A Huge Job Done!

 Quel surprise! It’s cloudy this morning, and there has been angel piss falling with droplets just slightly bigger than fog. But stacking wood will be a lot more comfortable this morning, and I can stack and do the watering later today instead of having to start watering at 5:30.

It’s uncomfortable having so much work to do. Needing to both water the beds and do the stacking and toting puts a lot of pressure on me. And pressure is not great because my symptoms get severe. But hey, it’s Friday and I will get this wood stacked if I work hard today and tomorrow.

I had, of course, an accident when I was working on Thursday. It was inevitable. A large section of wood fell against my leg, and my hopelessly weak skin split and I got a large nasty wound right below a wound I got from fucking Charlie who insists on jumping up against me when we go on dog walks with our friends.

Charlie’s wound was a week old, so when I bandaged the new wound, I decided to change the bandage on the old one. I’m glad I did because it was mildly infected. I’ll spare you the details. I cleaned the old wound and rebandaged it, and I bandaged the new wound. My shower yesterday morning was extremely short. I stopped right away because the soap was making my wounds sting like mad. I opted for a sponge bath.

During the very early morning hours, as I did my chores and posted, I kept checking for rain. If it came, I had another tarp ready in the shed to cover the pile of wood yet to stack. I took Sheba for our morning walk at 6:30! We’d never walked that early before, but I wanted to get started on stacking as soon as I could. I worked quietly for fear of disturbing Sarah and Grey who are sleeping in Dave and Ursula’s bunkie about fifteen meters from my wood pile.

My plan was to take a break after every ten barrows full of wood stacked. My first break came at 9:00. I felt that I could keep going, but the work is very hard on my back, even with my brace, so I came inside to drink and rest, then I was back at it, committed to doing another ten or fifteen before lunch. If I keep it up until mid or late afternoon, I figured that I’d be able to finish the rest today.

By 10:15, the sky was clearing, the sun was out and I’d stacked twenty barrow loads. It was time for a break, and because our day began at 4:40, we had lunch at 10:30. My back was hurting, but the brace helped a lot. As I ate lunch, I felt confident that I could to twenty more loads in the afternoon. Then, my plan was to water everywhere that I felt needed it, so that this morning, I could get right to work stacking.

By noon, my right arm was extremely painful. I needed a long break, but I’d earned it because I had toted thirty barrow loads and stacked all their wood in the shed. I decided to have a good long rest, and then go for ten more loads, thereby breaking my previous one-day record by ten loads. Also, by noon I’d already done 10,300 steps! I’m getting good exercise, that’s for certain.

I was moving much more slowly. I’d stop to stretch my back after loading every barrow, and I’d stretch again once it was unloaded, and after every five loads, I was taking a short break on the outdoor recliner. Although the pain in my back and my arm was irksome, I was chuffed by how much work I’d accomplished. It gave me ambition to do more.

After my noon break, I did not want to go back to toting and stacking. The sun had come out making it hotter to work and increasing the likelihood that I would not be able to rest after the final ten loads. Instead, I would have to water beds, and I did not want to do it. I wanted to soak in the spa, walk Sheba on a nice long gentle walk, and then thoroughly enjoy out usual evening routine.

I stumbled out at 12:30 to begin the final ten. My plan was to do as much work as I could using my left arm for everything except toting the barrow. Another aspect of my plan for doing the final ten, was to take a break in the recliner whenever I felt like it. After all, I had the entire afternoon ahead of me and no deadline.

I did five at a slow pace and felt like walking death when I was done, but perseverance was in order. I was committed to doing forty loads. So, I had a good rest and a gallon of cold Diet Coke. Yum. I had a short visit with Colleen, next door, and a rest on the chaise. My arm was dying!

At 14:45, I finished the fortieth load. Dave brought me a piece of Apple cake, and he offered to help me finish up, but I said no. I was too tired and sore to carry on. But I was chuffed to the max over all I had accomplished (see below). I had a short rest, and then Her Highness and I went for a good walk on aching feet. I owed it to her to go on a good walk. 

And then … and then … Oh, happy day …. a spa. Oh, the pleasure of the heat and the buoyancy. It felt so, so good. I’ve more to do today, all the kindling pieces need to be stacked, but first I will water all the garden beds thoroughly, then the kindling will get stacked, and the job will be done. Oh, happy day! Oh, day of 15,000 steps!

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When I got up this morning at 4:30, every part of my body hurt. Once I started moving around, however, it started to feel better.

I’ve a big watering job to do this morning. I am going to enjoy bringing water to all my thirsty plant friends, and then I will stack the last of the wood and the kindling, but I shall also have a brief nap in the sunshine.

This was the mountain of wood that needing stackinmg that I faced
yesteray morning. It was daunting. The small pile in the lower right
are very small pieces of wood that I use for kinding. I toss them aside
to stack last.

This is what's left of that pile. It's just two or three barrow loads.

There are two rows of stacked wood here. The one you see is
the second row and that's what I stacked yesterday.

My Ckimbing Hydrangea is blooming for the first time.

I can hardly wait. Italinan plums. Not many, but a first this year.

This is one branch on my Mac Apple tree. There are seven little apples
on it. And last year, the first year the tree fruited, I got only three apples.

The kindling pile grew. I will stack it today.

My first Strawberries in my new gutter planter.