Category: One Among the Dead

Day 308:

Now that my brick path is in (and it does look really sharp) I’m strongly tempted to put in more paths to some of my other entryways. I mean, I do still have a LOT of brick sitting around.

On the other hand, I’m supposed to be headed toward sheep.

I think my hesitance is bringing in even more animals in this madhouse. I mean, I’ve already got hundreds of duckens, a bunch of cows, and now a good half dozen pigs. Plus gardening. I don’t want to be a farmer.

I mean, sure, there’s no poo, but I prefer my callouses come from a pickaxe than a hoe.

On the other hand, wool socks.

The wool socks are still winning, but it’s not like they’re going to be easy to make either. I remember how to knit — my great grandmother insisted I learn — but spinning isn’t something we did a lot of on the ship heading out to mining sites, what with the lack of sheep, wool, and space.

But warm socks.

Day 307: Here’s a quick sketch of my map.

My map actually takes up way way more paper than what you’re seeing here, and even then as you can see I’ve had to fold this paper four times to tuck it into my notebook. But this is about 1/5 the size of the original and it shows all the important details so it’s not too bad.

If all my calculations are right, it’s about 390 yards from the chamber I just finished digging earlier this week to the farthest chamber to the east… and about 180 yards from the northernmost point to the southernmost.

Day 306: The new path looks great and I’ve planted a whole bunch of wild grass around it so that it’s not quite as visible from space. Like, admittedly, it’s still really visible, but at least I put in a little effort.

I spent so much time planting that I lost track of time and got chased across the field by one of those weirdos in the purple. They threw glass bottles at me! Not a fan.

I’m glad to be back to mining tomorrow.

Day 305:

It occurs to me that this path can’t be 100% straight and smooth because, well, nature. So I’m going to have to do some work to make things still navigable, which means stairs.

But at least stairs are easy to make with bricks. Not as much with cobblestones.

I’m going to go soak my poor hands in a bath now. And the rest of my aching body, but especially my hands.

Day 304:

You’d think after all the work I do mining I’d find bricks to be a piece of cake.

Not so much.

When I mine, I generally scoop the ore that I dig up into bags, and then use essentially back pack straps to haul the stuff from one place to another.

This is on account of the fact that I have yet to successfully make wheels, although I’m getting a lot closer. So far everything wheel-like I’ve made has split (wood) or been fragile enough to constantly break (iron), but I think I know a way to keep the bubbles from getting in the iron which will make me stronger wheels.

That’s the theory.

Anyway, bricks. When I make bricks they end up weighing, well, let’s call it five pounds a piece. And they don’t slide into a bag very well and they’re really uncomfortable if they’re digging into your back because no matter what they’re all sharp angles and corners.

So right now I’m dragging bricks from place to place on a sledge, and then picking them up individually to lay them in place on my road.

I have pinched my fingers more times than I can count.

But they do look nice, so I have that going for me.