Chapter 108: Gone Fishin’

Matilda did indeed join us. But it wasn’t until early the next morning, and it didn’t include any sexcapades. She just wanted to snuggle and be held. I was happy to oblige her and we all spooned together in the cool morning air. The shower was nice, but I was wishing for a larger one that could be shared. That would be difficult to build right now, but I did decide that a public bath house would probably be a good idea. I had the beginnings of a workable plan in my head before I was dried off. It would have to be a project for a couple of years down the road, but it was a nice thought, nonetheless.

I spent the early part of the morning lazing about, enjoying breakfast, and spending time with my dogs. Both bitches were coming along well and we’d see puppies before too much longer. Those puppies would be trainable, come spring. Then my work with them would really start. Trained dogs were worth a lot of money, regardless of the era, and they would demand a premium out here on the frontier. I fully intended to profit from that premium. I wanted to add another bitch to the pack, but that was going to take a while. To find another bloodline, I would have to send away to the east coast, or even to Europe. I’d be lucky to pull that off by the end of the decade; it would probably involve some travel.

Our Morgan line presented the same problem. While our current herd of three mares and a stallion was good, I’d need to keep a view on the long-term issue of age. I hoped they stayed healthy. This was where our background story came in handy. In both cases, I knew that the blood lines we had were many, many generations separated. I could safely run these as a distinct bloodline from anything we could possibly come across.

All that aside, I wanted to take a look at my fields. Mouse wanted to go with me, so we went out to saddle up and take a ride. I saddled up Lunch and she took Abigail. Brin came along to keep us company on our slow inspection tour.

We started with the visitor’s village. While it wasn’t in too bad shape, it desperately needed a well. The folks would probably enjoy closer outhouses also, but I was loathe to put sewage upstream in our water table. I’d never been a big fan of cholera or any other sewage related diseases. The good news for the larger village was that I knew how to make a binjo ditch to run the sewage off. The bad news was that it would take a year to two to get to that stage of development. I wasn’t quite ready to set up a cement factory just yet. Another multi-year project to plan for.

I explained each of these things to Mouse as we inspected. She either asked questions or offered up the standard Pawnee solution. So far we hadn’t hit on anything the Pawnee had to offer that was an improvement over what I knew would need to be done.

We moved on to the corral next. Again, a well with a pump was going to be necessary. Winter itself would present an entirely new problem. We would also need a larger livestock shed, preferably with an attached hay barn to handle the milk cows, llamas, pigs, and working horses. Winter wasn’t far enough away for my taste; we’d have to hurry during this first year.