D.A.B, day 12
Hide
We've awoken early before sunrise, but we did go to bed early. The scene below is literally bloody gruesome and we avoid looking at the half eaten carcass as we empty the kiln and start installing stuff outside while preheating the kiln. Again. So much pottery to do. The special pot for the shower is done and with a special holder is hung up outside and balanced. By stepping down on a piece of wood as a pedal, a cord is pulled which tips the shower pot and gives a shower. It might not be enough water for a shower for the both of us, but it can be lifted down and refilled. The shower holder stay in place, but the shower pot will actually be stored so that rain from the storage sheds roof will fill it. A similar but smaller special pot and system is combined with the flatter wider washing sink at the kitchen bench so no dirty or bloody hands have to be used while washing, or if both hands are dirty to avoid making a mess. The sink even have a stopper and another pot underneath to drain into. Reiley think it is so 'very advanced' and luxurious. I'm assembling the parts for the toilet which is the last part to officially having finished the hut, when screechy bird reminds us of his presence. Reiley quickly grabs her bow and peek out to make sure the coast is clear before saluting him for his service, but she smile while doing it. She have said she can hit the bird with an arrow if I want her too.
"Arne, we should go down there."
I look out at Reiley standing out side pointing towards the carcass: "You're kidding, right?!"
"There have been no dragon scavengers since we woke up, and I don't think they will be back until it rains. There is a lot of meat left that haven't even been exposed to sunlight yet. If we grill or cook it, it will be good to eat. There should be fat to make soap or for light. A lot of hide to turn into leather, seems to have long hair, and there are long sinews and bones too. We have salt."
My first thought is 'No!', but I consider what she said, and I look down on the gruesome scene of the partially eaten carcass just lying there.
"Yeah. Okay. You're right. Let's be quick about it."
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We are careful as we get closer, but there are no dinosaurs here, or anything from the same dinosaur species lineage. I think. I don't even know what to call the dead carcass, as it have a freaking mane along the back and a tail, but sure isn't a horse. There are a few rat looking things but that is pretty much it aside from a few birds that fly away. This is a heck of a meal they left, which says a lot about those sanctuary flowers. The kills that happened out on the grassy land across the river had scavengers and predators all over it until there were just bones left. Since we will not be eating fish for a while, we take up the fish traps and store them hidden just inside the forest. Another fish is caught, but after killing it we focus on the carcass.
I still feel like I need to puke, but Reiley cuts big chunks of meat while taking care about trying to maximize large hide pieces, and cut both thinner more flexible hide, and thicker back pieces. This animal is way to big to turn over without leverage, so Reiley take what we can that is untouched and we want, and since the really long thin hair is strong and useful we cut it all off too. According to Reiley the long hair can be braided together to make long strong and thin cord or even fishing nets from.
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Reiley have taken upon herself to do all the work with scraping the hides from fat, but I insist in helping and we do it at the edge between jungle and beach with pointy stones. Reiley don't know where to get a few things that would make the tanning process and final leather better, but the skin will be salted to dry it out and we will probably have to change the salt two or three times. Then the hide needs to be pickled in a brine solution for two days, and it is good news that it is warm enough for this work as it should be 'comfortably warm', which the sunlit rocks will help with during the night. Then the skin needs to be stretched and then tanned in increasingly concentrated solutions over weeks. Reiley have already found tanning bark and leaves that smell like it should work, but she don't know exactly how much is needed as this is after all a new type of animal hide, and different bark and leaves. So we will do different batches to hopefully get at least something good in the end. This leather will be thick and not very flexible, so it won't be good for clothes, but thick leather have plenty of use for shoes, bags and straps. My shoes will not last forever, and a tough higher leather boot would be nice. And some kind of flip-flops. The tanning operation will take time, and require lots of water and quite large containers, and smell a bit, so we quickly decide that we will make a roofed workspace at the higher and larger cliff work area, and we should really look into checking out the top of the cliff better.
It feels good to get back to the hut as I really dislike being exposed down at the lowland. We leave our stuff and as I fill the kiln for another firing and salt batch, Reiley prepare the meat for grilling and smoking, and take care of the sinews and so on. Then we do another quick clay run, and bring wood along up to new cliff work area, check the kiln and do another wood and thick branches run from the jungle working area. I can probably do the trail half asleep by now. We check on the kiln and bring the hide, salt, pots and tools. We start improving the area by removing a bit of dirt and rubble and building a simple roof. There is plenty of water in that large hollow, and with how often it rains it will always fill up with more. Reiley salts the hides and then starts to sort out the rocks and rubble. The larger rocks we will just roll to the side, and if there is mud it will be made into bricks, while middle size rocks and pebbles will be pushed down over the ledge. I build a simple roof structure that will start with a leaf roof, but might get a slate roof eventually. It won't be big and we can probably get enough slate in just two or maybe three slate runs. I wonder how much more usable slate for roofing there is without making a quarry.
As usual the smart watch is good for keeping track of time and we check back on the kiln and meat. I had planned to work at the high fields today, but re-prioritize have become common, and we can't leave the kiln, but the kiln will finish after noon and we can work on the field in the afternoon. As soon as this days kiln firing is complete we should have two large porous pots that I will fill with that orange slimy water a few times, and then we will see. The new steel axe and knife is soooo much nicer than the flint tools, and this work needs to be done and my part of it doesn't take long.
