Once everyone was around the breakfast table, they discussed the short days and the approaching winter. Kathy commented that they would have trouble trying to feed the six chickens and rabbits they had in the barn. They would not be able to provide them with proper nutrition once the heavy snows set in. Kathy reminded everyone that the chickens needed to find their own natural food or they needed supplements. The rabbits also required hay, pellets and greens to grow. Robert commented that they might be better off to harvest the animals and then purchase more in the spring. After a long discussion, they decided to harvest the animals once the heavy snows set in and they were unable to feed the animals properly.
As they sat talking, they all felt the ground beneath their feet begin to tremble. The earth did not shake much, just enough to remind them that the planet was unhappy. Britney checked the charge in the radio batteries and then turned it on. Once she found the radio station from Hillsburg, she turned up the volume a little so they could all hear the latest news. It was then that they discovered that the two volcanoes were once again active. Yellowstone and Krakatoa were both spewing ash and gas into the atmosphere. The seismologists’ were now concerned that other volcanoes might become active in the near future. The United States Congress had imposed gasoline and diesel fuel restrictions around the country in order to insure that the military had adequate supplies now that the refineries’ were running under reduced production levels. They all sat and listened to the news for over an hour before Britney turned the radio off to recharge the batteries while the sun was still shining.
After they had the morning chores done, everyone except for Britney and Timothy picked up their backpacks and headed out into the forest to gather nuts and berries before the animals got all of them. The walnuts had just begun to ripen and the high winds the night before had knocked many of the nuts to the ground. Once discovered, it would only be a few hours before the animals had all of them. As they quietly gathered as many nuts as were edible, Kathy shot two turkeys that were still roosting in a tree. She commented that shooting the birds from the tree was not very sportsman like, but she considered feeding her clan more important than proper hunting etiquette.
While Kathy returned to the house to clean and hang up the two turkeys, the others continued gathering nuts and berries. The forest was lush with blueberries and blackberries. They also found ripe cherries, plumbs and apples on all three farms. The girls would soon have dozens of cans of apple juice, blackberries and cherries on the shelves of the mineshaft. The squash were also ready for harvest and they soon had them stored away in the cold storage room. They now felt comfortable about their food supply for winter, especially if they harvested the rabbits and chickens.
Chapter 13 – The Sky is Falling
Just after sunrise, Robert and Randy stepped outside to remove the meat they had hanging in the smoker for the last three days. When they opened up the door and stepped inside, they heard the sound of what they at first thought was a tornado coming over the mountain. They quickly shut the smokehouse door and ran towards the security of the Mountain House. As they reached the front porch, they heard the explosion and saw the debris cloud where the meteorite had struck the ground somewhere off in the distance. Randy said, “I hope that rock did not strike a major city.” They had no more than stepped off the porch when they spotted another meteorite racing across the sky. This one was much higher and most likely never touched the surface of the planet.
As they stood on the porch in a state of awe, the other members of the clan came out to discover what was making such a commotion. As they stood taking to Robert and Randy, another flaming rock streaked across the sky, this one creating a horrendous sonic boom. Jenna quickly carried Timothy back into the house, hoping the loud sound had not damaged his tiny eardrums.
They all decided to make a quick trip to the smokehouse and retrieve all of the meat. As they worked packing the meat into the clean tubs that they would transport the meat inside with, they discussed the tractor that was stored in the barn. After the meat was inside the mineshaft, Britney and Bonnie began wrapping it in cheese cloth and hanging it. Then, the guys decided to move the tractor and the trucks out into the yard just in case the barn was to catch fire. They also moved the gasoline cans out of the garage and placed them in separate locations around the property. With their precious machines and the gasoline supply stored in different locations around the farm, they felt less threatened by the meteorites.
They headed out to the barn to insure they had all of their skinning knives and important tools. Then they returned to the garage and began moving the tools and things of importance into the living room of the Mountain House. If the barn or garage were to catch fire, they would survive, but losing their tools and the generator would be devastating to say the least. It was past suppertime before they decided they had done all they could. Out of shear desperation, they made one last check of the garage to insure they had moved everything of importance.
It had been dark for two hours or so and they could now see flashes of light to the south of them. They hoped the tall skyscrapers had escaped the wrath of the firestorm. Hundreds of people lived in each of those tall buildings. They all stopped in the yard and looked up into the sky. They could see dozens of meteorites in the sky at any given moment, most of them only visible for a split second—probably hundreds of miles from the surface of planet Earth.
When they walked into the house for the night, Britney had the radio turned on and was listening to the BBC world news. They were reporting widespread forest fires and damaged infrastructure from the falling rocks. Chinese officials announced that hundreds of people died when a meteorite struck three high-rise hotels. The meteorite came in at a low angle and took the tops off all three of the sixty plus story skyscrapers. The astrophysicists’ of the planet made a blanket statement that the meteorite showers would become a normal event in coming months with the increased speed of planet Earth. One scientist stated that one would think that the fast spinning planet would sling the meteorites out into the vastness of space, but it appeared to be just the opposite happening.
