As they continued discussing the planned move back to the Mountain House, James said, “I have the second of Jenna’s old trucks running. We can use both trucks to haul our belongings up to the Mountain House as long as we don’t severely overload them. The old tires should hold up for now, but we will have to take care with them. We can also take the trucks into the city and fill up our gas cans before we begin the move. The twenty gallon per day per vehicle limit will cause us no problem if we take two trucks and make the trip twice. Randy said, “James, I will join you tomorrow and we will make the trip to the city. I would like to pick up some more .22 caliber ammunition. I cut down the stock on my .30-06 rifle to fit me, but the recoil from the gun almost knocks me down. I think we will only use the larger caliber weapons for self-defense. The .22 rounds are sufficient for hunting and trapping. We know from personal experience that the smaller caliber hollow point rounds will kill humans, at least the ones intent on doing us harm.”
Chapter 12 – A Return to the Mountain House
When James and Randy returned with the cans full of gasoline, the girls and Rodney had begun packing up the things that were of most importance. The clan had discussed building bunk beds inside of the mine for use if circumstances forced them to retreat to the mine for safety. The Mountain House was mostly already set up to support the entire clan. They would move such things as water containers, foodstuffs, camping gear, hunting and fishing equipment and the like to the mine. They had plenty of lumber from the three farms to use to build shelving and workbenches inside the mine. Their intent was to have the mine fully functional and ready to become a permanent residence if need be.
They spent the entire first day moving the essentials. Once they began moving the foodstuffs into the mine, they decided to use the far west end of the mine for food storage. They hung the smoked meat from strings they nailed to the cedar posts that supported the ceiling. They needed to insure that if a rodent did manage to enter the mine, it could not get at the hanging meat. They built sturdy wooden shelves for the canned goods and placed items such as bread, fruit and dried nuts in the plastic totes they had moved from Jenna’s basement. She had a large assortment of material and sewing items that remained in the basement. They would move everything that they could reuse to the mine. They carefully packed many of the tools from their workshops and garages into toolboxes. They tried to insure they had duplicates of every tool so that if one failed, they would have a replacement to get the job done.
On the morning of the fourth day, they woke in the Mountain House to the sound of thunder rolling across the mountains. They had planned to spend the day moving the firewood from all three farms up to the garage where they could cut it to proper length and begin moving it into the mineshaft where it would remain dry and usable all winter long. While they ate their breakfast, they decided to spend the rainy day building beds and worktables in the mine. As they finished eating, Britney suddenly got up from the table and ran to the bathroom. She did not have time to shut the door and they all heard how ill she was. James went to check on her, but when he stepped into the bathroom, he found her sitting on the floor wiping her face with a wet washcloth. He rinsed out the cloth and handed it back to her. She put the cool washcloth to her cheeks and smiled at her husband. She giggled as she said, “This child is also yours, my love. Tomorrow, it is your turn to have the morning sickness while I eat my breakfast in peace.” James sat down on the floor with his wife and they talked for a few minutes. Finally, Britney returned to the kitchen and sat back down at the table. Jenna patted her hand and said, “I found that when I got up in the morning, I would drink a little bit of goats’ milk and then wait until after my morning sickness subsided before eating my breakfast. The method worked for me and allowed me to get enough nutrition so that I did not feel hungry all day long.” Britney said, “I will try that in the morning. I am fine the rest of the day once I get through the first hour after I get out of bed.”
