American Hunting: Starting with Solitary Life in the Wilderness

Chapter 118 Maintenance and Waterproofing of Log Cabins

After enjoying a celebratory Chinese meal, the exhausted group drank ice-cold beer and savored the hard-won tranquility.

The sun, which was already at a very low angle during the polar day, was still shining brightly in the sky.

Old George looked at the twenty-one concrete piles that were already beginning to set, his eyes filled with the pride of a craftsman! He stood up, ready to say goodbye.

"Lin, I believe you'll soon have a beautiful house!"

Old George patted Lin Yu'an on the shoulder forcefully, his face full of approval.

"Next comes the most tedious curing period. Remember what I told you, the strength of concrete is 'cured'."

"You need to keep them for at least twenty days. You have to take care of them like babies and don't let them dry out too quickly."

"Keep the watering frequency and rhythm as I told you before. Call me anytime if you have any questions."

"Don't worry, George. And thank you, without you, my progress wouldn't have been so fast," Lin Yu'an said sincerely.

Old George waved his hand, looked at Lin Yu'an, then at Stan, Hank, Barton, and Cody who were also preparing to leave, and his expression became serious and sincere.

"Kid, you don't need to thank me or them."

"You should understand one thing today: in Alaska, especially in a place like Wiesman, no one can really survive alone."

He continued, "I'm helping you because I see your determination, and also because I need a reliable partner to accompany me in pursuing my youthful dreams once again."

“Stan helped you because he saw you as a pillar of this community’s future. And they…”

He pointed to Hank, Barton, and Cody, "They came to help without even asking for any payment."

Pilot Hank chuckled and continued, "That's right, Lin. I'm helping you pour concrete today because I know that if my plane breaks down and needs a part, Cody will fix it for me without hesitation."

“If I get caught in a blizzard in the mountains, Patton will be the first to rush out on his snowmobile to find me. And if my family needs any help, Stan will help without hesitation.”

Mechanic Cody nodded and added, "Each of us possesses a survival skill that others need."

“I need supplies, and I have to rely on Hank’s plane. I’m sick, and I have to rely on Emily. If I want to have a good meal, it seems I have to rely on you now, Lin.” He winked at Lin Yu’an, eliciting a good-natured laugh.

The hunter Barton, a taciturn Athabasca, succinctly summarized: "Here, you help me, I help you. Only then can we survive the next winter together."

"I will come again tomorrow to help you finish the foundation work. The hunting season is coming soon, and I would like to invite you to come with me to hunt enough food for the elderly in the village."

Lin Yu'an was flattered and immediately replied, "I would be delighted! Just wait for Barton to call me, and I will definitely go with you."

Stan then added, "So, kid, don't take this as us helping you out. This is just the Weissman rule."

"Today we're helping you lay the foundation, tomorrow we might need you to drive that Chinese loader to help George clear the road blocked by the blizzard. We're here to insure each other."

Listening to the people's simple yet profound words about survival, Lin Yu'an was filled with unprecedented emotion.

He finally understood the weight of Stan's words, "We need our neighbors more."

This is not just a polite remark; it is a golden rule for survival that has been proven by generations on this harsh land.

He stood up, raised his beer, and solemnly addressed everyone present: "I understand. Thank you all, I've learned the most important lesson today! Cheers to our shared survival, to Weissman!"

"cheers!"

Under the midnight sun in Alaska, people raised their glasses in a toast.

At this moment, Lin Yu'an was no longer an outsider; he had been truly accepted into this community of tough guys and strong individuals as one of its members!
Lin Yu-an insisted on giving them some Chinese liquor and cigarettes as gifts for their neighbors, and they did not refuse. In this land, sharing is also part of mutual assistance.

David and Mike were like chroniclers of time, silently recording everything here. They looked at each other and understood what the other meant by "perfect material."

After bidding farewell to these reliable neighbors, the woodland returned to tranquility.

But Lin Yu'an's work was far from over. He began the work that Old George had repeatedly instructed him to do in the foundation engineering—concrete curing.

He first used a watering can to evenly spray a layer of water onto the surface of the twenty-one concrete piles that had just begun to set.

Then, they found a huge plastic sheet from the pile of supplies and covered each and every one of the stakes completely.

"What are you doing? Are you covering them with blankets?" David asked curiously.

"You can say that."

Lin Yu-an explained, "Covering with plastic film is to minimize the evaporation of moisture. The hardening of concrete is a hydration process, which requires sufficient moisture to reach the designed final strength."

“In Alaska’s current environment of long hours of sunshine and dry air, if the concrete loses water too quickly, it will crack and become unusable.”

David watched as Lin Yu'an only sprayed water on the top meter or so of the stakes that were visible above ground, and asked curiously, "Lin, are you only watering the top part? What about the parts buried underground? Don't they need maintenance?"

