Chapter 10

There was plenty of work that still needed to be done to prepare for the coming winter. We quickly got to work on building a log cabin. I was faced with several challenges because I had to ad-lib some things that I didn't have any knowledge of. Figuring out how to build a fireplace was a bitch.

After a few false starts, I ended up using layers of stone held together by river clay and smoothing the inside to make a dome type or something similar to a kiva fireplace. It was more than 6 feet wide overall and would fit well in the space I had prepared for it and another we would build as well. I used a large flat stone for the hearth and base. I used a somewhat smaller one towards the top above the height of the fire where no flames would reach for a warming shelf. It wasn't perfect or even pretty but it worked and would hopefully make the winters at least bearable.

After the month it took me to figure out how to build a fireplace, construction on the cabin began. Working together, we built fireplaces on both ends of the cabin first and had the walls up within three weeks. We used the horses with their collars to move logs for the walls. Having the women lead the horses to and from where I was cutting trees down with them hauling a log or two at a time worked very well.

Even my enhanced strength was taxed lifting logs into place after drawing the logs slightly flat on the mating sides and cutting the locking corner notches with the axe. My mates would drill holes through the joints with the hand drill and auger we had. Then they would use a wooden mallet to drive thick dowels in to hold the logs permanently in place. My alien sledgehammer was too heavy for them to use.

Building the roof took twice as long as the rest of the building but I wanted to make sure it would be steep enough to shed snow. I started by carving the parts for a block and tackle out of wood using a thick dowel of some seasoned walnut wood for the pin and oak for the sheaves. The whole assembly was held together with wrappings of rawhide that had been soaked in boiling water first and tightened sufficiently when it dried.

We set up a 20 foot tall tripod type frame to attach it to while my mates spent time braiding rawhide into a decent length of rope. With the block and tackle, any one of my ladies could haul up a truss while I used a line to plum and set it and two others of my mates attached the bracing. Assani and Dawn were the most proficient with this but everyone took a turn. We put the steep trusses at 12 inch intervals and tied the top beam in place to keep the spacing right. We then drilled holes and pegged smaller logs running horizontally on the outside edges to hold them in place.

The roof needed to be waterproof and my alien tarps weren't large enough to cover the entire roof. I also had no saw to cut shingles and no way to make one so we used more of the mud, clay and grass mixture over the straight young trees we attached horizontally to the roof trusses to seal all of the gaps. Then we layered it double thick with rolls of sod in alternating directions on top of that. First we went vertically and then horizontally. We'd see how it did during heavy rain. Once it got cold enough to freeze, we should be fine. Again it wasn't perfect but...

Assani and Cammi eventually got completely back on their feet. Cammi took the longest to recuperate. I knew they were healed when they came to me and demanded their mating rights. That was a wild night for all of us. Even I was wrecked the following day. Note to self: blood bonded mates require a lot of attention and denying them pleasure for too long leads to consequences. The consequences weren't necessarily bad but WOW were there consequences.

The ladies used the cart to haul mud, clay and straw to fill the gaps in between the logs on the inside while I used a shovel starting about 10 feet from the house and moved all of the dirt and stones I could up against the walls about half way up. This too was covered over with sod and the layers above the dirt also had the gaps filled by my lovelies' mixture.

In the evenings, the ladies worked on nets and baskets for food storage while I played some relaxing flute music or sang old songs for them. One night, Dawn was weaving willow branches into an almost 2 foot square box. I drew a design in the dirt for a fish trap that I wanted her to make from that same material. She said it would only take her a few days to get it done and I hugged her. She blushed while looking down with a little smile on her face. She was happy to have pleased me.

I built a lean-to on the back of the house for wood storage. From a distance, you could barely tell the cabin was there because the color of the stone, wood and sod blended almost perfectly into the overhang behind out cabin. The smoke from the chimneys would give our location away if the fires were lit inside but the structure was strong enough to repel all but the most determined creature or person that wanted to get inside.

We made the opening for the door on the overhang side of the cabin. I figured that it was the most sheltered area and would give us easy access to our supply of firewood during winter. There were 6 narrow windows in it at about chest through head height and two hand spans wide. There were two on each long wall and one on each short wall along side of the fireplace.

The windows had stout dowels of hardwood like bars vertically installed during construction to keep predators and curious wolves out. It was possible to fire my bow through them if necessary. I cut and carved inside and outside shutters that were held in place with dowels and would allow us to insulate in between once the weather turned cold. We had a nice breeze moving through the building most of the time.

When the door was hung, our new home was finished. The cabin was 20 feet wide and about 30 feet long with a low 7 foot ceiling. I had to duck to get through the door. There was a wall running across the 20 foot wide side that split the cabin into two roughly even sides. I built a loft over more than half of it under the rafters for a storage area as we had gathered and preserved so much food that we could easily survive for a few months.

The best part for us was that the pack took possession of my first cave as a permanent den. One day, Wolf sent me images of a smaller opening and I got to work filling the doorway back in for them. I used rocks, thick timbers and mud to shrink the opening. A person would have to crawl to get in and if they did, they would have a big surprise waiting for them. Even the juvenile wolves were big enough to kill a person.

Next, it was time to start building furniture. Two benches made of a log that I split lengthwise with an axe and some hardwood wedges was my first project. I smoothed the flat surface as well as possible with my draw knife. Then I made a table the same way. My lovelies spent hours sanding the wood with stones to limit the possibility of picking up splinters.

I also built us a really big bed. Using one of the alien tarps and grasses that were boiled and then dried we had a decent although not perfect mattress. It was still covered in furs. I really missed the softness of sheets. The woolly rhino fur was on the bottom with many others stacked on top to sleep under.