Day 9

[Ward]

The weather is in the low 60's . It will rain steady all day long .

it will stop in the early evening .


No major happenings to the camp . A lot of little happenings as tempers are getting short . Rember most women are not use to the kids being home and not having TV's and Vidio games for them . :eek: And the people doing most of the work are getting tired there not use to 12 hr days .

[jolo]

08:00

Looking around the camp on this rainy day I realized that slowly some order materialized:

- The corrals were joined and extended on all sides to let the animals move from grazed land to fresh land. In some cases tree stumps were used to give them stability. I'd have to talk to the lumberjacks to let a few of them stay higher for that purpose. We'd soon need to get the animals to further away places, as most natural clearings were used as farmland and the areas where the trees once stood didn't have much plants on the ground.

- Quite some progress had been made on making the places for the people who wanted to stay more homely. Many had a roof in front of their tents, with an improvised "living room". As many tents were too small to stay in them during the day, the people from Fort Monty and the main settlers were crammed there - mainly children and women, as most men were working away from "home" despite the weather.

- The clearance caused by wood cutting had become really big. Especially in the direction of the creek, more and more land could be used for some gardening.

- On former nearly untouched soils, paths and even primitive roads became visible. Wagons stood at the side, as they weren't useful in the mud and as the rain helped everyone get water without the water delivery.

While looking around, I helped here and there with the animals and other work.

09:00

Glen had talked to me about getting an inventory. This really wasn't what I wanted to do. Hendryk had once begun this work. I hoped I could find him later, but atm it was impossible to find anyone. I needed to know who else had a computer to help me with this work. As I couldn't use a computer in the rain anyways, I just spent an hour making a suitable database and entered the stuff from me and my wife. After that, the batteries were too low to continue. I'd have to recharge them tomorrow.

10:00

At the market, I told the 2 communal "employees" to make sure that people who traded any items there would give them an according note for me to process. I also decided to let one of them make plastic capes as some of our people appeared to be short on suitable clothing for the weather.

10:30

Took my horse out to look for the fishing camp. Grimm Reaper had given me the idea to start building several dugout canoes at once - same work, much more turn out. I wanted to make sure the people at the fishing camp started with that asap.

The fishing camp was getting really big - more than 50 people of Fort Monty were there, and about a dozen of the main settlers. We'd have to think about more gardens and living areas there. Some of the gardens which would probably soon be abandoned by their owners might be used as fields or community ground later.

Psycho's proposal to reduce the number of different animals and the according work load for the people of Fort Monty was pretty difficult to get across to the others. I had to decline. Maybe someone else could work out a more balanced deal - the idea in itself wasn't bad. Otherwise, it might have to be done on a one-to-one basis - and who'd want to negotiate with every single owner of an animal affected by such a trade?

[pisces74]

Took the day off with Jen and healed, hopefully her arm and my leg won't take us out of action anytime soon. Send word to Glen via child runner that I'd like some anti rabies stuff.

[Psychomeltdown]

0444

The first cold drop of rain his Psycho's face, which immediately woke him up. Normally he'd always been a heavy sleeper, but the last week almost every small noise and strange happening woke him up. Sure it was a confused, groggy waking up, but it was still waking up.

Psycho looked at the sky, the first thing he noticed was the lack of stars. Normally it should be bright and filled with white shining stars. Now it was completely black and void of bright shining stars. The next thing he noticed was the dying fire, a small flame guttering in a soft breeze that smelled of damp earth and animals. They weren't far out from the main camp, but the small distance and the prevailing winds allowed the smell of humanity and latrines be blown away from them. Though Psycho wondered if anyone minded the smell of sheep, cattle, and horses wafting into the Camp, over the smell of unwashed humanity maybe they didn't notice.

The third thing he noticed as he pulled off his sleeping bag, was how damn cold it was. His breath clouded up before him and even in his heavy leather jacket he could feel the bite in the air. He felt another drop of rain and then sighed to himself. It was a bad time to start raining.

