What Would J. Bolt do? (WWJBD)
(A whimsical story just for fun)
Chapter 1
The dawned bright and warm, Candy and Biddie were outside preparing to go berry picking. The other brides were scattered all over Seattle doing things that were important, things like purchasing ribbon, or material for a new dress, preparing a lesson, baking some pies and biscuits, making chicken. The men were of course up on the mountain or at the sawmill doing their jobs. Those on the afternoon shift were resting or at Lottie's saloon having breakfast. All was well with the world in Seattle. That is until….
"Jason, Jason," Joshua called to his brother as he was starting to leave with his logging team. Jason stopped to wait for Joshua to come up to him.
"Jason, this afternoon, don't forget, we have to do the books and turn them in to the auditors!" said Joshua, a little more concerned than usual.
"Of course, I won't forget! We will sit down at around 4 this afternoon at the saloon and work on the books. I already told Lottie that." Jason said as he went off with his team of loggers to do their work. Joshua left to go with his team satisfied that Jason would be on time. Jason left with his team satisfied Joshua would be on time. Jeremy was charged with sharpening the tools that day, as well as the inventory. They had to have everything ready for Friday when the auditors were coming. Jason wanted to be sure that the auditors knew that this company was one of the best logging companies in Washington Territory as well as in the Pacific Northwest. He was proud of his company, and so were Joshua and Jeremy, it was their company too. All three brothers did their part in keeping the company working and profitable. The loggers they hired, those that were always there every year, not just the married ones but also the ones that would travel from place to place would show up and work because The Bolt Logging company was one of the best logging company's around. The pay was good, the work was good, and safety was always a priority with Mr. J. Bolt.
The town of Settle, although starting out small, did have a growth spurt and that is why there were auditors coming to check on the logging company, the sawmill and other business. These auditors were there to help the town of Seattle grow. If the Logging company, the sawmill, and other businesses such as the saloon and mercantile were doing well other businesses would be attracted to Seattle and perhaps it would help with the growth spurt as well. The citizens wanted to say they had a library, a theater and other 'civilized' activities and events that would attract more people to Seattle. They had a port which was becoming bigger and busier as the town grew, Seattle had to attract more businesses in order to renovate and renew the shipping port. There was so much activity going on that it was a wonder that the town of Seattle was still a town and not a city yet!
"Biddie, are you done picking berries, I have six baskets full, do you think we have enough to make some pies and jams?" asked Candy. Biddie looked at her baskets, she had about six as well.
"You know, I think that is enough right now, we can have the children go out tomorrow and collect more, while we are preparing the jams and pies and medicinal!" Biddie said as she put the baskets in the wagon with Candy's baskets.
"We need to get back to the dorm to help make the chicken for the picnic on Friday!" said Fran as she came up the hill with a few baskets of berries as well. They went back to the dormitory taking care of the berries and then joining the others in preparing the chicken and duck to be consumed for 6 days from that day. To do this, the legs of the chicken and or duck or turkey were salted for 24 hours. Then covered with fresh thyme. After 24 hours, the next day, the food was then rinsed and placed in a nice deep baking dish. Covered with duck fat, chicken fat or turkey fat. And baked at about 200 degrees for six hours. These legs become juicy and tender and are also covered in fat. Once cooled, the fat has hardened and will prevent spoilage, the shelf life, is one month. So, all they would need to do was to reheat the legs and they would be juicy and tender as if they were freshly cooked. *
It was getting late, and the men came down from the mountain. The men in the sawmill also were ready to quit. Lotties Saloon filled up quickly with single men who needed to eat and married men who wanted to relax before they went home to their wives. Jeremy went home first to wash up, he was going to see his fiancé Candy and have dinner with her in her little cozy room she shared with her sister and brother. Molly and Christopher went to visit with Ben and Emily while Candy and Jeremy spent time together. Joshua went to the Saloon first and then Jason arrived, and they sat in the back room discussing books. They knew that Jeremy was going to be a little late and Joshua hoped that he and Jason could be done, and Jeremy would sign off without really having to look at anything. Aaron Stemple stepped in for a moment to ask a question.
"Do you need any help?"
"No thank you Aaron, we have it. Do you need help with your books?" asked Joshua who would have loved to do his books, Joshua was a wiz at accounting and math problems, so he just naturally took to working with numbers.
"No, thank you Joshua. I will see you tomorrow!" Aaron said and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Then Clancy walked in and asked a question:
"Jason, Joshua, it is good to see house two! May I ask a question?"
"Sure" said Jason not looking up.
"I was hoping that you would be giving me my pay soon for transporting you logs to Tacoma. Mr. Stemple said he hasn't had time to look at his books to pay me, just wondering if you will be paying me?" said Clancy as nicely as possible.
Joshua looked at Jason and Jason looked up at Clancy and said:
"Clancy, we are just starting to work things out, can you wait until tomorrow, we will have your pay by end of day tomorrow!" said Jason. Clancy thanked them and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Jason and Joshua went to work again on the books.
Footnote:
* Taken from the following article:
off-grid-foods/4-forgotten-meat-preservation-methods-of-the-1800s/
By: James Walton.
9/5/2023