Author: kirabug

Day 258:

I’m doing exactly what I said I would do yesterday: digging from the cave I found toward the house so that I have a safe way to move back and forth, and maybe can even do some night mining.

My biggest worry with this plan is the geography: there’s a sea to the north and what appears to be a freshwater river to the right.

I talked a long time ago about how it’s against my ethics to allow the two to mix because of something I do.

It’s also important to note that a solid stone structure between the two holds up quite well, and this is what geologic evolution provided in this location. But should some idiot miner come through and remove most of the stone, well, there’s no good reason why the structure should continue to separate the two.

So I’m being very careful to reinforce what I’m digging where I can and I’m hoping I don’t get soaked by this adventure.

This wool had better be worth it. 27

Day 257:

It occurred to me as I was digging today that I was further from home than usual, and that’s not exactly a good thing.

If one of the monsters jumps me in these woods and I get seriously injured I’m not going to have an easy time of it getting back.

On the other hand, the west has been my best chance at both sheep and horses, so I hesitate to give up what I’m working on.

Maybe I’ll climb into this cave, see what’s there, and dig back toward home. At worst, I add more space into the chambers of doom.

In case you’re wondering, yes, I do still want to climb the big mountain to the east and see what I can see, but it’s not nearly the same priority as getting wool. Because, even from here I can see that there’s snow on that mountain, and as I learned the hard way heading east, the clothes I have right now are just not up to the task of handling winter weather.

My best bet is sheep and wool and warm clothes before I go up there. Because spotting a source of humanity and freezing to death once I discover it would be kind of melodramatic.

Day 256:

After making sure everyone was still where they belonged this morning, I opted to finish digging out that sand dune and making sure that I’ve got that cave either sealed up or dug out enough that i can’t accidentally fall into it.

It was overcast today and the usual early-summer warm so the water work won out the day. It’s too easy to get sunburnt on the bright days pulling in sand, so a day like today was perfect for it.

And no zombies this morning, so peaceful too!

I roasted some of the pork for dinner this evening and it was the most wonderful thing. I remember hating pork as a child. I guess eating nothing but ducken, fish, and the occasional beef, can make anything else taste good.

Day 255:

First, the bad news: the pig got big enough he didn’t fit through the doors, and he was getting ornery about being in the building. I didn’t really want to slaughter him, he’d been a good pig as pigs go, but on the other hand the reason I brought pigs into my ranch in the first place was not for a companion animal, it was for meat.

So now I get pork chops, which will be different, and right now different is good.

Now the good news:

I fenced in an area probably close to twice the size that I’d fenced in before, so all the animals have more space to roam. That’s especially good because it was feeding day for the pigs so now I have half again the number of pigs I had before.

The fence seems secure, although I’m a little worried that the zombies will find a way over or through. They were quite fond of that field until I fenced it in today so I’m pretty sure they’re not pleased. One was throwing eggs at me.

All in all a net positive, so long as the fence holds.

So now the real question: I was looking for sheep because I was looking for horses. And I only caught one sheep. So should I go looking for more sheep, go back to mining that spot I was working on, go looking for horses, or go back to the mining project that started the whole thing?

Day 254: I caught a sheep! It was wandering around close to where I was mining yesterday. So since I had some grain in my pocket (It was feeding day for the cows), I lured it all the way back to my pen.

And then, for about an hour, I thought it had escaped.

Because you see, there are so many animals in my pen right now that I couldn’t find the sheep.

A wise rancher on a populated land would handle this problem by taking some of the animals to slaughter. That rancher would probably also either have a butcher or a freezer (or both) to handle the extra meat.

A wise miner, which I’m supposed to be, would handle it by leaving large animals the flock alone, because we’re gophers, not ranchers.

I am a not-very-wise miner stranded on a planet with no other humans so far as I can tell. And a lot of trees. And a big field to the south of the area where I’m currently keeping my animals. So tomorrow will be all about fence building.

The Company will be furious if they find out that I’m not only exposing my presence on this planet through obviously-humanoid items, but also expanding it.

The Company can kiss my butt.