The weather was getting colder with each passing day. We were well within the autumn season, as the trees and shrubs shed their multicoloured leaves with each gust of wind. Though winters were difficult to survive in the wild, my plan was to build a solid shelter, a sort of wooden house to last us the entire season. Moreover, with the bag I received from Nick and ability to hunt even bears, we could easily stock up on food.
One day, we found a perfect spot for our little hut for the winter. 'This place should do. We have a small stream, a small clearing and loads of trees around. We'll set up here', "Shelly, we'll be making our home here. I'll take care of cutting down trees, while you bring them to this area. We need to finish this before snow catches us. I'm sure you don't want to freeze". With that said, we went straight to work.
The work was quite hectic for the first few days. We needed loads of logs of decent size to make the walls. They needed to be cleaned from all the branches, as well as transported to the general area. The rain on some days didn't help either. Shelly would be mostly alright, it was a turtle after all. Me as a Human, I couldn't get ill especially before the winter arrived and no proper shelter to show for. During such days, the work would cease and Shelly wouldn't complain of course.
After two weeks, we finally had enough logs to begin the construction. Though at this stage Shelly was usually of little help, I found a perfect job for a turtle with sharp claws. "While I cut these logs to size, you can start digging", I said. Shelly looked at me confused. "You do remember how I did it last time, right? We dig deep holes, and then place the logs inside them. This will be your job", I explained.
"Mah! Mamah mah", Shelly complained as if to say "this is your job". "Nuh uh, I have loads of stuff to do. If you want to stay in a comfortable place, help me out. Otherwise, we'll sleep outside with the snow. You know snow, the cold white thing? Here, I'll show you how it's done, then you can continue. We'll have a nice warm place sooner that way", I reasoned.
Shelly agreed, albeit reluctantly and observed how the hole was dug. With that task sorted, I proceeded to cut the logs in half and to the length of about three metres. We'd use full logs for the walls, but halves of them for the roof. The design was simple but effective, and wouldn't require too much work. We weren't building an actual house after all. Though I was glad my past experience with carpentry really helped out during this process.
Another two weeks passed, and the weather was getting worse. Not only the coldness but rain was more prevalent with each passing day. Fortunately, I managed to finish the walls thanks to Shelly digging these holes like mad. Perhaps it was trying to take out it's frustration on the ground, or perhaps finish as soon as possible, so it wouldn't need to work anymore.
"You did a great job, Shelly. I'm proud of you. Now, you can laze about without a worry. I'll finish the rest of this". Shelly looked smug and satisfied after my comment, and proceeded to do just that. I had to nail the walls together just in case, even though we buried them quite deep. With wind and snow, I didn't want to take any chances. Moreover, there were plenty of nails in my bag.
The roof on the other hand was pretty simple and easy to do. The logs were already cut in half, and to size. The resin and nails made that job a walk in the park, which Shelly didn't appreciate. It only took me a day to finish the roof, compared to weeks for the walls. "Hehe, I never said the roof was the hardest. Actually, it was the easiest job. Anyway, we have a solid shelter albeit without doors...", I said at Shelly's displeased expression.
The most important part was finished, we had roof over our heads. At that point we could finish up the inside, and attach some doors. There were no windows, but they weren't needed either. Besides the floor and some sort of bed, the most important thing in our hut was a fireplace. That required a bit of thought. 'I've never made a fireplace, I've seen many of them but...', the more I thought about it, the more difficult it seemed to me.
Usually, people had stone or metal fireplaces a home. There was no way to make a steel fireplace, therefore a stone one it was. The difficult part was actually building the fireplace and a chimney. The professionals used tar or some other stuff to bind the stones, and even made it look nice. I wasn't after the nice stuff, but a functional one. 'I only have some resin left, but will that work?'. The thought led me to try it out, this was better than nothing at that stage.
I collected stones of various sizes and placed them inside our little hut. Since the floor wasn't done yet, this allowed me to place the stones on a proper solid ground, and begin stacking them. 'I'm able to stack the stones pretty high, and even leave an opening, but there's one problem...', I thought while looking at my crooked fireplace. The problem was its backside. Without any stones there, the part of wooden wall would catch on fire. Once that caught on fire, the whole thing would burn.
I needed a way to separate the wall from the fireplace, yet at the same time allow the smoke to travel outside. I didn't figure out anything that day, or the other day, but work had to continue. I made doors and a bit of the floor. The lack of fireplace would kick us in the ass, especially with freezing temperatures that were common in these parts of the land.
The solution to my problem came in a weird way though. After one rainy day, I noticed Shelly playing in some mud. That's when it struck me, "Clay! That could work as well... I mean, it's worth a try". Shelly looked at me confused, but that didn't matter. Clay was a great way to bind all the stones. Even village kids would know that we made cooking tools like pots from clay.
With that in mind, I searched for clay or mud that could bind my fireplace together, and away from the wooden walls. Not every bit of dirt would stick though. Dirty sand or some muddy water couldn't simply become clay. I needed the thick and sticky stuff, not just any dirt. The search took a while, but I found a good quantity of the stuff. Not wasting any time, I got to work on the fireplace.
One stone after the other, I build the base. Then the walls in an oval and circular shape. At one point, I had to stop. Building too much would simply collapse the thing. That clay needed to dry, and to help it out, a fire wasn't a bad way. I set up a small fire inside the unfinished fireplace, and left the hut.
Of course there was a lot of smoke inside, but that was the quickest method. Once the fire died down, and the smoke cleared, I came back in to check on the fireplace. 'Hmm, it's dry but cracked a bit... I mean, it still hold though. I could add a bit more clay to cover the stones, I suppose'. With that in mind, I continued building my fireplace bit by bit. The thing became a bit bigger due to me adding more clay, but worked. The cracks didn't get any bigger, only formed when clay dried, which was a good thing.
The last step of was to make a small hole in the wall, and simply build a chimney up to that place. "Alright! I think it's done", I exclaimed once everything was in place. The only thing left was to test it. I started a small fire inside the fireplace, and left the hut just in case. No smoke was coming out of the hut, which was a promising sight. Circling round the hut, a constant stream of smoke was pushed out through the hole inside the wall. "Yes! Shelly! We have a fireplace, hahaha", I was really pleased with myself and the work. Although the fireplace didn't look great, it worked.
They inside of the hut got warmer the longer the flame kept on going, and even Shelly enjoyed the difference in temperature. The only jobs left for me were the floor, and some sort of bed where I could sleep. Other than that, we were pretty much ready for winter, and in good time, since the weather was only getting worse.