Lin Yu'an smiled and said, "That's a good question. But for them, the earth is the best caretaker."

"The underground parts, tightly wrapped by the surrounding soil, will slowly harden in a natural, high-humidity environment."

The next morning, after completing the routine watering and maintenance of all the posts, the hunter Barton arrived as promised.

Their target was the pile of rubble that resembled a small mountain.

Lin Yu'an operated the XCMG loader, transporting large amounts of crushed stone, bucket by bucket, to the edge of the foundation area.

Meanwhile, Patton pushed a professional construction site wheelbarrow, shuttling back and forth between the loader and the foundation, precisely dumping gravel into every corner that needed to be paved.

The two worked together seamlessly, one responsible for the overall transportation and the other for the detailed laying, resulting in extremely high efficiency.

"Why are we going through all this trouble to lay these damn stones?" David asked, dodging flying pebbles as he carried his camera.

“Drain the water, David, drain the water!” Lin Yu’an shouted back.

"This is the most important thing. This gravel layer ensures that any melting snow and rainwater can quickly seep in and drain away without soaking our foundation, keeping the space below clean and dry."

Based on the slight inclination of the terrain, Lin Yu'an dug an even deeper blind ditch outside the ground beam ditch, which encircled the entire foundation.

He and Patton first laid a layer of professional geotextile at the bottom of the blind drain.

"This cloth is to prevent mud from clogging the pipes," Lin Yu-an explained to the camera.

They then laid black, perforated corrugated pipes with countless small holes at the bottom of the trench.

They were then connected together to form a complete loop, eventually leading to a natural depression far from the camp.

After laying the pipes, they used more gravel to completely fill the entire blind drain.

"This pipe is like a moat for our foundation. Any water that gathers around the foundation will be preferentially drawn into the small holes of these pipes and then discharged far away."

"It ensures that our core foundation area is always kept in the driest possible condition."

After ten hours of intensive work, with the concerted efforts of Lin Yu-an and Barton, the ground work in the entire foundation area, including trenching, pipe laying, and gravel laying, was basically completed.

The entire site was transformed into a flat, solid, and extremely professional-looking modern construction platform.

That day, after Lin Yu-an finished his maintenance work, he found David and Mike packing their luggage.

"Lin, are you really going to stay here alone for twenty days?"

David looked at the desolate yet vibrant construction site and asked with some unease.

“That’s right.” Lin Yu’an nodded.

"The work ahead will be rather scattered and tedious, not suitable for filming. I've already spoken with Richard, and the production team will give you a short break. Come on, I'll drive you to Fairbanks Airport."

This suggestion gave David and Mike a sense of warmth, like that of friends.

Lin Yu'an started his Ford Conqueror and drove south along Dalton Highway once again toward Fairbanks.

After dropping the two off at the airport and agreeing to meet there in twenty days, Lin Yu'an did not return immediately.

Instead, they went straight to Fairbanks’ largest farm and gardening supplier store.

This store is comparable in size to a large supermarket, and it has everything from tractor parts to various livestock feeds.

His attention first fell on a granular organic slow-release fertilizer designed specifically for fruits and vegetables.

He picked up the packaging bag and carefully examined the ingredient list and nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratio on the back.

He explained to his GoPro camera, "For greedy creatures like tomatoes and cucumbers, we need to lay a good nutritional foundation for them first."

"This granular organic fertilizer has a very balanced nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium ratio of approximately 5-5-5."

"It is made from a mixture of various natural materials such as poultry manure, bone meal, and blood meal. It can decompose slowly in the soil and provide plants with stable nutrition for up to several months."

He put a large bag of granular fertilizer into his shopping cart before heading to the liquid fertilizer section.

"We also need to prepare some 'energy drinks' and 'multivitamins' for them."

He ultimately chose two of the most efficient organic liquid fertilizers: high-concentration fermented fish fertilizer and kelp concentrate.

He picked up the two bottles of liquid fertilizer: "Fish fertilizer is rich in nitrogen and amino acids. When used to water plants during the seedling stage, it can promote rapid leaf growth and make the plants stronger."

"Kelp concentrate is rich in various trace elements and natural growth hormones. When used during the flowering and fruiting period, it can improve the fruit set rate and enhance the plant's resistance to diseases, pests, and cold."

"Use these three fertilizers together. Use granular fertilizer as a long-lasting base fertilizer mixed into the soil, and apply the two liquid fertilizers alternately according to different growth stages."

"In this way, we can provide these fertilizer-loving crops with a comprehensive and robust nutritional support system from start to finish."

After purchasing all the items, Lin Yu'an embarked on his journey home again.

When he drove his Conqueror, laden with its cargo, alone on that desolate highway, he felt no loneliness, only a heart full of plans for the future.

(End of this chapter)