Robert and Rodney headed off to get the tractor to drag the animals over near the barn. They would need to clean the pigs tonight. If they cut up the meat, they could have smoked pork in a few days.
Chapter 6 – The First Snow
When Jenna stepped into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, she looked out the window. As she was stepping back in surprise over what she saw, she backed into Britney who had also entered the kitchen. Britney giggled and said, “Did the new snow scare you? You looked startled when I walked into the kitchen.” Jenna said, “It was not the snow, but the wolf that was standing on the trailer looking in at me.” Britney looked out the window and could see that there were animal tracks in the fresh show and on the wagon. She ran into the living area and walked from window to window trying to find more fresh tracks. When she looked out towards the barn, she could see two wolves sniffing around the barn door. Randy stepped up beside her when she said, “Wolves are at the barn.” Randy grabbed his rifle and quietly opened the door leading out onto the front porch. Just as he stepped outside, he startled a third wolf that was trying to push the small garage door open. When the wolf ran out into the driveway, Randy shot it in the head. Then he racked another shell into the gun and tried to take aim at one of the wolves at the barn. Before he could shoot, they both bounded around behind the barn.
Randy unloaded the chamber of his rifle and then stepped back inside. When Britney stepped up beside him, he said, “I have not seen many wolves around this property in recent years, but all of a sudden we have too many. I suspect the animals are having difficulty trying to figure out their resizing. I am certain they will have difficulty surviving if we have a hard winter. I have no love for the wolves and I will shoot as many as I can to keep the pack within reasonable limits.” After he stood his rifle in the corner behind the door, he walked back into the kitchen to get some coffee. When he looked out the window at where Jenna had seen the first wolf, he laughed over how close it was to the window. Just as he stepped back from the window, Jenna walked up with a towel and began wiping up a wet spot on the floor. Randy laughed again and asked, “Coffee or pee?” Jenna giggled and said, “Coffee. The pee stayed in my underwear.” They heard laughter coming from behind them as the clan all gathered in the kitchen to fix breakfast.
As they ate their morning meal, they discussed what they would do with the wolf. The pelt was worth saving and tanning, but the meat would be inedible, at least for the humans living in these mountains. Everyone knew what the wolves ate and how awful they smelled. After a few minutes discussion, they decided to move the wolf to the canyon a few miles down the road with the front-end loader on the tractor. The meat would feed the bears, mountain lions and other wolves in the area. The discussion continued during the meal about wasting the resources the land provided, but the fact remained that a wolf has the most disgusting eating habits of any creature in the forest. Randy said, “The muscle meat is usually full of parasites and not edible by humans. Disposing of it is the best thing to do. I do not intend to shoot every wolf that walks across the property, but the ones that come near the house or smokehouse will become critter food.”
As they began cleaning up the kitchen, Bonnie said, “We need to build a wider platform in front of the kitchen counter to work from. Standing on the eight-inch wide plank we have in front of the sink makes it difficult to wash dishes or cook. Either we should raise the entire kitchen floor up higher, or we should build new lower counter tops.” Jenna said, “We have the same problem in the bathroom. We need to build up the floor so that we can reach the sink and our feet will touch the floor when sitting on the toilet. Climbing up on that stool to sit on the toilet is difficult at best. We also need to lower the faucet handles and spray nozzle down a little lower so we can easily reach them from the floor.” Randy said, “All good ideas. We have plenty of lumber left over so I guess we just need to think this through and decide on a plan. The work will not be difficult. We have the generator to run the power saws and to run the electric drill. We may need to make a trip to the city for more gasoline, but we should have enough for a few days.”
Randy said, “After we take care of the wolf, Rodney, Robert and I are heading down to the river to check our traps. Then we intend to build some new snowshoes. We could help with the work you women decide upon in a day or so.” Bonnie laughed and said, “You boys go play in the snow. The women will cook, clean and take care of the carpentry work.” Robert said, “You can go in my place and I will stay and help clean and cook. It is much warmer here in the Mountain House.” Bonnie laughed and said, “Touché!”
