I was up with the first crow of the rooster. I had a lot to do that morning to get our work teams setup and busy, and that was only dealing with the men; Michelle would handle the women. I intently studied my project list and the work roster while I ate my breakfast. By the time I had finished my coffee, I had a plan for the day laid out. Sonya dutifully noted who I was putting where and who would be the team leader for each group. By the time I had finished my second cup, Timmons and Michelle had joined us and I ran it past them to check validity before I met with the men.

I was due to meet with the men at the center of the temporary village. so we headed over there to get things rolling. Pete and Mouse joined us once we got there. We had about ten minutes to chat before the men started to gather around. I breezed over our goals for the week just in time for the meeting to kick off.

We had our ‘Good Mornings’ and polite morning chats out of the way in a few minutes, then I pushed forward from there. I explained that our main goals were to try to finish the roads this week and get started on some more permanent builds. I then listed out the work crews. I saw some sideways looks, but nothing I couldn’t deal with.

I had two guys that had been apprentice carpenters and they would be working with Holder to build some structures. One was for the animals and the other for ourselves. First order of business would be a woodworking shop. The remainder would clear the road down to the prairie; Samuel would be in charge of that crew. The boatmen would finish the road down to the landing and start on a dock. Clearing the road meant pulling stumps and, understandably, nobody really wanted that duty.

Everybody was to go armed. We were still in wild country and preparation was the path to survival. Lunch would come around 10 a.m. and dinner at about 2p.m. We’d shut down for the day at 6 p.m., then supper was their wives' responsibility. The road team was sent out, except for two men to put their pulling mule into traces. Amos and Mila trailed with the dog cart to move extra tools and chains in that.

Timmons headed out to the boat crew with the other mule. They had their tools and would be hard at work before I ever got there. That left me with Holder and the carpenters.

We walked over to the table and I rolled out our crude map. It was drawn on deerskin with charcoal and was hardly to scale. I wasn’t much of a cartographer or artist. I showed them where I wanted my carpentry shop built. It would sit at the very west end of the industrial sector. The Livery would be across the road and the Smithy would be adjacent to that.

It would start as a simple shack but would need to be hardened before the snow came. The toolshop would be their eastside neighbor and the lumber yard would be adjacent to that. I allocated them a full acre to start with. I went over property setbacks with them and explained the reasons. Although we didn’t need them initially, the setbacks would come into effect when we built more permanent buildings. With all that explained, I saddled Lunch, whistled up Brin, and we set off down to town.

Time alone on horseback was always well treasured. Actually I enjoyed time with my horse, time with my dog, and time just to think. Obviously, I took it slow and plodded along at a sedate pace. Lunch didn’t mind since we were winding our way through a series of small stumps and other road hazards. They would all be cleared this week and anything that wasn’t rooted out would be forever trampled under the feet, hooves, and wheels of passing traffic. I just hoped to keep it clear and dry.

I thought about money as I meandered. We had cash, but spending capital reserves was always a bad idea. It was obvious that I needed to invest further in revenue generating assets and, to do that, I was best served by focusing on the Army's and Navy's needs. Salted, dried and pickled foods were a prime commodity for them since fresh foods were impossible to carry in bulk out on the high seas or on an extended march. A private in any army far preferred pickled eggs to no eggs at all.

Deep in thought, I almost rode past the workshop site and probably would have, if Brin hadn’t alerted me. I turned around to be met by three grinning faces. Instead of coming up with some lame excuse, I just chuckled and joined them, leaving Lunch to fend for himself for a bit. He’d find something interesting to eat nearby and I wasn’t worried about him wandering off.

They filled me in on what they’d come up with so far. Their initial plan was to clear an area in the future lumber yard where we could store all of the fallen logs. They could add to it as needed. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, all of the old growth hardwood had to be cleared. This did mean that we’d have really nice things, but it was also a shame. I gave specific instructions to leave all particularly majestic trees alone. The full council would make the decisions on those. With that, I told them I’d be on-hand a couple of times each day, then I left them to their business and headed down to the landing.

I came across the road crew about halfway down the bluff. They had made pretty good progress on what was really hard work already. I noted they were doing it the right way. It was also the hardest way, but with a road, you wanted it done correctly the first time. I saluted them but didn’t interrupt. I rode on to find Timmons. I was quite sure those guys couldn’t wait to get back on the water again and didn’t need the likes of me getting in their way.