They were now creatures of the weather, if it rained then pretty much anything worth doing was put on hold, except for the most important things. Who would be willing to risk health and limb cutting down trees in rain or go hunting in rain? No, rain was a bad thing. Psycho looked around, ti seemed awfully quiet, the air thick and cold, like it usually felt when a good lasting storm was coming in.

Psycho tossed a few more sticks into the small fire and warmed his hands before putting on his gloves. He looked to the sky again and made up his mind.

Confused, tired, and in one case disgruntled, the people of the Herd Camp shambled out of their snug, warm tents and into the cold morning.

"What's up?" One of them asked.

"Looks like it's going to rain and not just sprinkling." Psycho said. "We need to secure the camp."

"Secure the camp?" Another asked.

"Unless you wanna stay in your tent all day and track in mud every time you walk out. We need to set up a little shelter." Psycho said. The last week had seen not much of a change in the weather, beyond the day with sporadic showers, it had been mostly foggy, cloudy, and clear.

"I sure as hell don't wanna have to be struggling to get out of wet clothes in a tent I can't stand up in." A man said. "Nor tracking mud into where I sleep."

"Right, what are gonna do?" A woman asked.

"We've got tarps, we've got ropes, and we can get some poles, we can make a shelter to cover all our tents. It'll keep most of the rain out and it'll make things a bit easier for us." Psycho said. The others nodded.

The herd camp was divided into two smaller camps, each laid out in a circle around a central fire. Where all the communal meals were cooked and items needed were stored. Their mounts were tethered near the camp and the Herd Animals were kept near them also.

It was early and people still hadn't gotten up, but the Herders quickly got to work, their motivation increased as it began to sprinkle sporadically. Cold wet droplets causing several to yelp in surprise. A large group quickly headed out to the area where the logging was going on, after half an hour they managed to drag back what appeared to be long saplings that had been cut down but not yet chopped up for firewood. Psycho and the others quickly moved to trim the saplings and get them into the ground, while the others began setting up the tarps.

They were completed when the first rain began to come down in earnest. Psycho looked at the site where seventeen tents had been erected and smiled at the job well done. As he looked, the only thing that came to his mind was the revival tents he'd always see sprouting up around his hometown during the summers, large tents that seemed strange in the dry, dusty landscape. Though their current situation was far from that, it still brought the memory back to Psycho's mind.

Two large tents made up of several heavy tarps had been erected around the seventeen tents that made up the Herd Camp. There was enough room to stand, walk, and even in the center had a smoke hole for the cooking fire. It would keep them dry and make things a little more comfortable for everyone.

"Let's get out of the rain." Nizhoni said. Psycho started for a moment, realizing the she had been helping all along. He felt a sudden stab of shame and guilt that he hadn't noticed her in all the activity. His thought has been mainly on making the tent and all else had been shoved aside until it was done.

"Uh..." Psycho looked at his watch, noting that it was almost six in the morning, he hadn't had breakfast and already the day was starting. He looked at the tent, then Nizhoni, and although a voice screamed at him to go with her his mind was already heading down a different path.

"Right." Nizhoni said and headed back to their tent. Psycho was going to say something when he saw a figure coming toward the herd camp.

"Looks like you guys think ahead." The stout woman from the Water Brigade said walking up to him. She was dressed in a large raincoat and rubber boots. Psycho realized he hadn't brought rubber boots, another thing on the long list of items he hadn't thought of when he'd been told to pack up.

"Beats trying to change your clothing in a tight spot." Psycho replied.

The woman nodded "So what's the plan?" She asked.

Psycho looked up at the sky, dawn was still almost an hour away and it was still dark. Normally they'd be getting the Water Brigade ready, setting up the water pump, grooming the horses, checking the wagons, but with the rain...

"Don't think they'll be much call for water, what with the rain and all." Psycho said. The woman nodded.

"Thought so also." She said. "I'll tell the kids, they'll be relieved to be not lugging shit around today." The woman nodded once to Psycho, looked at the tent, and then wandered off into the rain.

