Chapter 10

Lunch was the first order of business when we got back to camp. There were more than plenty of cooks now and it seemed each of them wanted to participate. There was more than plenty to eat before they were done.

Alas, I had to rein myself in or I'd be too full and get lazy and sleepy during the afternoon. Ok, lazier and sleepier, satisfied? I did rein in my eating though and we had to get to work right away.

The first thing I dealt with was my piece of a chainsaw. I'd bought it for a tricky job I'd done for a lawyer I thought probably wasn't gay like Reanna's husband. He had two damned big oaks right in the dish's line of sight. He wanted the dish where he wanted it.

He nearly shit his pants though when the tree trimming service provided an estimate. In usual lawyer fashion he wasn't ashamed to beg for what he wanted, namely a cheaper tree trimming.

I nearly fucked up by the numbers when he showed me their sixteen thousand dollar estimate. Of course it called for complete removal of the trees and I nearly mentioned it.

"I can climb the trees and trim out a sightline for five grand. It will need to be touched up every other year or so probably, but that shouldn't be nearly as expensive," I said.

He chewed it like a pickle, so I headed for the pawnshops to find some used equipment. I was able to locate climbing spikes, lineman's boots, a safety harness, and a used Stihl 440 chainsaw at the same shop. Since the saw wouldn't start I got it all for a hundred and fifty bucks.

I wasn't about to take the saw to a regular chain saw shop since that was about like calling up a mugger and asking him to come over and do a number on you since your wallet was too full.

After taking the saw apart I found one of the safety kill switches broken, replaced it, and fired that mother up. A round file and a little more work had the saw chain sharp again and the next day I climbed for money.

For trimming I used the simple expedient of walking as far out on a limb as I could without breaking it off. I cut off everything I was afraid to walk on. Of course I tied off on up the tree so if I made a mistake I wouldn't fall far. The lawyer promised me his homeowner's insurance had me covered. I knew if it didn't my next lawyer would make sure something had me covered.

It took most of the day to trim the trees and most of the next to cut up, split, and haul off my free firewood, but I did get the chainsaw out of the deal. It looked like shit, but it cut like a demon.

With the saw running good and everything else I could think of ready for action we took the rest of the day off for grab assing and then had a nice supper and an even better fuck break before bed.

The next morning I'd lobbied for a light breakfast and we had it. We loaded up into Bob's former ride and headed for the distant tree line. It didn't take long to mark out a nice wide path and then get to work.

A stout chain with a slip knot in the end tied to Bob's bumper hitch was my precision insturment for pulling up every tree I could, and that was most of the small ones. We only needed to fell four of the bigger ones and the saw and I had our work cut out on them.

First I had to fell them, and then cut them into sections small enough to be pulled out of the way by Bob's Ford. After finishing it I had to do the low work, cutting the stumps off very close to the ground and then smoothing the edges so they wouldn't cut a tire if we had to run over them. It was damned near dark thirty before we were done, and since we'd skipped lunch I was tired and hungry.

The girls cured my ills back at our camp though, and filled my belly full. Unfortunately I had to call in sick for the fuckathon that night.

I was sore as a boil in places the next day too, but felt a lot better after breakfast and a little stretching.

Like I figured, we couldn't even get most of the few things we'd unloaded back into the trucks or trailers. Lucky we hadn't even opened the back of Bob's.

When we checked it to see about stowing some of the crap we couldn't get back into mine we didn't find enough room to put even a screwdriver in. It was stuffed full from front to back. We even had trouble getting the doors closed again.

We put anything we couldn't get into either truck or trailer inside the hut and headed out toward our new home. Kathy drove Bob's truck and I drove mine. We were both able to pull inside the cave and turn around to head back out. We dropped the trailers in place, pulled forward about six feet for room to work, and then unloaded both trucks.

After the trucks were empty we pulled them outside and unloaded my trailer first. Since I had a general idea of what we'd find we were able to keep it organized, sorta.

My guess had been right. Everything I'd owned had come along. We now had a kitchen table and chairs, a dining table and plenty of furniture we could arrange into a den.

My entertainment center cabinet, all my tapes, DVDs, and CDs were here - even my desk, chair, and computer. A few things even surprised me.

I had replaced the kitchen sink at the house with one of those nice stainless steel triple sink models and it had come along too, including all the plumbing I'd had to put in. Hell, we even had my In-Sink-Erator, my new dishwasher, and my brand new trash compactor. Unfortunately the kitchen cabinets we needed to set it all up on and under didn't make the trip.

My used bathtub made it though. It was a seven foot cast-iron clawfoot and it came with most of the plumbing I'd used to put it in with too. I'd bought the house as a fixer-upper and most all the things I'd used to make repairs and improvements had come along for the trip.

Two prized possessions I'd never have counted on were the inline instant water-heaters. They wouldn't be worth a shit unless I could find a way to generate electricity, but I did know how to get AC out of an automotive alternator.

All my things would be, or at least could be nice sooner or later, but there were others which would be much more useful.

My rifles, pistols, and reloading stuff came to mind right away. We put the bench and the things that went with it together, keeping it a good distance away from any place we ever intended to build a fire.

The smokeless powder wouldn't explode or anything, but it would burn like a bitch with only a spark or two and we'd no doubt have a hard time replacing it.

I was also glad to see my cowboy things. Two lariats, two saddles and a pack-mule pack frame plus other assorted but useful tack and hardware. My anvil even made the trip along with the few pieces of horseshoeing tools I had. I'd never put on a set of horse shoes, but I'd replace and tightened one shoe more than once. All that stuff would come in handy sooner or later.

It took all damned day to get my trailer and truck unloaded. I voted we leave Bob's trailer for tomorrow and it passed by acclimation.

While the girls built a cooking fire not far from the water supply I built a larger fire in the middle of the entrance. We wouldn't be entertaining company tonight, we hoped.

At least we weren't worn out tonight, but we weren't hot to trot either. Pretty much by mutual consideration we abstained again.

We hit the furs early too and got a lot of sleep. I was lucky enough to be near the middle of the pile and didn't even have to do a turn mending the un-welcome fire in the entrance.

After our first breakfast in our new home the next morning it was decision time. What should we do next? Reanna, Kathy, and Katie thought installing my shitter from home should come next and I was inclined to agree with them, except.