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The roof is finished, and it is a warm day, so I wash my face in the water bowl which is basically a large jacuzzi size bathtub with lukewarm water, and more than big enough for two. With soft rounded edges. Just sand and a couple of larger stones on the bottom that I remove as I look at Reiley standing and stretching her back. It is scorching hot up here even with the wind since this is in full view of the sun. I'm in a bit of shade now, and it is still too warm. I never considered how much the shade from the trees in front of the hut area did for temperature. We should probably add some camouflage style netting here to just make more shade, and it will hide our work here better. Might be a good idea to increase that on the hut too since we are heading for summer. If I had actually thought about that, it might have been a good idea to build the hut on a north side, but once shaded at least the rock walls and floor makes for a more stable interior temperature.
The large water filled bowl is warm and with just a bit of sand at the bottom, and it's 10 minutes until next kiln feed which is enough time for a quickie in the bath, so I remove my clothes, quickly wash them from sweat and hang them up to dry on the warm sun exposed rock. I stand in the water and say: "Reiley, you need to take a bath and relax."
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Before attending the high fields, we decide to try and climb the cliff. It feels weird that I've lived here for 11 days, and not really tried to do it, but I've been busy. It is not that easy but it is possible to get most of the way up there. We ignore trying for the top 6-8m as that just looks too hard and dangerous without proper rope and tools, and we've found a good spot on the inland side that gives a great view basically all around. The top of the cliff blocks most of the sea and lower ridges going into the sea, but it is high enough to see over the top of the ridge and we see out over the rest of the area. This is a damn good lookout point, and there are a couple of bushes and trees, so we're not even completely exposed and visible. We should make an improved and safer trail up here, and might add sections in brick and wood ash cement to make it like a stair, since it would be so much better to watch pillars of light from here.
But we have work to do, so not today. Before we leave I do a 280 degree survey. If we're going exploring we might as well collect data to make a map of the area. So I take compass headings to distinct features visible all around, including some distinct features on the ridge so I can take surveys from them. Basically features I should be able to find from another high point, and remember even though I take notes. And I also take angle readings for height. Reiley keep watch as I work, but I let her try too. It's not easy as she doesn't instinctively read the degree markings as I do, and her word for north is obviously different from my word, so the helpful symbols like N, S and so on is just weird symbols to her, but she manage it, and I have her verify some headings as I keep watch. Reiley thinks this is advanced since she don't know if her kind have maps. They use the sun, stars, nature and songs to navigate by.
While doing the jungle work we've found tree bark that is easy to skin, so we will try to make roll-up maps, and burn in features, markings and lines. Is it a bit unnecessary work? Well yes, but I like maps and they are good to have, and I want one of our surroundings on the wall. If there are some accomplishment levels this might be important, which is one reason I will make sure Reiley understands this well enough so the DAB's might reward her, but I don't actually say that is the reason.
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The small dam at the high fields have collected enough water to make watering the plants easier, and most of the work clearing and 'ploughing' one of the high fields with a large stone axe looking tool have been done. It's not like we ploughed the whole field, more loosened the soil up around each plant before planting, and instead of bringing up soil from below, we take it up from other lower areas. Hopefully the erosion won't be too bad. This is a lot of work, but I have no idea how well it will go. We fertilize the soil with a mixture of diluted ash and urine, which is two things we have more than enough of. We got more of a disposal problem with that. We also have quite a lot of bone that we crushed some off and mixed into the soil in certain sections to see if it makes a difference. I have no idea if there are harmful gut bacteria in either me or Reiley, so we won't use our poop as fertilizer.
"Star Fall! Look, a Star Fall!"
Reiley's words and pointing makes me see the distant Star Fall to the north and the weak red light is noticeable even in daylight. Sadly that is very far away and we just look before we continue to work. I wonder if is random, a group reward, or someone over there earned it? From what Reiley have told me it seems that if a camp grows to 4-5 people they will get a Star Fall each week with something useful, but it didn't increase as her old camp grew in people. It is a motivation for us to reach that limit, but I also know it will be hard to trust new people.
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It has been a warm long day, but the sun is still up when we return to the hut. Yeah, the days are getting longer, but this is not a polar region and the nature don't seem adapted for much change over a year. I don't know the exact number of days of the year, or angle of the planet, but I'm working on it and just need more data. Eventually I will crack it and also get what latitude we're on. If I survive that long. There are still no scavengers at the dino carcass, but seems to be plenty of small vermin. I guess they too like the Sanctuary flowers effect.
Reiley liked our bath enough that I promised her that we would take a long bath tonight and just enjoy the warm water in the shade. But there is still light left, and we have a kiln to empty. These pots 'tink' but only got red hot and there is a big difference in appearance. One will become a pot-in-pot refrigerator, and another will be a drinking water filter. But two will be for the creek. So we kit up with weapons and nose clamps and take a trip down into the jungle, and on the way we pee and poop. I fill the two big pots with that orange slime water and just leave them hidden by the creek until tomorrow. No animal should be able to tip them out where they stand, and they are a bit protected from rain too. If it doesn't work it's just time, wood and a couple of pots we can use for other stuff. If it works it means one or more iron tools or weapons.
After replacing the salt on the hides, we have a lovely and intimate soothing long bath in the jacuzzi to get rid of any Sanctuary flower smell. This will probably be the last time this is used for bathing, since it's a really bad idea to bathe in what could be our main water storage. Jacuzzi is one of those words that doesn't translate for Reiley and she really likes how it sounds. I've taught her plenty of new words and concepts, and as we lie and cuddle in the warm water we just small talk and enjoy the moment as the sun turns the sky red and we see both the moons and the planetary rings start to be very visible.
Just me and my wonderful alien girlfriend.
Awh shit!
And those Damn Alien Peeping-Tom Petty Bastards pretending to be Gods.