Psycho adjusted his hat, funny he was use to wearing one now, when back uptime he never wore one, let alone a straw hat, and pulled up his collar heading into the Main Camp.

People were getting up now, the day was starting and already he heard curses, angry exclamations and sighs of resignation at the rain that was steadily coming down. Psycho squelched down the trodden paths to Ward's tent, the big thing sitting near the center of things. He could see figures moving about the cluster of large tents that made up the Ward Clan.

"Ward!" He called out seeing a man standing at the flap of the tent, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Keep your voice down or you'll wake up the grandchildren. " The man replied in greeting.

"Don't think we'll be needing the water pump today, what with the rain and all."

Ward scanned the skies, Psycho noticed a lightening as dawn was arriving. He could make out the heavy clouds stretching in all directions. "Looks like it'll rain all damn day." He replied.

"Yeah. I figured that also." Psycho replied.

"Get out of the rain." Ward said. Psycho gladly joined him by the tent flap, the rainfly keeping the water off them. "Want some coffee?"

"Nah. Don't touch the stuff." Psycho said.

"Not gonna get much done today." Ward mused, sipping his drink.

"I figured as much. We're but slaves to nature now and when she's pissing rain, all we can do is huddle until it passes. Only a fool would keep people working in this shit." Psycho said. "Though I figure Grimm and I can go head to the River and find a spot where the fishing looks good. Just simple a simple recon of the place. Then we can begin work tomorrow for a fishing camp."

"Hows that wife of yours?" Ward suddenly asked.

"Uh." Psycho was thrown by the sudden change in subject. "She's fine."

'Seen much of her lately?" He asked.

"I've been busy. We've all been busy. Survival and all that."

"I've seen you around, working, organizing things. helping out where you can. That's good. Working hard and doing what's needed is what we're all doing. But you have to remember that family and friends are all you've got now, boy." Ward said. "We're all busy and we'll all working our asses off, but we can't be neglecting the things that are most important."

"Right." Psycho said a little confused.

"I'm not one to butt into a man's personal life, but a lot of the people that came here brought wive and spouses they don't know a damn thing about. The last days we've been working too hard to really get to know your new spouses. You need to take a day off with her. Take her for a walk, read a book together, just take a day off. Make love to her, learn were she is ticklish."

Psycho nodded along, realizing what he was saying was right and the advice was good. But still the thought surfaced up. "We've still got a lot of work to do." He said.

Ward nodded. "And we'll always have a lot of work to do. I'm telling you, take a day off. Spend it with you wife and your friends. We're giving people the day off, now. Though they can't do much 'cause of the rain, but at least not working will raise their spirits."

Psycho nodded again. "Got it, sir." He replied, after a moment he headed off as another person came up to Ward for questions advice or whatever.

The advice was good, but Psycho wondered if he could do it. Working form dawn to dusk was far easier than trying to figure out another person and get them to love you.

[Ward]

Early morning at the Ward Camp .

Setting up tarps between the Tents . Ward and his sons have made Breckfast for the women folk and the Children .

Ward had his youngs son Fred get the Games out and set them up for the younger kids . Which they started to play .

As people came to the camp site Ward told most of them to take the day off and get to know there Wifes and neigbors .
Ward Sent his oldest GrandDaughter Brook to go find WeaponM and the rest of the councal members .

As the Members of the Councal arrived he told them we might as well make this a light Day for the people .

If its clears up tonight lets have a Dance .

The councal members agreed that if it cleared up that night they would have a Dance .

[pisces74]

Got room over htere for some gimps Ward? The last time I came to call was the day that you were ill.

[Ward]

Got room over htere for some gimps Ward? The last time I came to call was the day that you were ill.


Well if you pring the cards come on over and sit a while .

[pisces74]

I didn't bring cards I don't think, but I'm told my antics are sometimes entertaining.:)

[Gerard-ABC]

6am - It's raining. I'll give it an hour. Too dangerous to cut trees and move hearvy wood around in the rain. Back to sleep.

