight or for the rest of the week so we packed the kitchen sink and headed out Tuesday afternoon.

We arrived directly at what is called a Point of Distribution (POD). PODs are where the government distributes food, water, tarps, supplies, etc to the public in times of disaster. We arrived to find about ten CAP members, about five National Guardsmen and women, and about three local sheriffs deputies. The site was pretty busy and we jumped into action handing out food and water. Well Spork did, I went around and talked to everyone, making acquaintances, politicking, that sort of thing. Hey! We are instructed to let the cadets do as much as possible! I did help where I could.

Sadly the torture was not successful because Spork fell right into the groove helping people, loading their cars with supplies to help them get by till normalcy was restored, and working with cadets and adult guardsmen side by side.

One of the highlights of the first day was an opportunity to get a ride in the military transport truck.

All the cadets jumped at the idea and the guardsmen were more than gracious. They only toured the parking lot but it was a cool treat for the hard working kids.

It was interesting that the guardsmen were not that much older than the cadets. Most were 19 or 20. Spork was 12, the youngest you can be to be in CAP. However he looks 14 and acts 25 so he blended right in. He’d get much more opportunity as we progressed, but that is the next post.

Like kids not realizing their parents used to be young, or even possibly cool, many of you don’t realize that prior to being a farmer, I used to be a pilot. I flew lots of different airplanes including some pretty fancy ones. However due to career pressures I hung up my flying suit back in 2003 and really haven’t done much with it since.

Earlier this year Spork and I joined the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). It was all really SWMBO’s fault. She was looking for some new way to torture our first born and make sure he becomes a man when he grows up (apparently torture is a catalyst). I’m not one to argue, lest she turn her focus on me.

Despite having been based at Johnston County Airport (JNX) when I was flying, I really didn’t know anything about CAP or the CAP chapter based at JNX. I figured they were some kind of ROTC thing. I really wasn’t interested and did as much as possible to poo poo SWMBO’s idea.

But as luck would have it, I bumped into the CAP booth at the AOPA fly in in Beaufort, NC this spring. While there, I had Spork talk to the representative while I stood to the side and politely listened. I wanted him to ask the questions and get his own answers. That’s when a guy in a flight suit started talking to me. Turned out he flew A6s for the Marine Corps. I didn’t even realize A6s were still in service but the Marines always get the last of everything so it made sense.

In talking with this Marine aviator, he realized I was a former pilot. Quickly he asked, “Why don’t you join CAP?”

“Huh? Me?”

Have you ever tried to push someone in the pool and ended up falling in instead? Yeah, that’s what happened. I’m trying to get Spork recruited and it turns out the need adults too. Well heck, how do I get out of this?! But then I learned more about CAP and maybe it isn’t too bad. Especially important, I learned that we can do it together. Anything you can do with your kids is pretty much a lock on getting approval from the Mrs. However I wasn’t convinced and neither was Spork. I decided, with Spork’s input, to at least go see our local chapter and get the skinny.

To sum up a lot of information from that meeting and cut to the chase, it really came down to this. As a current pilot, I would enter CAP with an advanced rank, basically getting credit for my piloting abilities. That meant that after a six month intro period, I would become 1st Lieutenant Dan Moore, Civil Air Patrol, or more importantly, Lt. Dan.

Yep, I was in.

Luckily, Spork thought it was pretty cool as well. He really likes his squadron mates and so far has enjoyed the whole program. But recently we had to turbo charge the process. There was a hurricane coming, and despite the look of it fizzling out and heading offshore, we needed to be prepared in case it didn’t. But that’s our next post.

We are open! We have power, oh glorious power! Everyone is home from disaster relief, and we have full freezers that we slaved away to keep frozen for you. We might not have everything in stock (like some few dairy products or chicken) but we have a TON of stuff here so don’t fret, stop on by and get some goodies from the store for this weekend.

Also, pfft, pfft! Is this thing on? I’m still banging and cursing on the stupid auto publish thingy for Facebook. This is a test. Don’t read this part! Argh, too late! Now you are part of my test and officially a guinea pig.

You may not know that Spork and I have joined the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) this year. In a nutshell, CAP is the civilian auxiliary to the US Air Force and performs non-combat missions stateside for the Air Force. This includes Emergency Services (ES) as a core function of CAP. ES includes search and rescue and disaster relief (read Hurricanes!)

Up to now it’s been meetings, orientation flights, and training but with hurricane Matthew giving us such a smack, we were activated and asked to go down East to provide relief support. That means we were off farm for a few days. It also meant we were running around like crazy before we left because we’d lost power, we had power lines down in the road, and we’d lost our main backup generator. A sensor had gone bad in the generator ON THE DAY of the hurricane. Not damaged, just quit working! Can you believe that terrible luck?!

