I calmed myself down and realized it was probably past 3 p.m. I planned to get the timber back to the camp today.
The poplar grove was about a hundred meters away from my camp, so it wouldn't take long to move the timber.
These things are just really long. Even a single tree the size of a bowl weighs more than 160 pounds.
I practically dragged and pulled those trees all by myself, using a lot of effort, to get them from that poplar grove to my campsite.
By the time I had transported all the trees to the camp, I was completely out of breath. After resting for a while, I used a stone to knock off all the branches of the poplar trees, which gave me six straight poplar logs.
After finishing all that, I felt I had reached my physical limit. I didn't want to process any more wood today, so I decided to go to the lakeside where I had set up my longline fishing spot to see how my catch was.
I carried my basket to the longline fishing spot, and this time it didn't disappoint. The line was pulled into the water again, taut and straight.
I put the rope away; it probably wasn't as effective at attracting fish as snake entrails. This time there were fewer fish than yesterday, a total of twenty-eight, with only one large carp weighing about six pounds.
But this is already pretty good. I don't have high expectations. As long as I can earn money every day, that's good enough.
I brought all the fish back, and the monkey arrived as expected. This time, the monkey seemed to understand the significance of what I was doing, and it even came over to help.
With the monkey's help, we quickly processed all the fish. Then we started a fire and smoked the fish by sticking them next to the fire, just like yesterday.
Today I kept the big carp, cut some fish meat into a bamboo pot to make soup, and put the rest on the grill to roast. Today we're eating this big carp.
Eating fresh food after a lot of physical labor is beneficial for the body's recovery.
Perhaps because I was quite hungry, I shared some of the fish with the monkey and then began to wolf it down.
The monkeys ate happily, as if the ingredients would become delicious as long as they were processed by my hands.
The fish weren't very big today, and the smoking and grilling process was much faster than yesterday. By the time I finished dinner, the fish were almost done grilling. After sitting for a while, I put all the dried fish back into my basket and carried it up the tree.
After setting up the fire, I climbed the tree. Lying on my bed, this time I didn't think about anything. Exhaustion left me with only one thought: to sleep.
The next morning, I got up early as usual. After eating something, another tiring and boring day began.
After a night's rest, I felt much better. I started a fire and burned the wood into three pieces, each about four meters long, to make the purlins for the shed.
Three pillars are over two meters tall, three pillars are two and a half meters tall, and three pillars are over three meters tall. Because the pillars need to be buried underground, they are a little longer than originally planned.
The remaining timber was used as connecting beams and edging material to reinforce the four pillars.
As for the measurement method, I used one step as the standard for one meter, and then used hemp rope as a tool for precise measurement to process all the wood.
Because the method I used was to build the simplest mortise and tenon structure in the wooden house, the connection points of these wooden pieces could only be made using mortise and tenon joints.
Currently, without tools, we can only continue to use fire to first burn out the general shape, and then slowly repair it with stone adzes and axes.
The pain involved in this process is no less than that of logging, because the components to be made are more precise, so the fire treatment cannot be as casual as felling trees.
However, there was nothing that could be done about it; without a shelter from the rain, the subsequent charcoal burning would be affected by the weather.
It's fine if it doesn't rain, but if it does, my earthen kiln will definitely collapse. The unformed charcoal inside will be soaked in rainwater, making all my efforts a waste, and all my plans will fall through.
It took me a whole day to complete half of the structure just to make these mortise and tenon joints, not even including the edge material for reinforcing the columns.
Fortunately, I have a good mindset, and the one thing I have plenty of right now is time.
Since I haven't seen a single person here for so long, I might as well settle myself down first and make some daily necessities.
And so, I repeated this tedious and monotonous task for four days straight. I never imagined that just building the framework of a shed would take me so much time.
During this time, I persisted in going to the lake every day to fish with a longline, and the daily catch was roughly the same. Perhaps because the area was so pristine, the number of fish was simply indescribable.
If I wanted to, I could build even more powerful large-scale fishing facilities, and catching several hundred kilograms a day wouldn't be impossible.
But the food I have now is enough for one person; there's no need to expend so much effort building a large fishing facility. Who knows, maybe I'll be rescued someday?
At least I still held onto a sliver of hope; that's what I thought.
By the fifth day, the entire frame of the shed was erected. Today's task is to install the rafters and then lay the waterproof material on top of them.
Since my shed isn't very big, only four meters by three meters in length and width, I plan to get some bamboo and then split it with a stone axe to make the roof rafters.
Cutting bamboo is much easier than cutting down poplar trees; I can even chop them down with a stone axe and adze.
Even so, because the bamboo forest was still some distance from my residence, it was past noon by the time I had transported all the bamboo back to the camp.
Next came some trivial matters. I had to cut all the bamboo into the appropriate lengths as required, and then separate them one by one.
A large amount of bamboo is used for the rafters. These need to be laid directly on the three purlins to form the important framework of the roof slope, so there is no room for carelessness.
Besides making the rafters, you also need to whittle a lot of bamboo nails to fix them in place. And because these rafters are made of bamboo, you also need to drill holes in them according to the positions of the purlins before you can insert the bamboo nails.
Otherwise, the bamboo rafters will crack under stress, failing to reinforce the overall frame. These tasks can be done later, drilling holes and nailing them onto the roof as needed.
However, carving bamboo nails is a huge undertaking because I don't have any iron tools. So I can only use a stone axe to split them, then char them in a fire before grinding them into bamboo nails one by one.
I worked on this task by the fire until very late, but fortunately, the clever monkey quickly learned how I ground bamboo nails.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com