8am - Sophie wakes me up, with a mug of hot chocolate. This will make a difference. We hear a comment outside, that it looks like it will rain most of the day. Maybe I could go out and look in a few hours... Sophie isn't too sure on that....

11am - Rain, still that rain.... I'll go check on the wagon construction site in the afternoon. We've discussed before what happens if the weather goes bad, and agreed that it's too dangerous to do much in the rain and mud. In the meantime, a bit more sleep wouldn't hurt.....

3pm - Get up, go out to the wagon site. Maybe if will be dry enough to work tomorrow. Back to the tent, and go find that packet of cards...


Regards,
Gerard

[NapoleonXIV]

The pretty girl woke up some hours after the glowing figure had left. She rose and went out into the rain, walking only a few yards before she stumbled across the strange man's inert body. He appeared either dead or deeply unconscious.

She removed the Ka-bar knife she had brought as yet another part of her personal equipage and cut two large sticks from the surrounding brush, then pulled them back to the cave. She spent the next hour rigging up a travois onto the horse, returning to the strange man and loading him onto it, then moving him back to the cave. Once there, she listened at his chest momentarily and, after seeming satisfied that he was breathing, sat down to build a fire as she and the strange man were totally soaked.

About halfway through gathering sticks the girl stopped. She sat down, stared at the small pile for several moments and began to tremble, at first gently but then more and more. She started to cry as well; again, almost imperceptibly but increasing. After a few minutes she was sobbing uncontrollably. She drew her long legs up and wrapped her arms around them burying her face in her knees. She continued to cry and soon turned over on her side, curled into a foetal ball. The sobbing still increased at first, then fell off gradually, until it ceased altogether. As the rain continued outside, the pair slept on together.

[Matt]

0600

"You do this everyday?" Robyn mumbled from her sleeping bag.

"Yup. For the time being at least." Matt zipped up his jacket, and grabbed his fedora. "It's not fair for me to have these kids out there training without me there."

"It's not bloody fair to wake me up so ungodly early," She snarled.

"Well, you could be sleeping out in the rain," he countered, with no serious inflection in his voice. "Well have fun, and have fun with the dog." He grabbed his rifle and walked out the tent's door. He could hear Robyn mumble something behind him.

He straightened up, and felt the rain bouncing off the top of his hat. "Well, if it ain't raining, we ain't training." He mumbled, and walked off to the company's morning muster. They would be conducting more firing today, and concentrating on squad movements later on.

[Doctor What]

Early Morning

Flocc woke up and groggily walked towards a large campfire in the center of the Miwok village. He thought back to yesterday. It was touch and go there for a while apparently, but Ahmick's arguments managed to persuade everyone that the Miwoks and the Ah.commers should still maintain a relationship.

One thing the Miwoks didn't skimp on when a deal (of sorts) was struck was food--Flocc padded his belly at the memory of the massive dinner they were fed yesterday evening. Alas--they were on a tight schedule and needed to get their butts over to Berkeley and finish their job. Ahmick was apparently sticking around as a guide for them. Flocc had been a bit confused by that.

"How useful would he be as a guide" asked Flocc to Doc-- "It's outside his tribal territory so he might not know the area very well."

"True", said Doc--"but he might have a few bits and pieces of info about it that he got from other bands, tribes they traded with, the occasional explorer, etc..."

Flocc nodded his head at that. "He'll make a decent interpreter, that's for sure."

"It will also give him an opportunity to learn more about us. I'm sure the Elder will really like that part."

Flocc arrived to the campfire and noted with some surprise that Doc and Ahmick were both awake. Ahmick was eating some food while Doc was practically savoring a cup of instant coffee.

"By the Buddha--it's freaking cold" said Flocc.

Doc raised his eyebrows at that. "You find this cold? It feels like 10 degrees celsius already. Back uptime, in Ottawa, if we had weather like this in the middle of February, people will be walking around in t-shirts."