They decided to spend the day building shelving and workbenches since it was pouring down rain. They wanted to get a small kitchen area set up so they could figure out where and how to vent the wood stove outdoors. They finally decided upon putting the cook stove at the east end of the drift. While Robert and Kathy built worktables and an eating table, Randy and Rodney took some time to see how much debris was blocking the end of the shaft where it exited the side of the mountain. They knew that the miners had once upon a time dumped tailings down the side of the mountain. They decided to try digging towards the river to see if they could find an opening to the outdoors. They had moved around twelve feet of loose rock and dirt at the top of the tunnel before they saw light seeping into the drift. Robert tied a red coat on the end of a long tree branch and poked it out the hole. Then the men grabbed their rifles and walked outdoors. They hiked up along the ridge above the cabin hoping to spot the red coat hanging off the tree branch. They soon discovered that the hole they had dug was located a hundred or more feet above the tree line. The red coat was flapping in the breeze and easily visible from the river. They returned to the house and then headed down the trail to the river. As they walked along the riverbank towards the north, they finally spotted the red coat waving like a flag high up the side of the mountain. They had originally worried that people could climb up to the side of the mountain and dig their way into the mine, but now that they saw where the opening existed, it was very unlikely that anyone would be able to climb the sheer rock face to gain entrance. An intruder would have to hang from a rope from above the opening to dig their way inside. The only real concern was someone seeing the smoke from the chimney. They would simply have to burn the stove after dark if they had security concerns.
When Jenna climbed down from her bed in the loft, she walked to the south facing windows to look out at the rising sun only to see four inches of fresh snow on the ground. She yelled out loud to wake the rest of the clan and stood at the window mesmerized over the freshly fallen snow. Mother Nature had played a cruel trick on them. The date was July 22. There was no way they should have snow during the middle of summer. As the others looked over the railing down to where Jenna had hollered at them, they realized the reason for her excitement. As the clan gathered around the windows to see the spectacle, Randy said, “This is unbelievable.” He walked over to the radio and turned it on, hoping to find some local news about the mountain snow. Instead, they all heard the news reporter telling everyone about the fresh snow that now blanketed most of six states. As they listened, they realized that the mountains about twenty-five miles north of them had received over two feet of snow in less than twenty hours. They all stood in disbelief over what they heard on the radio. Receiving this much snow in the mountains in midsummer could not be a good thing.
By noon, the sun was out bright and the temperature rose to the mid-seventies. The snow quickly melted and the resulting water ran in torrents down from the mountains towards the river. The guys all stood around the barn discussing the changes they were seeing in the weather and the animals that lived in these mountains. They decided they had better get their wood supply moved up into the mineshaft quickly. If Mother Nature had sent them one snowstorm in July, they worried about what she might offer up in the next few months. They were now determined to hurry along their preparations for an early hard winter.
They hooked the wagon to the tractor and began the trip to Robert’s house to gather wood. He had cut a trail through the forest and piled logs along the edge. All they had to do was drive along the trail and load up the trailer. They soon had brought six loads of wood to the barn and unloaded it. The logs would need to sit for a few weeks once they were cut and split, but the wood would be quite dry by the time winter arrived in the mountains, at least they hoped it would. The decided to work until it was dark.
The girls had begun stacking the logs in the barn and cutting them into eighteen inch long pieces. When the guys returned with the last load of wood for the day, the girls had most of the previous load cut and
stacked. As the guys unloaded the last load into the barn, the girls quickly stacked it into proper piles. The men had cut the wood at Jenna’s old farm last fall. They had cut it to length and it was now ready to split. The girls could split the wood while the guys continued to bring up more loads tomorrow. They would move the split wood into the mineshaft on rainy days. For now, it was okay in the barn.
When they walked into the Mountain House, the men could smell supper cooking. Britney had helped with the wood earlier in the day, but the girls had made her return to the cabin after a few hours of work. She was young and very strong, but she also knew when it was time to listen to the older women; she would rest and feed the child growing in her belly. As the house began to lose the light of day, she lit a fire in the fireplace and started preparing supper, and a wonderful smelling supper it was.