As they all sat down for the evening meal, they discussed how the meteorites would affect them. They realized that if the barn or garage burned, it would make things more difficult later on when they needed the area to process game and to dry their vegetables and fruit, but what if the Mountain House caught fire. True, Randy had built most of it below ground, but the south facing side was exposed and built of wood. Jenna said, “We could use the stacked stone from the mountain out behind the barn to build a stone wall to protect the south facing side of the house. Then a barn or garage fire would not overheat the wooden structure of the house.” They all thought about Jenna’s words for a few minutes and then Randy said, “We could install some of the cedar posts along the front of the porch for support and then sheet the entire front with the rough cut lumber stored in the barn loft. Then if we stacked the stone in front of that as Jenna suggested, we would have a very strong structure to protect the house. We could easily fabricate some anchors and then mortar the stone slabs in place.”
As they all cleaned up the kitchen and prepared for bed, they could hear rain pelting the stovepipe that protruded out the east end of the mineshaft. The rain was welcome. It would help prevent the spread of forest fires if a meteorite did strike nearby. It might also help protect the barn and garage roofs if a piece of hot rock or ember were to fall on them.
As they lay in their beds, the events of the day kept them awake. After a few minutes more of discussion, they had worked out a plan to begin reinforcing the porch first thing in the morning. The girls asked Britney if she would care for Timothy while the rest of them worked. Britney’s belly was getting quite large and she did not feel like doing hard physical labor. Tending Timothy and working to prepare their new home for a long winter seemed more important to her. Jenna had told Randy that Britney was going through her nesting stage—a time when a mother prepares a safe environme
nt before the birth of her child.
When they woke in the morning, the rain had passed and the sun rose around nine o’clock. As they worked to dig the postholes and fasten the top of the posts to the existing frame of the porch, the girls brought flat slabs of stone down from the wall behind the barn. Most of the slabs were three to four inches think. The stones ranged from twelve to sixteen inches deep and were about two feet long. Once they nailed the rough sawn lumber in place on the posts to form a wall, they began stacking the stone. Randy had some aluminum strap in the attic of his garage that he cut and nailed to the rough sawn lumber, then bent them out so they laid in between the stones. He placed the straps every two foot or so to insure the wall would not just simply tip over in high wind. By the time the sun had set, they had half of the stone mortared in place. They would easily finish the wall tomorrow. Robert had suggested that they make a letter L shaped stone entrance so fire would not have direct access to the front of the wood house.
They finished the stonework by noon on the third day. As they all stood back and looked at the wall, they compared blisters and smashed fingers. Britney stepped outside to look over the job and said, “It will be dark in an hour or so. May I offer you all some hot water and an early supper to celebrate your accomplishments? I made a blueberry pie for dessert. It turned out quite nice if I may say so myself.”
As Britney poured out a pan of hot water for each of them on the table, they all laughed and chided each other like a bunch of teen agers. When they finally sat down at the table, they realized that the wonderful smelling stew Britney had prepared was thick and extremely flavorful. When they had eaten their fill, Britney served the pie with the last of the goats’ milk. Randy asked how they were going to find more milk for Timothy. Jenna said, “We have been slowly mixing powdered milk with his goats’ milk. We have him drinking mostly powered milk already. He will survive. Britney will nurse her child for the first couple of months and then we will slowly switch the child over to powered milk. We have enough powered milk to last for a couple of years; so no worries there.”
By the end of the week, they had all of the bunk beds moved into the mineshaft. They decided that they now had everything they needed to survive below ground. They were still using the bathroom in the Mountain House, but now had worked out a plan to create a working bathroom in the mineshaft. They had discovered a new type of composting toilet system that would work inside the mineshaft without water and only required a vent pipe to the exterior to remove odors. A small solar panel and two automotive batteries would supply power for the toilets. A tray at the bottom of the toilet allowed for removal of the dry composted material. They could use the compost as fertilizer in the garden or further reduce the material in an outdoor composting area. They decided to purchase two toilets to accommodate all eight of them. Robert and Kathy had ordered the toilets through the hardware in town and the owner expected delivery in three days. The fully assembled toilets weighted fifty-five pounds each. They would have to disassemble the toilets so they could move them into the bathroom. Once the toilets were in place and hooked up, they would build a platform to allow resized humans to use them in comfort. They would need to dig out an area large enough for a small bathing tub and the toilet. They began digging the wall of the mineshaft out behind where they had installed the wood stove on the east end of the mineshaft. That area would serve as the bathroom. Being so close to the wood stove, they could easily move a pot of hot water from the stove to the tub. They would need to run the vent pipe out the east wall as they did with the stovepipe for the woodstove. The water from the tub and kitchen wash sink would simply empty out into the marsh below the mineshaft.