"Yeah--but you Canadians are weird."

"Doesn't this weather remind you of England tho?"

"Don't remind me", said Flocc morosely.

Flocc looked towards the south. There was some really nasty looking clouds there. "Jeez--the main camp must be getting hammered with that stuff."

"Will we get hit by it?"

"Very soon, I would imagine, if we don't move our asses. Guarantee you that the rest of the day is going to be crappy and damp no matter how fast we move."

"Then we better move, non?"

**

It took a while to get organized--Helaku insisted on giving them a gift of shellfish before they left and several of the Rangers were already bitching about the drizzle that was coming down--but they were finally underway an hour or so later.

Ahmick was singing as they left. He called it the 'Nagamo-Nibi". The Song of Rain.

It had a rather nice beat and several of the Rangers were humming along with Ahmick a few minutes later.

[Othniel]

Morning, early morning;

Othniel was awoken, though by a slient drizzle. Glad that he had brought rain gear with him, after sleeping out under the stars, he put it on.

One of the rangers had started a small fire, to prepare before moving out. Staring at it, Othniel's thoughts stirred. Day dreams of home, and and then his wife saturated his thoughts. This would be anouther long day of moving towards what would soon be his new home, though not quite sure of whether he would ever grow use to being in this strange new world.

[Othniel]

Around Nine;

Journal Entry #6, 'On the Trail Green'
Dreams are an odd things, their subject matter, stories and intrige seem so limitless. To me this has become a dream, a new oppertunity to make a life for myself, when I feel I have failed so many times before. To build from scratch, and become something more than I have ever been. So many possiblities. Also I think that I've been put here for a purpose. Once upon a time my dreams laid in the heavens, among the celistial bodies wandering to and fro, but now the tangable, and enmpty earth calls my name, telling me I have a chance to help life prosper.

Oh yes, what is acualtly happening. We are going north towards the uptime location of Berkley. We hope to find a suitable area for around 3000 people. Norbert and Sion both assured me that the area is suppose to be rich in natural resources, from minerals, to good hardwood, to an endless amount of grazing lands and fertile fields.

[Norbert]

Norbert looked up at the sky, and shrugged as he reached for his hat and coat. 'A little warm rain wasn't a bother', he thought, and chuckled to himself. 'Of course, some might think of it as a cold rain. Anything above freezing this time of year is warm!'

[Doctor What]

Mid-day

It was that really annoying kind of drizzle--enough to get you completely soaking wet but not enough to actually be called rain. However, judging by some of the whining that was coming from one or two of the scout group -especially Brad --one would have gotten the impression that they were walking through a monsoon.

Bah! -- thought Flocc --they should see what it's like back home during the rainy season. Now that's rain. Still--this stuff is slowing us down a bit....

Ahmick didn't seem to mind the weather, tho. He just kept right on singing softly.

The first two Rangers had just got to the top of a ridge when they suddenly stopped. They stared, jaws gaped open, at something in front of them for a few seconds. One of them turned around and addressed Flocc.

"Sir--you have to see this."

The rest of the scout group made their way up the ridge and looked down.

They were silent for a full minute. Even Ahmick had stopped singing. Othniel was the first to speak.

"Wow. I mean...just...wow..." he stammered out.

Stretching away from the group--for at least a full mile --was a valley filled with giant redwood trees.

The shortest one was about 70 feet high.

The tallest one was at least 300 feet high.

"Dibik-Rizi Mekwah" said Ahmick, almost reverently.

Flocc, Oth and several other members of the scout group turned to face Doc.

"The Trees That Hold Up the Heavens" said Doc, in a quiet voice, after a few seconds.

GBW stared at the trees for a few seconds. "Amen to that".

"Amen indeed" said Flocc. After a few seconds he shouted "Push on!"

They pushed on.

