kirabug's idea files

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.

Day 253:

Found a vein of granite in the cave I’m not supposed to be mining. Good quality stuff, worth a fortune in the open market.

Also, the pig has decided it likes the storage level where all the furnaces are better than sleeping in my bed. Possibly it didn’t like how cramped things were getting either. Possibly it likes being warm. Either way, I figure I’ll let it go until I want to breed it, then I’ll lure it back outside.

I hope it still fits through the door at that point.

Breaking a lot of tools digging sand, which is annoying. I’m blaming the seam between the handles and the blades,  since that’s currently the weakest point in my shovels. Still haven’t found a solution.

There have been a lot of squid swimming around me while I mine the sand. When they die (I’m not the one killing them) their bodies leave behind an ink sack. I’m wondering if I can use it to disguise myself from the monsters at night.

Day 252:

OK, so, like I said a few days ago, found a huge cache of sand and clay on my way back to where I’d seen the sheep.

So of course, since I was running a bit low on glass, and because I now have this brilliant idea of distracting myself from the sorrows of being the only human on a deadly rock in the middle of nowhere, I decided that before I find the sheep (who they themselves were a distraction from the need for horses, which was a distraction from climbing a nearby mountain) I needed to dig out the sand.

And that’s when I found the new cave structure.

The problem is it’s covered with a very thin roof of soil, such that if I didn’t know it was there and something nearby randomly exploded, I could end up falling in a deep hole.

(Also there’s some pretty valuable looking ore in there.

So I’m distracted again, and the only thing that might save me this time is if I happen to find a population of mole people or something in the caves.

At least there’s less chance of sunburn in there.

Day 251:

First, a pig update: a full-grown pig and I don’t fit in the same bed at the same time. So far, I am winning the bed battle, but this isn’t looking good for me.

Second, I have now stockpiled a large number of bricks with no idea what to do with them.

Which, since the mind is a wonderful thing, makes me now think I should build the pigs a barn out of brick like something out of an ancient nursery rhyme.

Not that we have a large wolf problem here.

On the other hand, the original writers didn’t have exploding giraffe-corgis or they may have been writing quite a different story themselves.

Hmm, something to think about.

Right now I need to persuade the bacon to get out of my bed so I can sleep and continue looking for horses (and sheep).

Somehow something these past few weeks has gone horribly off-course, but on the other hand, I’m healthy and happy so I’m going to leave it like this for now.

Day 250:

Turns out the pig and I both fit in the bed, and it’s quite warm. OK pig, you can stay for now.

But I’m not naming you.

Meanwhile, the water in the bay-ish are to my north seems to be clearer than usual, which means I’m getting sand and clay out I’d never been able to see before. It still doesn’t explain why some of the sand and clay has started to float, but the floating part does sort of help harvesting it easier, so I’m not sure this is a complaint so much as confusion on why things change.

The pig is currently rooting around in my chambers. I gave it a potato and it ate that, so it doesn’t seem to be hungry, just curious. It’s a bit like having a dog, only without the zoomies and the barking.