As they sat down at the table, the summer storm they had seen working its way in from the west, moved over the mountains and churned up a high wind. As they ate, they could hear the wind whistling through the trees and swirling around the driveway. By the time they had helped Britney clean up the kitchen, the rain was beating against the south facing windows. Once they washed and headed up to the loft to get some sleep, Rodney said, “I hope we do not wake up to another summer snow storm. We have to much work to do tomorrow to deal with another one of Mother Nature’s temper tantrums.” Britney began to laugh and she could not quit. Finally, James moved to her bed and pulled her into his arms. As they snuggled and kissed, she soon quieted down and fell asleep in his arms.
When they woke in the morning, the men quickly dressed, ate breakfast and headed out to gather more firewood. When they brought the first load up to the Mountain House and unloaded it in the barn, the girls began cutting and stacking it. As they all worked, Britney walked out to the barn with a picnic basket in her arms. She sat the basket down on one of the benches in the barn and began pouring coffee for the clan. Then she passed each of them a hot cinnamon roll. They had brown sugar sprinkled on them that she had partially melted. The rolls were simply the best thing any of them had eaten in many months. As they all laughed and enjoyed each other’s company, they heard the sound of the coyotes howling up on the mountain. The animals sounded close by, but they all knew that the sound of the coyotes howl traveled for many miles.
The guys hauled five loads of wood to the barn before the sun dropped over the mountain and night began to settle over them. They had only managed seven hours of daylight today and they had begun to wonder if they would see any daylight during the shorter winter months. They finally had to light a lantern to work in the barn, but they were determined to move a couple cords of wood into the mine before they quit for the night. As they carried wood through the house and into the mineshaft, they discussed how they were going to get enough sleep with the shorter days. Sunrise to sunrise was only about fifteen hours. Britney said, “I for one will need to take a day off work each week to catch up on my sleep.” Bonnie said, “Once we get everything moved from our farms into the Mountain House, we will have more time each day to get our work done. When it gets dark outside, we can work inside the mineshaft.”
The following morning, Bonnie and Kathy headed into town with the two trucks. They wanted to fill the gas cans again. They had moved two clean fifty-five gallon drums from Jenna’s barn into the barn at the Mountain House to put the gasoline into for storage. They were using the gasoline for the lanterns in the mineshaft and would need to figure out another source of light before long. During the winter, they would not be able to travel into the city to refill the gasoline cans. Randy had suggested yesterday that they should purchase some twelve-volt automotive batteries and charge them from a solar panel. Then they could recharge the batteries for their battery-operated drills directly from the automotive batteries. The drill batteries worked in the four flashlights that Randy already owned. That would help resolve the gasoline issue during the winter. When the girls returned from town with the gasoline cans, Bonnie presented Randy with two large solar panels and six new car batteries along with cables and terminals to connect them.
It rained the entire next day. The guys took the time to mount the solar panels. They mounted them onto some cedar boards and then opened up a hole in the east end of the mineshaft near where the stovepipe exited. They set the panels like windows, only on a slight angle to catch as much sun as possible during the daylight hours. Once they wired up the batteries and rigged up an adapter so they could charge the flashlight batteries, they put the tools away and headed off to carry more firewood into the mineshaft. Once it was dark, they lit the wood stove and warmed up the drift. There was just enough light coming out around the air dampers on the door of the woodstove to allow them to move about the kitchen area without any other lighting.
Once the men headed out with the tractor and trailer the following morning, the girls returned to the barn to split more wood. As Kathy stepped out onto the front porch, movement along the river trail caught her eye. She turned to see what was moving about the farm and saw two mule deer walking along the edge of the forest. She stepped inside, picked up the .30-06 rifle and loaded it. She slowly moved to the edge of the porch and sat down in a chair. She rested the barrel of the rifle on the railing, took careful aim and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot echoed across the mountains and she quickly leaned the rifle against the rail. She tried to raise her arm, but it really hurt. She looked out at where she had shot at the mule deer and saw it kick one last time before it died. She stood up and carefully tried to lift her arm. The pain slowly subsided, but she was certain she would be very sore and black and blue in a few hours. As she unloaded the rifle and sat it behind the door inside the house, she grabbed her hunting knife from the shelf behind the door. As she turned around, she saw the girls walking towards her. When they stepped up onto the porch, she was still in agony but she did not let on that she was hurt. Britney had been in the bathroom and she now joined the girls, wondering who was shooting the rifle and why.