**

[Norbert]

Norbert looked over at Doctor What: 'Doc, I do believe that we will have to be very careful what we cut. Though I have no problem with that, those trees deserve to see the day we come from. Truely magnificent, they remind me of some of the giant white pines that were not cut in 1900.'

[Flocculencio]

They had cautiously made their way through the valley of towering redwoods. All around them, the giant trunks rose into the air like the pillars of a cathedral.

Flocc saw that Ahmick had stopped singing and was instead peering intently around into the shadows of the forest.

"What's wrong, Ahmick?" he asked.

The native replied- "We watched are."

He said something to Dr. What who frowned as he puzzled out a translation.

"As far as I can tell," he replied, "Ahmick says that this valley is disputed territory between the hills tribes and his own. The hillsmen make sure that they have spies in the region as far as is possible so they they can be alerted of any intruders."

"Well, we're going to have to bring the main group around this valley anyway," pointed out Sion, "So far it's been pretty clear but a stand of fallen trees could really cause delays for wagons and the like."

"We'd still better be on our guard anyway," replied Flocc and cantered back and forth along the line of march calling for people to tighten up.

[Doctor What]

Early evening

The drizzle finally ended in the early evening. With some regret they had left the redwood tree valley sometime earlier and had been travelling through the usual mish-mash of oak and pine trees that seemed to be the most common type of forest in these parts.

Flocc and several others had noticed with some curiousity that Ahmick had been collecting bits and pieces from various plants & trees they passed by--needles from the redwoods, leaves from a fir tree, flowers from several shrubs and even some roots at one point. He had been stashing all the items into a small leather pouch he was carrying at his waist. When questioned by Dr. What, he just smiled and said "kenyaatha-tinan liwhin-kanosut" and kept right on walking.

Both Doc and Leo wrapped their minds around that one for a few minutes. Leo was the first to say something. "To make...something something...go away" he said hesitantly. Doc chimed in "Something in there about...cook? Boil?". Ahmick seemed to want to drop the subject and refused to go into any more detail.

Further conversations with Ahmick about other topics were more fruitful. The Hill People --or the Miwok-Unotut as they were called-- seemed to have been a perennial pain to Ahmick's people for "many seasons". Despite the large amounts of food that existed in the hills, the fact that Ahmicks' people lived so close to the coast meant that their food supply was somewhat more reliable than their own. There seemed to be other factors involved as well --Ahmick was a bit vague about this but both Doc and Leo seemed to think that disputed claims to other territories may have something to do with it-- but that seemed to be the main sticking point. Now Ahmick's people and the Hill people were at...well...'war' wasn't the correct term. 'War' implied full scale battles--this sounded more like 'You attack a lone hunter of mine--I steal some food from one of your villages' kind of thing.

"Cold War" said Flocc, who had been listening in to Doc and Leo arguing over some of the meanings of Ahmick's discussions. "Neither side can really kill each other completely or are even in a position to seriously contemplate doing so--so they have lots of yelling and screaming over borders and ambushes and so forth."

"Wonderful" said Othniel, in an irritated voice "We're 5000 years in the past and we end up in the native equivalent of 1950's USSR-USA stuff"

"Not an exact analogy, Oth--but close enough" said GBW.

"So--what does this mean for us?" asked Flocc

Doc shrugged his shoulders "You're the military commander here--you tell me. Should we get mixed up in this or do we just leave the two of them alone?"

Flocc didn't know how to reply to that.

"Hey--how come they didn't warn us about these guys back in the village a few days back?" he asked.

Doc, Leo and Ahmick had an animated and long discussion for several minutes. Doc then shrugged his shoulders again- "They didn't know who you guys were, they still didn't completely trust you, they had no idea where you were going or what you were up to, you guys knew all of ten words of their language, the hill people had been quiet for a few months, they were still freaking out a bit from your appearance, they--"

"Okay, okay--I get it!" said Flocc, smiling wryly.

"For what it is worth--Ahmick is sorry that they got hurt" said Doc.

