5/14/18
After some hemming and hawing over what exactly to do, and how, we finally broke ground today. The first set of fortifications are gonna be light — an extension of the traps and obstacles Eva and I set up a while ago.
These aren’t going to extend on the road, but rather will be hidden in the forest among the trees. This will give us some time to work on them without worrying about our construction being discovered.
I marked out spots to put the walls with Eva, and set Al and his boys to digging oles and clearing ground where we can set obstacles.
Nate, Ted, and I went to work chopping down trees in the forest. We’re gonna build a high log wall, fashioned after a rustic zig-zag fence, but a hell of a lot stronger. Certain parts are going to be diverted towards hills and ridges to make passing over it nearly impossible, and there’s gonna be a series of pylons reaching down the hill to keep the fence going into the water.
Other parts of the fence will be over-fortified to make gun turrets and lookouts. Cracks in the fence will be chinked up with mud and dirt and we’ll drive spiked logs into the ground around it so approaching is hard.
The fence will only have one entrance, at least until the outer wall is finished.
We decided to start from the middle out with cutting down trees — that way we can stop before we get too close to the edges. The three of us made pretty good progress, clearing out a space between mine and Al’s houses at least 30 yards wide and 50 yards long. Honestly cutting the trees down was the easy part – clearing them out of the way is another kettle of fish entirely.
With all the trees down the forest floor looks like a scar cut out of the earth. It’s dark, brown, and full of jagged stumps. There’s so much debris and sawdust the ground looks wounded. Tomorrow we do more cutting.
It’s hard, seeing these trees grow. I grew up with them. They’ve been part of the land, part of me, for as long as I’ve been alive. Seeing them gone changes the place, changes me. There’s a darkness in my heart whenever I look at that bald patch of land.
Over time it will change, I guess. I’ll get used to the empty spaces and the new layout. Given enough time I probably won’t even notice it. Now though, I can’t help but feel like something is dying here today. Something… I don’t know… magical.
All I do know is I need a beer.
Shit. We don’t have beer anymore. Cigarette will have to do.
Creative Mine 