<em>- Bo on tour -</em><br/><br/>The tour of the home was fairly straight-forward, though the opulence of the castle was still impressive.  Once again Bo admired the planning that went into the project.  He had seen such careful, systematic planning for groups of people much larger than their little group here at the castle, but rarely with such quality.  Quality in materials, ingredients, and care.  As long as everyone pulled their weight in this process, then Bo felt they were being given the tools that they needed to thrive.  Looking at the eager faces around him, each paying careful attention to Cathy's lecture, he was sure they would be fine.  No slackers in this group.<br/><br/>Outdoors -- farming, cutting wood, tending to livestock -- was where Bo felt most at home.  There was a Zen quality to working a farm that Bo loved.  Most aspects of operating a farm consisted of repetitive daily activities that may seem tedious and tiresome to outsiders, but generally required focus and attention to detail in order to avoid injury to oneself or to an animal.  Doing something over and over with great focus was a great way to block out the rest of the world for a while and destress.  Bo particularly looked forward to chopping wood.  He hadn't seen any motorized log-splitters on the tour, and considered that a good sign.<br/><br/>Aside from one or two concerned expressions, which were perfectly understandable considering the difficult nature of self-sufficient living, there were no obvious outcries of protest from the group.  In fact, everyone seemed to be taking things in stride.  The girls, Nicci especially, seemed eager to hit the ground running.  Bo smiled when she asked if anyone wanted coffee.  In some ways, she reminded him of his mother.  His eyes quickly surveyed her statuesque form as she gracefully took her seat.  Certainly not in every way though.  Thankfully.<br/><br/>Bo passed on the coffee and cookies as he settled into a seat around the table.  "We're fairly well stocked," he interjected in answer to Nicci's question.  "And we have some weeks now before we can expect the mainland to be cut off for any lengthy period of time, so I doubt the supply run today and feeding of the sheep will be much more than getting us into the groove of how things work."  He shrugged.  "An hour is good estimate."<br/><br/>Since their thriving depended on everyone doing their part, Bo decided to probe a little and see if there might be any weak links that he had missed.  While he didn't expect there to be any in this group, he knew that it would be better to ferret them out now while there was still plenty of time to offer extra support in coming up to speed on things, before the tough work really began.  "Looks like we're going to have to handle most things around here on our own, and it's goin' to get physical."  He grinned, recognizing the double entendre.  His grin quickly faded.  "Anyone have any concerns with the workload we've been given?" he asked, looking around the group.