We had enough portable generators to run most of the freezers and refrigerators but not all. This meant a continuous swapping of freezers to generators. Since we’re on a well for our water, it also meant we needed to power the well off and on so people could cook, take cold showers, etc.

It sounds worse than it was. I’ve done this before, many times, and my backups have backups so we were able to handle it. Plus everyone on the farm pitched in and we had lots of hands for each task making for light work. I’d also bought a new generator this year, a Honda EU2000, which turned out to be just as awesome as everyone said it would be. Portable power to run most things, quiet, and easy to carry around. Plus it uses almost no gas. I already have forgotten how I lived without this thing. However, having to pack, and deploy in the middle of it all was a new wrinkle so if you’ve been looking for me, wondering why I haven’t answered your question/email/voice mail. That’s why.

I’ll speak more about the trip later, and the rescue mission, but for now, we are back and starting to catch up. Step one was to get a shower and hand our grungy clothes to SWMBO for washing. Spork thought any mission where showers were not only not optional but hardly possible was pretty cool. Ahh boys. You gotta love ’em.

The power crew showed up yesterday afternoon and after a few hours we were back in business. 

Lucy will be in the store 2-6 today. Swing by and get some post hurricane meat for the grill!

Today as the sun comes up, we are still without power. I called yesterday evening after working on cleaning up all day to find that Duke Energy had marked us down as having had power restored. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the nice ladies explaining that that was not the case and that we needed someone out here as soon as possible.

What that means for us is continuing the program of running generators, swapping freezers on and off, and making sure everyone is taken care of, both critters and people.

What that means for you is, we are closed for customer visits. We will still be cleaning up downed trees, repairing fences, and limping along as best with can with what we have working. Until power comes back, we won’t be open for business. We are hoping that the line crews will show up today. Having animals without a water source and downed power lines should put us as a priority but I can’t swear that will be the case after yesterday’s example. The good news is power is back on along Old Stage Road so at least it’s possible to hook us up. It’s just a question of if we can get a line crew out here.

We will keep you up to date on our status as it changes.

Yesterday afternoon, during the hurricane, Miguel went to the market while I went to Apex to visit our vet. I needed to pick up some replacement supplies after using a bunch of our gear on the cow who didn’t make it.

I was not surprised to get a call from SWMBO, who along with the girls, was manning the store. She informed me that the power was off.

“Well Honey, there is a hurricane, you know. And, I’m driving in it. Just hunker down, I’ll be there asap.”

I arrived to find that everyone was sitting in the dark, in the store. They stayed in case customers showed up. What a good family. I didn’t see any real reason for the power to be out but no matter, let’s go to the house. I’ll go back over and fire up a generator if we need to.

When I walked back over, that’s when I noticed the power lines on the ground. Uh oh. Then I noted more lines down to the barn. Double uh oh. I walked just down the hill and found this.

It was still raining sideways so there was no sense in messing with it then. That is Sunday’s project. Luckily Vicente is making up his off day yesterday so he and Spork can feed while I work on this tree. Once the tree is cut up, we can hopefully get Duke Energy back out here to reconnect the power. Fortunately I learned a little secret in that farmers with livestock get on the priority list for reconnects. You see, people can drink bottled water. Cows don’t like Evian. Plus they need about 7 gallons a day each and that’s a lot of bottles to open with no thumbs. Better to get the power turned back on for the farmer. You have to know the secret handshake and have a decoder ring to get through to Duke your message but once done, it seems to work fairly well so there is hope for us.

Regardless, we’ll be in emergency mode till the power is back on, whenever that is. If you have a tour booked, or need goodies, make sure you text me first to see if we can accommodate you. Once we get back to speed here, then Spork and I are on call for relief support down East with the Civil Air Patrol. Supposedly we are going to be manning a Point Of Distribution (POD). That is where people go to get food, water, etc when a storm like this hits. We’ll see if we get the call. We can’t leave till our place is back to speed, at least enough to get by.

We’ve lost power to the farm. It’s raining cats and dogs. Even Cotton, our guard dog, decided she was spending the day inside the garage (she NEVER comes inside. She prefers being outside). All my guys have gone home and it’s down to just the family. The kids have had enough of standing in the dark at the store. We are CLOSED for the rest of the day. I plan on having a glass (or two) of wine and then working on generators to keep the freezers freezing.

I hope you and yours are safe and dry tonight. Thanks to everyone who braved the weather and came out today. We appreciate you all.

See you Monday of whenever you stop by again.

The Ninja Cow Farm staff