Wood Stacking

Tuesday’s weather was more of the same in the morning. I futzed through the early morning hours, then Her Highness and I went for a walk and to the store for some baking supplies. I came home to bake a cake for Allie’s birthday celebration last night. I made an apple cake. And what a lovely surprise: The sun came out in full glory at noon.

Dinner with Alli and Pete was fun. We played Scrabble after dinner and I was home and in bed by 10:00. 

Now, Wednesday. What a day I had!! Joe, the sexiest and most handsome man ever, was here when Her Highness and I came home from our walk. He got right to work, and I can’t say how horrified and impressed I was by his work. He made the 200-pound pieces of felled tree into split pieces. And while he chopped the immense sections of tree, I hauled the pieces into the shed and stacked them.

Dave, from next door, helped. He is such a wonderful man! Once I started working, I had two seizures and then, when Joe went into the village for lunch, I came indoors and lay down on the couch and had a 4-5 minute seizure. That hardly ever happens. When I returned to work, I was half the person I’d been in the morning.

I made it to 3:00 o’clock though, but by then I was so tired I couldn’t lift the pieces of wood. So, I came inside, cleaned myself up and lay down on the couch. I felt sick to my stomach; I had no appetite. I ate no lunch and by dinner time, I found the prospect of eating anything entirely off putting. I craved a toasted cheese sandwich but had no cheddar cheese.

At 7:30, I managed to eat a slice of bread and I felt better after eating it with some beans. However, I could not imagine watching a movie. I just lay on the couch, absolutely dead to everything, waiting for 8:00 o’clock to come when I went to bed.

This morning (Thursday) I am moving at normal speed but my arms are sore from all yesterday’s lifting and toting. I have wood to move today, but there’s no pressure now that Joe is gone. I can go at a slow, easy pace. I happened to weigh myself on Tuesday evening, and so I weighed myself again this morning. All that work yesterday had me lose 3 pounds in one day.

Today will be slow, but it will also be good. It’s likely to be 18° today, and 25° tomorrow. I’ll be doing the usual things, but also stacking some wood. It feels good to feel normal again. Honestly, I’ve never felt so exhausted as I did yesterday. I was a zombie.

Here are some images of work by Josh Gluckstein. He works largely with cardboard (and other found materials). I quite love his work, even though I wouldn’t really want one of his sculptures in my home.