(The Panzer waits patiently in the designated space by the main gate check-point at Refuge Farm).

Mattski and Natasha stopped by the farm yesterday. We had been emailing back and forth across the pasture all morning.

They were more alarmed than I was at a near fall I took trying to horse around some furniture to get ready for Don-the-Builder’s guys to put in the new kitchen cabinet and island that may make the place truly livable. The came to my rescue, and it was a welcome break from the spotty internet connection to the geostationary satellite.

We were talking about the looming Sequestration beast that may put lot of people out of work here in Virginia. There are a hundred thousand people involved in Defense work of one sort or another, and that includes yours truly, plus the entire staff of The Daily Socotra.

As a small business owner, I am naturally concerned, and just stop. I know the wars have been good for business, and it is about time that our industry gets to experience what everyone else has since the bubble on the American dream burst.

Still, it is interesting, right? I talked to my older son about the impact to the employees at the Agency where he works in the family business: the National Security State. He doesn’t know, any more than anyone else does. It is very strange. On the Joint Staff, and elsewhere, we were in the business of planning, in minute detail, a lot of unthinkable things in my career.

Now, something really significant is about to happen and no one seems to have thought much about it. Strange.

It has been a year since the tumble that sent me to surgery, and frankly things had got a little out of control at Refuge Farm. There was work to be done. The rugs that had to come up to install the comfy pillow-top queen-size bed in the back room to liberate me from the painful (and potentially dangerous) hike up the stairs were still rolled in the middle of the great room, threatening to cause a repeat tumble fall as catastrophic as the one last year.

Mattski was kind enough to bring up the truck from the garage and carry crap out of the house and return the full load to the garage down the slope where I can safely ignore it until the warm weather comes back.

Natasha and I drank some excellent red wine from the Old House Winery  down Rt. 3 as he labored, then we played with the new flashlight-laser designator attachment I got for the Sig-Sauer Mosquito. The device slides on the Picatinny rail under the barrel. It is now a flashlight with real self-defense capabilities. Very cool.

Anyhow, they went on to do important things by their fire as I enjoyed mine until the flames and the mild buzz wore off and I got back to work. I am ready for Don’s guys, and the closet in the downstairs room is empty of estate crap and things I had not seen in several months.

I even have a Panzer-full of Good Will things to give away. Life may be uncertain, but it certainly is good and beats the alternative.

I think this is supposed to be a work-day, though it is always a challenge for contractors to look busy when the Government is off playing golf or schussing down the slopes in Colorado.

I am sure we can find some mischief to get into this President’s Day. Just watch.

Copyright 2013 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com