Chapter 72

Early in the morning, I ate some breakfast and got back to work . I wanted to finish that shelter today and there were still loads of things to do . I began by digging another trench . This time I dug a 3 metre long trench that was also 50 centimetres deep . After that I repeated the same step and created a rectangle that was the size of four metres by three metres . This would be big enough shelter to contain both me and Sh.e.l.ly .

After the digging was done, I placed couple of planks inside and noticed something was off . The problem was that the planks were not straight at the sides and therefore wouldn't connect very well . I thought about possible solution to this problem and figured out two ways to solve that . I could either straighten out all the planks by cutting the sides . If I did that then the planks would connect no problem . The other solution was that I could place one plank over the other . I would have to pattern it in such way that the 1st plank would be in the same position as the 3rd then 5th and so on . The same with the 2nd plank, the 4th, 6th and so one would follow the position of the 2nd plank .

I was keener on the latter option as I wouldn't have to cut each plank to be straight at the sides . I decided to go with the 2nd option and started to place them in such order . I then found that wind could do some damage if those planks were not properly reinforced . I decided to add two long planks at the bottom and the top while using nails in order to hold the whole wall together, then burry the bottom .

I didn't have huge amount of nails, I only had about a kilogram worth but I could easily use more than that if I wanted to make this shelter more st.u.r.dy . I would only use nails if it was really necessary . I cut 4 of the long planks to be about 4 metres long . I would use them as supports for the wall at the top and bottom . I needed 4 because the wall was not in a straight line and planks were not next to each other so if I were to nail only front side of the wall, the back side planks would be loose .

I nailed the supporting planks at the bottom and buried the whole wall . The wall was standing without any other support needed and I could even lean on it but if I pushed it harder it would topple . It wasn't finished yet so that was understandable . I then started on the next wall that was adjacent to the one I already had .

I repeated the process for the next 3 walls and I had the basic construction done . Of course during that whole phrase of building the shelter I forgot about the doors . All the walls were already standing buried in the ground . I decided I will cut an opening in one of the wall instead of taking out a whole wall and making entrance this way .

I repeated the process for the next 3 walls and I had the basic construction done . Of course during that whole phrase of building the shelter I forgot about the doors . All the walls were already standing buried in the ground . I decided I will cut an opening in one of the wall instead of taking out a whole wall and making entrance this way .

After cutting out the entrance, I left the planks that I cut out in order to make doors . I didn't have anything I could use to hang the doors onto and therefore I could only make them in such a way that I would have to lift them up and then remove them completely in order to get in or out . I've run out of planks and it was already late in the afternoon so I decided to cut some more trees and clean them while Sh.e.l.ly would transport them to our camp .

'By my calculations, I should be able to finish the shelter tomorrow . It was much more time consuming than I estimated in the beginning' I thought to myself . After cutting some more logs and creating couple of planks, the sky was getting dark . As I was sawing the planks I said to Sh.e.l.ly "Go and hunt something for our dinner" but Sh.e.l.ly only pointed at the pile of animals not far away . I said "Oh, I didn't notice . Good job, let's eat and then rest for today . I will continue tomorrow" . After the dinner we went to sleep .

In the morning the next day, I did my training as usual and then started to work . I saw the rest of the planks and thought about roof of our shelter . It was possible to create the conventional roof that was steep but it would be too much work . I instead decided to make the roof flat . We would live here for a month maybe two so the shelter didn't have to last for years . In order to make the roof, I would also need supporting planks that would go from one wall to the opposite wall .

In the morning the next day, I did my training as usual and then started to work . I saw the rest of the planks and thought about roof of our shelter . It was possible to create the conventional roof that was steep but it would be too much work . I instead decided to make the roof flat . We would live here for a month maybe two so the shelter didn't have to last for years . In order to make the roof, I would also need supporting planks that would go from one wall to the opposite wall .

'But if I were to support that whole roof on two walls would it work?' I thought to myself . I thought about it hard for a while and could only add more stuff as support in case the roof was very heavy . I would need wider planks and so I cut two long planks that had 10 centimetres in width . I then cut them in the middle and I now had support planks that could be fixed on top of the walls where the roof would be supported . I already used about ¼ of all my nails . I had no clue that I would need so many of them in order to build a shelter . I made the mental note for the future that nails are very useful .