"Maka" said Flocc

**
While making a campfire and resting up, Ahmick took out his stash of plants and proceeded to mash everything together for several minutes and then put the whole conconction into a pot of boiling water that had been set up. After several minutes of intense observation from Ahmick, he finally took the pot off and poured a cup of the liquid, making sure that none of the leaves and so forth got into the cup. He handed the cup to Flocc with a smile.

"Flok. Kenyaatha-tinan liwhin-kanosut"

Flocc took the cup and--with some hesitation--took a sip of the liquid. He raised his eyebrows in shock and stared at the cup of liquid.

"Bloody hell--this stuff tastes just like chai tea"

Leo snapped his fingers "That's it! 'The boiled liquid that drives away sickness'! It's been bugging me all day!"

Ahmick poured a few more cups and passed them around "Kenyaatha-tinan liwhin-kanosut" he repeated.

"I'm going to call it Redwood Forest Chai, if that's okay with him" said Flocc

**

[Flocculencio]

Flocc finished his chai and began the process of lighting his pipe. He was no fan of hot drinks but if it kept you healthy he wasn't going to turn it down. Glancing around he noted that the designated guards had already taken up their positions.

Second night and they've got into the rhythm...it's a good group.

"Y'know," he said casually to no one in particular, "If we keep up this pace we should hit Berkeley by late morning tomorrow."

"The sooner the better," said SionEwig, crouched over the fire. They wouldn't need to rely totally on the MREs tonight- Ahmick's people had given them two ducks which they had saved and which Sion was now attempting to grill. Flocc's stomach rumbled.

"Maybe there's no internet," he said to Leo, "but the food isn't half bad. Maybe if I ever get done with this ranger gig, Vicky and I can open up a restaurant. After all, if we can get the spices I brought to grow, the glory of curry will not be lost to the world."

"Yeah," replied Leo, "I could really go for some wonton noodles right now..."

"Y'know..." said Flocc, a bit sheepishly, "There's something I've been hiding from everyone."

He reached into his pack and rummaged around as the others regarded him quizzically.

"When the ASBs asked me for my list of stuff to bring I added one more thing which I though might be nice to have along."

He extracted a folded square of cloth and unfurled it with a flourish so that they could see it in the firelight.

"It struck me that it would be nice if we had a flag...I'll show it to the council once there's time for frivolous stuff like this but I thought I'd let you guys see it first."

[Dave Howery]

Day 9. Made many plans that didn't get carried out due to rain. Everyone miserable.. the herders, the cows, the sheep, and the pigs. Everyone not on duty stays inside the tents, hoping they don't leak. Thank God I requested all that waterproofing when I made my clothing requests....

[perdedor99]

08:07hrs

With the rain I cancelled the run and decided to go strait to the shooting range to practice shooting in unfavorable conditions. There was a lot of grumbling and bitching about being in the rain and actually the rain picked up around 07:30, making very hard for the new guys to make nice tight groups on the targets. Well, almost all of them. A couple of the guys to my right were making very solid groups so maybe training was paying off after all.

But with the rain still coming down I will be forced to change the training schedule. Instead of the field stripping of the rifles and more getting accustomed to the Springfields I ran by the CO to training the old infantry mode of movement under fire while being under less than perfect conditions. I guess the guys will not be too happy about low-crawling in the mud but at least I will be near by to hear their bitching.

[Matt]

08:07hrs

With the rain I cancelled the run and decided to go strait to the shooting range to practice shooting in unfavorable conditions. There was a lot of grumbling and bitching about being in the rain and actually the rain picked up around 07:30, making very hard for the new guys to make nice tight groups on the targets. Well, almost all of them. A couple of the guys to my right were making very solid groups so maybe training was paying off after all.

But with the rain still coming down I will be forced to change the training schedule. Instead of the field stripping of the rifles and more getting accustomed to the Springfields I ran by the CO to training the old infantry mode of movement under fire while being under less than perfect conditions. I guess the guys will not be too happy about low-crawling in the mud but at least I will be near by to hear their bitching.


