Chapter 11

When I opened my eyes, I could tell it was earlier than I normally awakened. Going back to sleep wasn't an option. I was wide awake, and I felt great. I was ready to tackle the day.

The girls remained asleep as I carefully got out of bed. Raising my hands to the sky, I stretched my muscles to get the blood flowing.

The nice thing about being made young and healthy again, was being able to stretch and not have my body sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies: Snap! Crackle! Pop! I really didn't miss those first steps out of bed in the morning, when I swore every bone in my feet had been broken.

I got dressed for chores, and let the dogs out before they woke anyone else up. This was the day I would start getting fresh milk, again. I got my hands on Jugg's udders and drew out about a gallon of milk. After straining the milk, I got the can into the walk-in freezer, to chill it as quickly as possible. I was going to have milk with my breakfast, damn it!

I had sent my list of wants to Gronfa, yesterday; so I was surprised, this morning. Not that I had full grown chickens in the coop, but that they had already furnished my requests. The aliens didn't, quite, follow my request for a shipment of adult chickens and a rooster. Instead, all of my baby chicks and turkeys were now fully grown.

Out of the twenty chicks that had hatched, four were roosters. I was going to need to watch them to find the rooster that was the best tempered. I could tell two of them were going into the pot, and soon! Mean little bastards! I grabbed the two mean cocks, and transferred them into the rooster run. The turkeys had been put over into their new area as well. They all got food and water before I collected the eggs I wanted, and marked the others. Each hen happened to be setting on one to three eggs. Rooster number three pissed me off before I left, so I tossed him over with the other two.

I didn't need to clean any stalls because when I let the animals in from the pasture, I didn't put them into their stalls. I made up for it with a little extra grain. I loved the fact that the animals' feed supply was always being replenished. That whole 'productive consumables' clause was coming in as handy as a pocket on a shirt.

I ran to the shop to get the milk. I was hoping it hadn't frozen, since I'd taken longer than I had planned. It was all good, with just a few ice crystals on top.

As I was carrying the milk and eggs to the house, one of those damned roosters decided to announce that it was morning. A mass exodus from the house followed shortly after that. Everyone came out to see what the noise was. I went inside and put the eggs and milk in the fridge. Then I trooped back outside, to show everyone the chickens.

My group got a tour of the chicken coop, with the newbies getting a closer look at the rest of the animals.

With a grand gesture, I pointed to the roosters.

"We can eat these, but only these. Remember the wonderful meal we had last night?" I got nods all around. "These birds are the same meat we had then. I give you: chickens!"

I didn't get any applause, and

my growling stomach cut the tour short. I corralled everyone, and we went back into the cabin.

The first thing I did, once we were back inside, was to pour the milk into half gallon, glass, milk jugs. I showed the ladies how to skim off the cream, and set up the churn to make butter. As the butter was getting whipped into shape, I sliced a loaf and a half of bread. I whisked together some eggs, milk, sugar, a pinch of salt, vanilla, and cinnamon; for French toast. I did the first couple of pieces on the griddle, then let Kanala take over 'French toast duty.'

Soma was moving a little better today, and wanted to get involved with the cooking. The remaining eggs, except one, were made into scrambled eggs.

I had a blast standing behind my mates while they were cooking, and rubbing myself on their backsides. Anala almost got her buns made into a banana split after I had turned away to batter more bread, and she had slipped into Kanala's spot at the stove. I happened to glance over to make sure the coast was clear before I continued to divide and conquer, when I saw Kanala's eyes twinkling at me from across the kitchen.

Any ballerina would have been impressed by my pirouette before I slapped the bread on the griddle and continued my fun behind Soma. I turned my head back to Kanala with a big grin on my face, to see her laughing at me behind her hands.

Breakfast was being served as I got everyone glasses of cold milk and orange juice. I gave everyone instructions on how to prepare their French toast with butter and syrup, then we dug in. They all raved about the French toast and milk. Between bites, I preached about the benefits of milk, especially concerning the kids and Soma's fractured ribs. I figured they would all benefit from a more nutritious diet. When eating at the village, I hadn't noticed any greens in the vegetable stew except for some wild onion. The rest of the vegetables were beans or tubers of some sort.

After breakfast, I gave Tandor and Tanala a small treat that looked suspiciously like a child's multivitamin gummy. I passed one to Soma by disguising it in a kiss; her eyes sparkled at me as she chewed her treat. I became a firm believer of the values of a good diet and proper nutrition after serving in Somalia.

We were heading out of the cabin when I noticed a bank of dark clouds rolling in from the west. I sent everyone back inside, except for Tandor. He went with me, to the barn, to get the animals shut into their stalls. Tandor didn't know it yet, but I was grooming him to take over the daily animal chores.

As we were heading back from the barn, Anala and Kanala were coming from the crafts shop carrying some tools. After making sure that they had everything they needed, I made a detour and grabbed a couple big sirloin steaks from the freezer.

I could smell the moisture in the air at that point. Resigned to spending a day inside, I went into the house.

After putting the steaks in hot water to thaw, I started a fire in the fireplace. I dug out my big Dutch oven and started making preparation for a big stew. Just to test Kanala, I asked her to go into the 'root cellar' with Anala for a few ingredients. The ladies returned a few minutes later with everything I had asked for. Soma learned to peel the potatoes as the rest of us busied ourselves with other preparations. I was so proud of Kanala! She was learning the ins and outs of a modern kitchen very quickly.

I was searing the meat in a skillet, when I heard Kanala burst out laughing behind me. I turned around to see Anala with red eyes and tears dripping off her face. Kanala had made her mother cut up the onions!

The stew was slowly cooking over the fire. I had everyone go take a shower, even if they'd had one already. The rest of the morning was a crash course in personal hygiene. Fingernail clippers and scissors won the spotlight of the day. I had already taught Kanala about shaving her legs, and she did the same for Soma and Anala.

I just about puked when I saw the gunk on the 'Q-tip' that Kortan pulled out of his ear, that first time.

For the next two weeks, we worked around the place, planting and caring for the garden. We built a few planter boxes inside the compound for strawberries and tomatoes. I fit in driving lessons for Kanala, Anala, and Kortan, while teaching Tandor to ride a four wheeler. Everyone, even Soma, learned to ride the horses.

Kortan and BJ were quite the pair, for some reason. Kortan thought BJ was better than a horse for riding, which I thought was great, considering I wasn't spending that much time with him. Tanala had claimed Chica, the female donkey, as her ride of choice. I needed a couple more horses, but that would come with time. I learned that Lady and Mally were both pregnant.

Another project I completed was a buffer zone around everything in case of fire. When we were coming back from River Rise, I saw an old burned out area that opened my eyes to the possibility of wild fires. Using a blade on the Kubota, I scraped the vegetation away from the walls and fences, as well as the orchard and garden. That was also where I got the topsoil for the planter boxes. I was trying to stay away from using herbicides as much as possible, but I had to use some around the base of the walls and fence lines. I didn't come all this way to waste my time using a weed eater!