Chapter 51

Apparently the carpenters still remembered how to use their Skilsaws because I heard them squealing on and off for the rest of the day. I examined the house, inside and out, and it looked fine to me. Of course it would look fine to me, but the real inspection would come when the women went over it. The only three I didn't expect trouble from were the latest members, but I knew the others would be teaching them well.

Jerrilyn got on my case about buying more hay since we'd have room to store it now and she also mentioned I'd want to remove the hay from the trailer where it was now taking up space and stack it out with the new batch I'd be ordering. I put her off so that I could stack it in the first out position and it got her think about the stocks food supply and mentioned I should have a feed room built inside the cave too. I made another trip out to talk with Vanina and he said he could fix me right up.

"I can even supply you with some barn cats to help keep the rats down," he said, and I knew that would be a bargain.

A good barn cat was worth its weight in feed anyway if not in gold. You'd think you could just go to an animal shelter and pick up a few cats, but I'd tried that before and it didn't work worth a shit. Someone finally told me that catching and eating rats and mice was learned behavior. I didn't believe them at first, but I asked Whooper about it and he swore it was the truth. I figured anyone who owned a feed store would know. He told me when they got a good cat they had to keep an eye on it to make sure someone didn't run off with it.

"Shoot, if just any cat would catch mice and rats do you think they'd be hanging around the animal shelter waiting for people to come adopt them? If they'd all do it there'd be a line at the animal shelter. Breed or other details don't seem to make any difference, but if you have a cat that you know catches mice you need to hold onto it like a treasure. Especially a momma cat. It's the mothers that teach the young ones how to do it and if they don't then the cat is worthless."

At least I got Whooper to order me two truckloads of alfalfa hay for the cave. I was going to start out with two loads and see how much room they took up. Vanina told me I should also get some common or coastal bermuda too.

"Horses don't care much for Bahia grass, but it does fine for cows. Common bermuda hay is the best for horses, except for alfalfa or course. Coastal bermuda makes good hay for horses since it chokes out almost everything else. That's the drawback with common bermuda hay. It lets too many weeds grow along with it. And I'm sure you know about blister beetles you can get with alfalfa. They'll kill a horse if it gets a bunch of 'em," Vanina said.

I'd heard of blister beetles before and I knew they could cause a lot of damage to horses that ate them. The trouble was the beetles made nests in the growing hay and then they nests got harvested with the hay. It was something you just had to watch for. They were annoying too boot, because it made feeding alfalfa hay a chancy thing. You couldn't just put out a bale of hay, you had to break it open and look through the hay before you put it in a hayrack. It made it a lot more profitable to buy alfalfa hay from a reputable provider.

Two more weeks went by and the house was finished. The plumber was nearly the last one through and the giant hot-tub the girls specified caused most of the trouble, but I figured it would be worth it to me in the long run. Not only from the soothing relaxation, but also because of the scenery I'd have while I was relaxing in the tub.

After the building and plumbing and wiring was over I felt like I'd done one hell of a job. I really hadn't done much of it except watch over the operation, but I was sure ready for it to be finished when it was.

Apparently the girls were ready too, and they weren't only ready for the house. Most of them were ready for another trip. We were all assuming it was why the hill and cave had been set down in our back yard.

When the carpenters turned the job over as finished we had a hell of a setup. There would be no more cooking on an open fire, or not much of it anyway. Jerrilyn had found a place to order an old-fashioned wood cook stove and she had also ordered a five-hundred-gallon propane tank and a propane stove and oven too, along with a propane water heater and clothes dryer. Hell, we basically had all the comforts of home out in the cave, along with a real home to go with it.

Now that the workers were gone the girls got busy unpacking the trailers and storing the things in and around the house. Our clothes went inside, but almost everything else went outside. After all if the cave wasn't waterproof we were going to be fucked, but we were sure it was.

When they finally decided they had everything ready we started sleeping out in our new house. We had a big hot-tub party the first night and it was everything I'd looked forward to and more. I'd just thought a big shower was inspiring when it was full of naked women -- the hot-tub had it beat hands down.

Another nice thing was the careful application of carpet for around the hot-tub. Selene had picked it out and it was supposed to be waterproof and easy to clean too. At first it was a little odd to me to see them putting down a wooden floor out in the cave, but I'd wised up when the men came to lay the carpet on it. It even covered all the room around our kitchen, which was just an arrangement of tables, chairs, counter top, sinks, and dishwasher on a carpeted floor out inside the cave. The refrigerators were out there too, including the large walk in cooler and freezer they girls had insisted on.