Rodney said, “We also need to think about cutting more firewood. There are twenty or so full cords of wood already cut and stacked on the trail behind Jenna’s barn. If we can clear a path to it with the frontend loader, we could skid it up to the Mountain House. The hoods from the two old trucks in Jenna’s barn would do nicely to move wood over the snow.” Jenna slammed her fist down on the table. She said, “Those two old trucks you are discussing belonged to my grandfather. You will not damage them.” Rodney looked into her eyes and said, “I did not mean to anger you. I was just suggesting a method to move the firewood.” Jenna moved over beside Rodney and said, “I am sorry. I did not mean to yell at you. Those two trucks are very special to me; however, I have now changed my mind. I would rather be warm this winter than to have those trucks rust away in that barn. I would like to go with you guys when you head out to retrieve the wood. I need to be outdoors. I have sewn up plenty of warm clothing and the new boots that Kathy stitched on her treadle sewing machine will keep my feet warm.”
By eight o’clock, everyone was dressed and ready to haul firewood except for Kathy and Bonnie. They would stay behind to protect the Mountain House and build more shelving in the cold storage rooms. They would also have a hot meal ready when the last load of wood was stacked in the barn. Jenna, Britney and Randy rode on the four-wheeler on the way down to Jenna’s farm and Robert rode on the tractor with Rodney. By the time they arrived at the farm, everyone was cold. They drove the vehicles into the barn to keep them out of the snow while they rigged up the hoods off the trucks to haul wood. They flipped the hoods upside down and connected chains from the hinge brackets to the hitches on the two vehicles. Once Rodney moved the snow out of the way so they could get the four-wheeler up to the woodpile, they began loading the hoods up with wood. The loads were not too stable, but the wood did stay on as they pulled the heavy loads. When they arrived at the Mountain House, Bonnie and Kathy came out and helped stack the wood in the barn. By the time all of the wood was at the Mountain House, they had made three trips back to Jenna’s farm. When all of the wood was in the barn, they decided to stop for an hour and eat lunch. They still had three hours until sundown and they now wanted to haul wood from Robert’s farm up to the Mountain House.
By the time the clan had moved four and a half full cords of wood and stacked it in the barn, they were all dead tired. When they went into the house to clean up and eat supper, the girls had roasted a small rump roast from one of the goats. They had hung the meat in the fireplace on a spit. The girls took turns slowly turning the spit to keep the meat from burning. There were potatoes in the hot coals below the meat, squash cooking in a pot hanging from a tripod, and they had somehow managed to cook a blackberry pie in the fireplace without it burning to a crisp. As everyone helped set the table, the girls dished up the food and sliced the meat. Once seated at the table, Britney asked everyone to hold hands. As they did what she requested, she prayed over the food. When everyone raised their heads, they began to realize that this group of neighbors was no longer just friends; they were now a true clan.
The following morning, during breakfast, they decided to refill their water containers. They saw the heavy clouds moving in over the mountains before they went to bed and they could tell that a winter storm was brewing. When they woke in the morning, there was six inches of fresh snow on the ground. They filled buckets with the heavy wet snow an
d placed them beside the fireplace to melt. By the time breakfast was over, they had melted the snow down to about six gallons of water, not a lot, but a good start. As they continued to melt snow during the day, they melted over forty gallons of fresh water before the sun went down. They had rigged up the generator so that they could run the water well in the house if they wanted, but they did not want to waste the gasoline unless it was necessary. The fireplace had to remain lit to warm the cabin anyways, so melting buckets of snow beside it really was the sensible thing to do.