The roof would need couple of planks as well . It was quite a large area to cover and so I returned back to making more planks . After couple of hours of sawing, I could finally start the construction of the roof . I placed the planks on top of the roof and nailed them to the supporting planks that were fixed to the walls . When I stood in the middle of the roof, the planks would bend a bit but this was under my weight . Rain or other things would not be able to bend it that easily . Besides my bag weighted a bit as well .

After placing all the planks and nailing them to the roof I could see some holes because of the irregular sides of the planks . Water would go through them so I needed something in order to seal the holes . Mud was bad for that because It would just absorb water and disperse . 'I need something that can seal the holes but at the same time it wouldn't disappear when it rained' I thought to myself .

I thought about it for a while and couldn't figure out anything . I didn't know any such material that could do it, besides I was not a builder and so I didn't have all that knowledge . Out of desperation I asked Sh.e.l.ly "Sh.e.l.ly, maybe you have some ideas? Do you know of any material that can seal the holes and make them waterproof?" .

After placing all the planks and nailing them to the roof I could see some holes because of the irregular sides of the planks . Water would go through them so I needed something in order to seal the holes . Mud was bad for that because It would just absorb water and disperse . 'I need something that can seal the holes but at the same time it wouldn't disappear when it rained' I thought to myself .

I thought about it for a while and couldn't figure out anything . I didn't know any such material that could do it, besides I was not a builder and so I didn't have all that knowledge . Out of desperation I asked Sh.e.l.ly "Sh.e.l.ly, maybe you have some ideas? Do you know of any material that can seal the holes and make them waterproof?" .

Sh.e.l.ly thought about it a bit and then nodded its head . I was shocked by this and thought 'Sh.e.l.ly knows of such substance?' I asked again "Where can we find it?" to which Sh.e.l.ly pointed towards the forest and motioned for me to follow it .

In the forest, Sh.e.l.ly was looking for something while I followed . After couple of minutes, Sh.e.l.ly stood in front of a tree and pointed at it . I said "No, not the tree . I need something to seal tiny holes and such . It has to be quite flexible" . Sh.e.l.ly shook its head and pointed at the tree again . I took a more detailed look at the tree and could see some kind of golden liquid coming out of it . I asked Sh.e.l.ly "Are you talking about that golden thing?" to which Sh.e.l.ly nodded its head .

I came closer to the tree touched the liquid . It was very sticky and hard to get off from my fingers . I tried to wash it in the water and it was also very hard to come off . I said to Sh.e.l.ly "This is it! Well done . We will need to collect as much of this stuff as we can . I can see that one tree doesn't have a lot of it and I will need it for all the joints in the roof" . I then followed Sh.e.l.ly around in order to find more trees that had this golden sticky liquid .