As the girls walked out to where the mule deer lay in the grass, they realized how big the animal truly was. There was enough meat on this animal to feed them for many weeks. They drug it into the forest where they field dressed the animal. Once they finished with the task, they dragged it to the oak tree and hung it by its hind legs. As they began skinning the animal, the guys returned with another load of firewood. When they drove up into the yard, they all walked over to where the girls were working and checked out the mule deer. Randy looked at the hole in the animals hide and asked, “Who shot this deer?” Kathy said, “I did.” Randy walked up to her and asked, “Are you all right?” It looks like you used my .30-06 rifle.” Kathy rubbed her shoulder and said, “Won’t use it again.” Randy said, “I will hang that rifle behind the door for emergency use, but you girls should always use one of your small caliber rifles in the future. The rifle you used almost broke my arm. I suspect you are badly bruised.” Kathy turned her back to everyone and slipped her shirt over her shoulders to inspect her shoulder. Rodney walked around in front of her and looked at her. He stepped up close to her and said, “You are going to be very sore for a few days. You are already turning black and blue.” He helped Kathy pull the shirt back over her shoulders and then helped Randy load the mule deer on top of the load of wood on the trailer. The guys needed to unload the firewood anyways, so they might as well take the animal on the way.
While the others hung the mule deer and began cutting up the meat for the smokehouse, Kathy started the fire in the firebox beside the smokehouse. By the time the meat was ready to hang, the fire was ready. Once they had hung the meat, Kathy opened the chimney flue to allow the smoke to begin filling the interior of the smokehouse. Within minutes, the smell of hickory smoke began to fill the air. The others began unloading the firewood and stacking it into neat rows while Kathy, and Britney returned to the cabin to fix a light lunch. Kathy and Bonnie intended to drive the two pickup trucks to the three farms and gather any remaining per
sonal belongings they might have missed on their earlier trips to the farms. They hoped that today would be the last trip they needed to make. With the wood they had already gathered and stacked in the barn, they had enough firewood to last through the winter and into spring. They would continue to split wood and stock it in the mineshaft as time permitted, but they feared that an early winter was just around the corner. As things stood this day, they were quite certain they would have little daylight during the winter months.
As they all unloaded the last loads of firewood and unloaded the two pickup trucks that the girls had loaded with items from the farms, they closed up the barn and checked the fire under the smokehouse one last time. The sun was just beginning to set as they stood in the garden and inspected the crops. They realized that it was time to begin canning the green beans, peas and tomatoes first thing tomorrow. The potatoes, red beets and squash could remain in the garden a few more days before they would harvest them. When they walked out to the fruit trees, they found that the cherries were ripe and most were ready to pick. The plumbs and apples would need more time, but with the short days, they feared the fruit might never ripen. They had all agreed to pick the fruit green and try to ripen it in the south facing windows of the Mountain House if necessary.
They all returned to the barn and each gathered up an armload of split wood from the rack to take into the mineshaft. They had all agreed to carry some wood into the mine each trip they made. If they carried a load each trip, they would eventually have moved it all inside. Randy closed the barn doors as they headed towards the house with their wood. As they walked, Bonnie said, “I would like to see if we can catch some fish tomorrow. I moved the two fifty-five gallon wooden barrels into the mineshaft. If we can catch enough fish from the river, we could salt them down and have enough fish to last the winter.” Randy said, “I have a large gill net that we can place across the river. Then we can walk along the riverbank, upstream for a few hundred yards. If we all walk in the water or slap the surface with tree branches, we can move the larger fish into the net.” Robert explained that he had seen some large suckers in a pool of water a couple of days earlier and they should still be there if the bears or mountain lions had not harvested them.
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