I had just stepped down from the shed when the rain began to pour down. The unique scent of negative ions in the air was even stronger during the thunderstorm.
It's strange, but rain is something people don't like. However, when the body is in a dry environment, enjoying a thunderstorm can feel quite pleasant, which is probably due to the negative ions in the air.
There's nothing we can do now; we can only take shelter from the rain in this half-finished shed.
At this point, I noticed that the water in the streams had become much faster, while the lake had maintained a stable water level for so long. It seems that there are quite a few streams, otherwise the lake water would not be diverted so quickly.
But this is good, at least I don't have to worry about the place I'm in being flooded. Those streams are a masterpiece of nature.
Now that I have nothing to do, and I'm just idling around anyway, I have a lot of bamboo strips left over from making rafters. I'm thinking of splitting these bamboo strips into smaller strips to weave a small basket.
These bamboo strips were still a bit too wide, so I started processing them by splitting them into thinner strips about one centimeter thick.
Splitting bamboo strips should theoretically require a knife, but what if I don't have one? There's another way to solve this problem.
That is to break a small section of the bamboo strip, not completely breaking it, but only breaking the inner bamboo fibers, leaving the outermost green skin.
Then you start peeling down from the toughest green skin. The green skin is very tough, so this process is relatively easy.
Although the bamboo strips are not as smooth and even as those cut with a knife, this level of quality is sufficient for weaving a basket that doesn't require such high precision.
Without further ado, I separated the outer green skin from all the remaining bamboo. Then I began to weave it using the same method I had used to make baskets.
Because these bamboo strips are thinner than willow branches, the weaving process takes a little longer. Fortunately, the basket for the monkeys doesn't need to be very big, so it didn't take too much time.
The advantage of these baskets woven from bamboo strips is that they are lightweight and sturdy, making them perfect for animals like monkeys.
Considering the monkey's limited carrying capacity, this time I tried to weave a carrying strap out of bamboo, and used my usual unorthodox and ingenious techniques to fix it to the basket.
This completes the small bamboo basket, which is about the same size as the small baskets we usually use to hold fruits and vegetables. It can easily hold four or five pounds of food.
"Top, I've made the basket you wanted. Try it on." I smiled and handed over the small basket in my hand.
The monkey was delighted to see the basket and immediately took it from my hand. Because it often saw me using it, it was able to skillfully carry the basket directly on its own back.
It put on its basket and immediately started hopping and jumping between the frames on the shed. Clearly, it was as satisfied with my work as ever.
Top looks like a child carrying a basket on his back, with a schoolbag that's neither too big nor too small on his back.
However, Top is no longer a child; he's more like a monkey about to start working on a construction site.
The heavy rain just wouldn't stop, and it didn't let up even when it got dark.
During this time, I also wove some small bamboo baskets to hold the washed wild vegetables or other small items.
Top was like a child getting a new toy when he got the basket; he spent the whole afternoon fiddling with his little basket and really liked it.
The rain finally stopped, but it was completely dark by then.
But now I face a major problem: I haven't gotten the fire going.
The rain was so heavy that everything was wet, and my fire-starting mirror only works properly in sunlight, so I couldn't start a fire until it got dark.
I did prepare some dried materials and put them under the banana leaves in the tree bed to cover it; the biggest problem right now is the lack of sunlight.
Although the chances of wild animals venturing out will decrease after the rain, it's not entirely certain that they will still come out to forage after the rain.
Fortunately, after this period of investigation, I have learned a pattern.
The group of monkeys wasn't too far from the monkey king; they should be watching the surrounding area from the trees nearby.
These monkeys, with their keen hearing, can distinguish subtle sounds even at night. Their presence around my shelter is like having an automatic alarm system installed.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no danger, I climbed up the tree in the dark.
I put some dried fish and the little bit of dried wild boar meat I had left into my basket, and then I took a torch, some dry bamboo strips, and some tinder to start a fire.
Back in the shed, I used a stone tool to grind a V-shaped notch on the back of one of the bamboo strips.
Then, place the tinder inside the bamboo strip and press it down firmly with a wooden stick.
Next, place a longer bamboo strip at a 45-degree angle with the cut side facing up between my two feet and hold it in place.
I aligned the notch I had ground with the cross-section of the long bamboo strip and began rubbing it back and forth.
This method involves starting a fire by plowing wood. I tried it on my first day here, but the materials and tools weren't good enough, so I didn't succeed.
At first, I ground it slowly, but when I could clearly smell a burnt smell and the bamboo strip in my hand started to get slightly hot, I sped up.
It was pitch black at that moment, and I couldn't see the smoke. I could only rely on my nose to smell it, but I could feel that the smoke from the bamboo stick in my hand was getting thicker and thicker.
I rubbed it for a while longer, then carefully began to move the bamboo strip aside. Looking at the gap, I could see a faint, dark red spark twinkling like a star in the darkness.
I held my breath, afraid that the slightest movement would extinguish the sparks inside.
Gently moving the bamboo aside, I slowly brought the tinder to my lips and began to gently blow on the dark red ember.
The sparks are very faint at first, so you can't blow on them forcefully, or you might blow them out.
After blowing gently for a while, the spark gradually grew larger under the dry moxa wool, at which point you could blow more forcefully.
He blew hard a few more times, and thick white smoke billowed out, then with a whoosh, a flame shot up and ignited the tinder.
This process terrified Top, who was seeing fire for the first time in the dark, so much that he screamed.
However, after observing the fire for a while, it was relieved to find that the fire was no different from the previous one.
I placed some thin bamboo strips on the tinder, and then put thicker dry branches on top. Soon the firelight illuminated the entire shed.
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