Oh, God. You're perfect. God thank you for giving me a perfect 1stSgt~

And I suppose Top should be happy he has a CO that knows how to listen to his senior enlisted ;)

[Ward]

08:07hrs

With the rain I cancelled the run and decided to go strait to the shooting range to practice shooting in unfavorable conditions. There was a lot of grumbling and bitching about being in the rain and actually the rain picked up around 07:30, making very hard for the new guys to make nice tight groups on the targets. Well, almost all of them. A couple of the guys to my right were making very solid groups so maybe training was paying off after all.

But with the rain still coming down I will be forced to change the training schedule. Instead of the field stripping of the rifles and more getting accustomed to the Springfields I ran by the CO to training the old infantry mode of movement under fire while being under less than perfect conditions. I guess the guys will not be too happy about low-crawling in the mud but at least I will be near by to hear their bitching.


Frank Finds Peredor99 Top would you like me to help you and the old Man set up a trainig Schedule . I have my GrandFathers old Cav Field Book that we could use as part of the training . It covers every thing from Weapons training to that of Care of the Horses in it .

Some of the Titles of the book are
Drill and Cermoniy , How to use a lance , Care of a horse in the field, and Garrison . Use of the Saber, Markemenship mounted and Dismounted , Tactics for Cav units mounted and Dismounted , Care of the Sadle in the field and Garrison .

Frank lets the Top know that his father will let the unit use this book as long as they take care of it .

[Bulgaroktonos]

The early morning consisted of going to and fro about the camp searching for the various heads of the several work details to see what their plans for the day were. After making sure those that were going to do some labor were all set in the labor and resources department, I made sure the remaining metal tools were dry and secure, and headed back to my tent, where I spent most of the time reading up on the art of smithing.

[Psychomeltdown]

1900


Music, sweet music.

It occurred to Psychomeltdown as he walked with his wife to the center of camp, that he had almost forgotten about music. Which was strange because prior to being dragged back through time he had always listened to music.

When at work, it was always playing, in the car, at home, everywhere there was music. But since they arrived to this new world, there had been no music at all and Psycho began to realize how much he had missed that.

Now music was being played and he felt something in his heart soar at the sounds of a guitar playing.

“Gods, I miss that sound.” Nizhoni breathed as they neared the center of camp. Everyone was out tonight, 3000 men, women, children packing the center of camp, all trying to listen, watch, and dance to the rhythm of music being played.

Psycho and Nizhoni pushed their way forward, coming up to where Dave and his wife were also standing.

“A lot of people out tonight.” Psycho remarked.

Dave nodded. “They’re setting up another spot a couple of hundred yards over. This place is too packed, standing room only.” He grinned.

“Wanna dance?” Nizhoni asked.

“Huh?” Psycho asked. Dancing was something that Psycho didn’t do. He’d never learned how nor did he want to. But as he looked at Nizhoni’s face and smiled, he couldn’t say no to her. Psycho looked to the “dance floor” a semi dry patch of land where couples were dancing to the live music being played. He saw many not trying to dance, merely moving with the beat and being near their partners. Psycho took Nizhoni’s hand and joined the fun.

They were thrown 5000 years into the past, they were cut off from all their families and friends, there was a high chance that they might all die, and everyone was working their asses off, but as Psycho moved to the music and held Nizhoni in his arms, he felt content.



OOC: figure since no one wrote about the dance…

[jolo]

14:00

After having done the essentials and when the first rain drops reached my bones, I decided to relax.

I returned to my and my wife's tent, we spent some time together, we worked a little bit on our "home", we put up a few suitable containers to collect more water, and we talked with our neighbours.

Later, we prepared some food and something to drink for tonight's party.

In the evening, after the rain had stopped, we dressed up a little bit and joined the others with the communal dance. I was even able to get dances with a few of the celebrities, while my wife also enjoyed herself pretty well. Most of the time, we danced or enjoyed the music together, though...