The digging of the room for the bathroom was no easy task. Safety was the major issue. They had to add cedar posts and ceiling supports as they moved deeper into the rocky wall. They dumped the material they removed at the east end of the mineshaft to thicken the wall. That end of the mineshaft at one time was open and the miners simply dumped their tailings over the edge. The drop from the mineshaft to the marsh below was over sixty feet of sheer rock wall. If that wall were to fail during the winter, they would have great difficulty trying to seal it up with lumber.
The men worked on digging the new bathroom while the girls picked the squash, beets, carrots and potatoes from the garden and preserved them. They were just about out of glass canning jars and lids and canning supplies were no longer available in Hillsburg. It seemed everyone was canning food for the upcoming winter. After the hard winter everyone suffered through last year, no one wanted to be ill equipped for the upcoming winter.
When the girls walked into the mineshaft with their baskets full of carrots and beets, the men realized the girls were wet and covered in snow. The girls shook out their coats and hung them up to dry. The men decided then to go out and insure they had properly covered the tractor and trucks with tarps. They still feared putting the equipment into the barn and garage.
As they returned to their work digging the tunnel, they all heard the sound of another meteorite streaking across the mountains. The sonic boom that followed the projectile shook the earth and knocked grains of loose dirt from the ceiling. As everyone brushed the dirt from their hair, a second meteorite rattled the mountain. This one was nowhere near as close as the first.
The guys all headed outside to make certain no fires were burning anywhere nearby. The sky was now dark and the heavy snow began to fall as they looked out towards the barn. When the men returned to the safety of the mineshaft, they all discussed the ongoing assault on planet Earth.
After they installed the hinges on the new bathroom door and hung it in place, Randy turned to the clan and asked, “Who is going to test out the new toilets?” Britney quickly stood up and said, “Me. I have needed to go for over an hour now, but I did not want to leave the safety of the underground mineshaft. I was afraid of being struck by a meteorite while I did my business.”
When Britney stepped out of the bathroom, Bonnie asked if she had stunk up the place. Britney giggled and said, “Actually, the venting on this new composting toilet works very well. However, I fear that the leaves on the trees near the outdoor vent pipe may be wilting about now.” By the end of the day, they had tested out both toilets and found them quite workable. Using the dry composting toilets would lessen their workload, since they did not have to carry water to flush them.
As they finished supper, Britney asked if the drain on the new bathtub was complete. She had inspected the piping to be certain it was all connected, but she was uncertain if the glue the guys had used to cement the pipes together was dry. Randy explained that the glue only took a couple of hours to cure completely and that she could bathe in the new tub if she wished. The guys filled up the tank on top of the kitchen woodstove with water and then built a fire in the stove. When they lit the fire, it seemed the entire clan gathered around the kitchen area. Kathy laughed and said, “I think we are all chilled after being outside working in the garden. We all seem to enjoy the heat of the stove.
Once the water was quite warm, but not boiling, Britney opened the valve at the bottom of the tank and allowed the hot water to run through the copper piping to the washtub. Once the tub it was half-full, she shut off the valve and added a pail of cold water. As she undressed and settled into the small tub, James went in to check on her. The tub was just an old laundry washtub and she could not lay down it, but the warm water and soap felt heavenly. As the other girls came in to see for themselves how the tub was working out, they all realized how large Britney’s belly truly was. Jenna sat down beside the tub on a wooden bench and talked to Britney about her due date. Britney explained that she was uncertain since her periods had always been quiet irregular. When Bonnie stepped into the bathroom and sat down beside Jenna, she explained that her daughter was most likely due this month instead of next month. She based that bit of knowledge on the fact that she had filled the tampon box in their cupboard during her own last period, but Britney had never used any
of them. As they talked, Britney said, “This child has turned and moved down in my belly. I can feel it kicking up high under my heart. The child’s weight is now resting on my bladder and bowel. That is why I feel the need to use the bathroom so often. I may be very near to delivering this child.”
As Britney got out of the tub and began drying her body, she discussed the delivery of Jenna’s child, Timothy. Jenna said, “As you might remember, Randy and I did the delivery deed ourselves. Randy was a medic during the last war and had the opportunity to deliver a number of babies. The Navy base had the best medical facilities in the area. Whenever a civilian mother found herself in trouble with a stubborn delivery, the city doctors often brought their patients to the base for assistance with the deliveries. He also delivered dozens of military babies over his time in the service. Randy is well versed in delivering babies.” Britney looked into Jenna’s eyes and said, “I hope we don’t need Randy’s assistance, but it is comforting to know that he could help if I needed him.” Jenna took the towel from Britney and dried her back, which she could no longer reach. Then she said, “I would like to suggest that you simply swallow your modesty and allow Randy to deliver this child for you. I want you to understand that Randy purchased the medicine to give you a spinal block and he has medicines to help relieve your pain after birth, if you should find that you need it. Using the drugs will relax you and allow you to push without becoming frightened over the pain. I am just telling you this to ease your anxiety over birthing your first child.”
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