Early in the morning, I ate some breakfast and got back to work . I wanted to finish that shelter today and there were still loads of things to do . I began by digging another trench . This time I dug a 3 metre long trench that was also 50 centimetres deep . After that I repeated the same step and created a rectangle that was the size of four metres by three metres . This would be big enough shelter to contain both me and Sh.e.l.ly . After the digging was done, I placed couple of planks inside and noticed something was off . The problem was that the planks were not straight at the sides and therefore wouldnt connect very well . I thought about possible solution to this problem and figured out two ways to solve that . I could either straighten out all the planks by cutting the sides . If I did that then the planks would connect no problem . The other solution was that I could place one plank over the other . I would have to pattern it in such way that the 1st plank would be in the same position as the 3rd then 5th and so on . The same with the 2nd plank, the 4th, 6th and so one would follow the position of the 2nd plank . I was keener on the latter option as I wouldnt have to cut each plank to be straight at the sides . I decided to go with the 2nd option and started to place them in such order . I then found that wind could do some damage if those planks were not properly reinforced . I decided to add two long planks at the bottom and the top while using nails in order to hold the whole wall together, then burry the bottom . I didnt have huge amount of nails, I only had about a kilogram worth but I could easily use more than that if I wanted to make this shelter more st.u.r.dy . I would only use nails if it was really necessary . I cut 4 of the long planks to be about 4 metres long . I would use them as supports for the wall at the top and bottom . I needed 4 because the wall was not in a straight line and planks were not next to each other so if I were to nail only front side of the wall, the back side planks would be loose . I nailed the supporting planks at the bottom and buried the whole wall . The wall was standing without any other support needed and I could even lean on it but if I pushed it harder it would topple . It wasnt finished yet so that was understandable . I then started on the next wall that was adjacent to the one I already had . I repeated the process for the next 3 walls and I had the basic construction done . Of course during that whole phrase of building the shelter I forgot about the doors . All the walls were already standing buried in the ground . I decided I will cut an opening in one of the wall instead of taking out a whole wall and making entrance this way . After cutting out the entrance, I left the planks that I cut out in order to make doors . I didnt have anything I could use to hang the doors onto and therefore I could only make them in such a way that I would have to lift them up and then remove them completely in order to get in or out . Ive run out of planks and it was already late in the afternoon so I decided to cut some more trees and clean them while Sh.e.l.ly would transport them to our camp . By my calculations, I should be able to finish the shelter tomorrow . It was much more time consuming than I estimated in the beginning I thought to myself . After cutting some more logs and creating couple of planks, the sky was getting dark . As I was sawing the planks I said to Sh.e.l.ly Go and hunt something for our dinner but Sh.e.l.ly only pointed at the pile of animals not far away . I said Oh, I didnt notice . Good job, lets eat and then rest for today . I will continue tomorrow . After the dinner we went to sleep . In the morning the next day, I did my training as usual and then started to work . I saw the rest of the planks and thought about roof of our shelter . It was possible to create the conventional roof that was steep but it would be too much work . I instead decided to make the roof flat . We would live here for a month maybe two so the shelter didnt have to last for years . In order to make the roof, I would also need supporting planks that would go from one wall to the opposite wall . But if I were to support that whole roof on two walls would it work? I thought to myself . I thought about it hard for a while and could only add more stuff as support in case the roof was very heavy . I would need wider planks and so I cut two long planks that had 10 centimetres in width . I then cut them in the middle and I now had support planks that could be fixed on top of the walls where the roof would be supported . I already used about ¼ of all my nails . I had no clue that I would need so many of them in order to build a shelter . I made the mental note for the future that nails are very useful . The roof would need couple of planks as well . It was quite a large area to cover and so I returned back to making more planks . After couple of hours of sawing, I could finally start the construction of the roof . I placed the planks on top of the roof and nailed them to the supporting planks that were fixed to the walls . When I stood in the middle of the roof, the planks would bend a bit but this was under my weight . Rain or other things would not be able to bend it that easily . Besides my bag weighted a bit as well . After placing all the planks and nailing them to the roof I could see some holes because of the irregular sides of the planks . Water would go through them so I needed something in order to seal the holes . Mud was bad for that because It would just absorb water and disperse . I need something that can seal the holes but at the same time it wouldnt disappear when it rained I thought to myself . I thought about it for a while and couldnt figure out anything . I didnt know any such material that could do it, besides I was not a builder and so I didnt have all that knowledge . Out of desperation I asked Sh.e.l.ly Sh.e.l.ly, maybe you have some ideas? Do you know of any material that can seal the holes and make them waterproof? . Sh.e.l.ly thought about it a bit and then nodded its head . I was shocked by this and thought Sh.e.l.ly knows of such substance? I asked again Where can we find it? to which Sh.e.l.ly pointed towards the forest and motioned for me to follow it . In the forest, Sh.e.l.ly was looking for something while I followed . After couple of minutes, Sh.e.l.ly stood in front of a tree and pointed at it . I said No, not the tree . I need something to seal tiny holes and such . It has to be quite flexible . Sh.e.l.ly shook its head and pointed at the tree again . I took a more detailed look at the tree and could see some kind of golden liquid coming out of it . I asked Sh.e.l.ly Are you talking about that golden thing? to which Sh.e.l.ly nodded its head . I came closer to the tree touched the liquid . It was very sticky and hard to get off from my fingers . I tried to wash it in the water and it was also very hard to come off . I said to Sh.e.l.ly This is it! Well done . We will need to collect as much of this stuff as we can . I can see that one tree doesnt have a lot of it and I will need it for all the joints in the roof . I then followed Sh.e.l.ly around in order to find more trees that had this golden sticky liquid .