The weather that day was horrible at best and they all decided to stay close to the Mountain House. The guys had cut some hickory from the forest just north of the Mountain House and had dried it in the smokehouse with the last batch of rabbits, partridge and fish they had harvested. When the wood came out of the smokehouse, it was dry all the way through. They carried some of the branches into the house where it was warm enough to work. They laid a large tarp on the floor and began removing the bark and knots from the wood. Randy sorted out pairs of branches that were approximately the same size and laid them out on the tarp. Then he showed everyone how to carve the wood to a shape that would allow it to bend to form a snowshoe once soaked in hot water.
As they spent the day working on getting each branch properly carved to the correct shape and length, they could hear the wind howling outside. The new snow that was falling was light and fluffy and soon began to drift up against the house, garage and barn. Once the wood was ready, they cleaned up the mess and put the wood shavings into the fireplace.
Tomorrow, if the wind quit blowing, they would set up the watering trough outside of the barn and build a fire under it to heat the water. Then they would lay a metal rack across the trough; lay the hickory on top of the rack so the steam from the boiling water would soften the wood. It would be a few hours before they could bend the wood to the correct shape and clamp it into a jig for drying. Then they would let the snowshoes dry overnight before installing the lacing material. They would use 1/8 inch braided nylon cord to form the lacing and one-inch wide nylon strapping for the bindings.
Chapter 7 – Cold Weather Repairs
The clan was housebound for the next three days. Once the storm had passed and the skies were bright blue and beautiful, the wind began to blow. The wind blew the fresh powder snow in every direction, causing drifts over five feet deep along the edge of the forest. Because of the changing wind direction, the fireplace would not draft properly and smoke kept blowing back into the house. They finally decided to take turns watching over the fireplace to insure the house did not fill up with smoke. They also had to make certain the wind did not blow sparks out into the house and set a fire. Randy said, “I will take the first watch. I might just wrap up in a blanket and set here by the fire tonight.” Jenna said, “I would prefer that you get some sleep. We will need you to help bring in more firewood tomorrow. I will tend this fire for the first four hours and then someone else can take my place.” Britney stepped up beside Jenna and said, “When you cannot stay awake any longer, you wake me and I will take your place until daylight.” Kathy said, “If you need me, you can wake me, but I would prefer to help the men with the outdoor chores tomorrow. I have plenty of warm clothes and the cold does not bother me.” Bonnie said, “I will help tend the fireplace or work outside tomorrow. I will help wherever you need me. I have sewn up warm clothes and my boots will keep my feet dry if you want my help outdoors.”
Twice during the night, the wind blew embers out onto the wood floor. Jenna had sat a bucket of water beside the fireplace and put a rag mop in another bucket of water. When the embers and part of a burning log blew out onto the floor, she quickly put it out with the wet mop and some water. As she finished shoveling the wet ash up off the floor, Britney came down to help. She had heard Jenna working to put out the fire and had quickly dressed in case she needed to assist. As she zipped up her pants and looked down from the loft to insure Jenna was managing on her own to put out the fire, she realized that the loft was quite smoky. It was now four in the morning and Britney was certain Jenna must be tired and cold.
As the two girls refilled the buckets with water and added a little wood into the fire, Britney said, “Jenna, you should go get some sleep. I may ask you to tend the fireplace again in the morning while we all gather in more wood. The more of us that help outdoors doing the chores, the quicker we can all come back in out of the cold. I just looked at the thermometer and it is twelve degrees below zero and the wind chill must be thirty below or lower.
As Jenna headed off to bed, Britney stepped up to the window and tried to look outside. There was no light at all and she could see nothing. When the weather was this bad, she hated the night. Daylight would be a big relief.
Just before sunrise, the wind died down and the sky cleared. By the time it was fully daylight the blue sky and the fresh snow were beautiful. The sunlight reflected off the ice and snow that covered the trees around the cabin and sparkled as Britney looked out the frosty south facing windows. She could tell that it was cold outside and walked over to where the thermometer hung on the porch. The face of the thermometer had some snow and front on it, but it appeared to read seventeen degrees below zero.
