Chapter 12

May 26^th 2043

I didn't sleep well last night. I dreamed about the crash again. I knew this time it was just a nightmare because little Mr. Fuzzys came singing and dancing out of the cave to bash my pod in with sledgehammers. Then they ate me. The scary part was that with every bite I'd scream out with pleasure as I was eaten and orgasmed to death. It was totally bizarre!

Still, despite the lack of sleep, I managed to get a lot done. It has been a long and tiring but productive day. I went up onto the plain and cut a couple trees down. After topping and limbing them I dragged them over above the cave and then let them slid down the cliff. I threw the rest of the trees down too but I did it further down towards the driveway. When I thought I'd enough, I took a break and had lunch. The fact that I was also completely exhausted was just a coincidence.

I ended up trimming the sides a bit so the front side still has bark but the other sides are more squared off. That way they'll fit together better. It'll also be easier to nail the cross boards on and install the hinges for the door. That squaring them off made them lighter is also a coincidence. Those logs are darn heavy! They're also a pain to move. I've only managed to get one log in place so far.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow but I know I've got to finish. If for no other reason than to be able to stop tending to two fires all the time. I need some sleep!

May 27^th 2043

It's done. Thank God! I am so sore! Still it's done. And I think I did a pretty good job. My Grandpa would say, "It'd good enough for government work."

All that's left to do it to add a couple cross bars and the board for a lock. I'm going to try to chisel out a little bit of the wall and bang the board in place then screw it into the wall. That'll keep anyone from pulling my wall out hopefully. Not that there's anyone to pull it down. Still I did include a pull out firing hole. I just pull out a plug of wood, stick out the barrel of my gun, and shoot. That way I can peek out and make sure there aren't any hungry animals outside waiting for me. I've been doing that in the pod each morning.

I'm hoping I won't have to move into the cave but I don't know how bad winters are going to be here. I know my pod can withstand really cold temperatures but if it gets buried in snow the solar panels will be covered and I'll run out of power. I plan to stay in my pod as long as possible but its nice having a back up. Still I'm wondering if I can put a fireplace on my pod. It would have to be a small one and it'd have to be on the deck somewhere. I'm thinking about putting it on the middle of the forward deck. I'd loose my middle window and I'd cut down on the view from the other two but since I've never had a view with them I won't miss it. I'm going to have to figure out if I can make some bricks first though.

I'd also like to see if I can enclose my rear deck. I'm thinking about using one of the parachutes to make a sort of tent room. At least until I can make something more permanent.

That won't be for a while though. I need to start preparing for winter. We were scheduled to land in late summer/early fall so winter won't be that far away.

The other thing I did today was to start making changes in my plumbing arrangements. Before I finished the right side of the wall, I put in one of the pipes I'd brought with me. I don't have enough pipes to go all the way to my pod from the cave door but it's pretty close. I'll just have to use hose for the rest. I'm not quite sure what to do with the hose going from the cave spring to the pipe though. Right now, it runs right through the middle of the floor and I know I'm going to end up stepping on and tripping over it. That wouldn't be good. Maybe there's some way I could suspend it from the ceiling? I'll have to see if I can do that some how.

I'm not going to do that tonight though.

May 28^th 2043

I finished burying the water pipes. So far, everything is working fine. I saw the wolf again last night as I was leaving the cave. I was kind of hoping I'd see him and I was glad I did. I went back in and got out the organs I'd saved for him. I know I shouldn't feed him but I can't help it. I'm lonely. Sure, I have my fuzzies but as much as they love me, they can only do so much. They can't really talk back. Besides, I have this feeling that he can be a friend. I know it's silly but it's a feeling I have. Even if we don't become best pals maybe he won't see me as a threat and try to eat me.