Once everyone had finished their breakfast and they were ready to work outside, they dressed as warm as they possibly could and began shoveling a path out to the barn. There was no wind and that made working a little easier. It took all six of them over an hour to dig the four-foot wide path out to the barn. Once they arrived at the twelve-foot tall sliding doors, they had to shovel a path along the barn to make a place for the door to open. As soon as they were inside, Randy sat down on the seat of the small tractor to start it, but Jenna yelled at him to wait. Jenna was down in front of the tractor looking at a dripping radiator hose. Randy stepped down off the tractor to see what Jenna had found and realized that the hose looked as if it had frozen and burst. Randy found a large clean tub on the workbench and placed it on the floor to catch as much of the antifreeze as possible and then found a wrench to remove the hose.
Once Randy had the hose off the tractor, he went looking for a replacement. He knew that he had some hoses stashed in the loft but had no idea if one of them would fit. As he and two others went looking, Robert and Rodney found another metal tub and placed some straw and wood inside. They lit a fire in the tub and placed it near the front end of the tractor, then put a teepee shaped tarp over the tractor and fire. Once Randy returned with a hose, he cut it a little shorter and installed it with new clamps. By then the slushy antifreeze had warmed and drained out of the water pump and engine block. While Randy fit the new hose, Robert and Rodney added fresh antifreeze to the old mixture until the tester they were using showed the antifreeze was now good down to minus fifty degrees. Once Randy finished with the hose repairs, they began pouring the antifreeze back into the tractor. As they worked, Randy said, “I should have tested the antifreeze weeks ago. I added water to it this summer and never gave it another thought.”
Once the tractor was running, they filled the bucket on the frontend loader with firewood. When the bucket was full, they drove the tractor up to the porch of the house. Once they unloaded the wood into the house and laid it on a tarp, they headed back to the barn for another load. They planned to put as much wood in the living area as possible. When they returned with a second load, Bonnie had stacked the first load on a tarp in front of the water containers. As they unloaded that load inside the house, Bonnie said, “I can make room for two more loads inside. Then four more loads will fit on the front porch if we put a tarp over it to keep it dry.”
By the time they had finished, they had enough wood inside and on the porch to last for ten days or so. When the project was complete and they had closed up the barn and shut the doors, they decided to shovel a path to the garage. They needed to get at the two chain saws that were stored there. Randy had no idea if they could use the saws, but he planned to find out. They had enough gas and oil to cut more firewood
, but if they could not use the small chain saw, they would have to cut the wood with a bucksaw or chop it with an axe. Randy had five or six bucksaws in the garage and all sizes of axes and hatchets that they could use, but all of them were for full size human hands.
Once they finished shoveling the path to the garage, they went inside and lit a lantern. As they all looked at the chainsaws and tried to lift them into a position where they could actually cut a tree, they decided they would not be able to manage them. Randy said, “I suggest that we sharpen up my saws and the axes that fit us and use them. We can then save the gasoline and oil for the tractor, four-wheeler and the generator if we should ever need it to charge a vehicle battery or run the power tools.” As they all talked, the decision was made to hand cut the wood they needed to get through the winter.
As they all went inside the house to warm up and have some lunch, they discussed where they could get through the deep snow with the tractor to access one of the forests. Randy said, “Directly west of us is a hardwood forest that has enough large trees for a couple of years. If we cut only the old growth and leave all of the smaller wood, we could use that forest for many years to come.” Jenna said, “The wood that you brought up from behind my barn came from the oak and maple forest to the east of my farm. If we can get down the main highway to my driveway, we can follow the trail back into the forest. An access trail circles around inside the hardwood grove. There are some logs stacked there that were cut two years ago. The wood is well seasoned and loading the logs onto the trailer would be quite easy. Using that wood would save what is nearby the cabin for a later time, possibly, after we run out of fuel for the tractor.
Universal Mass Page 4
