I'm Exhausted

More got done in two hours yesterday than has been done in two months.  Sapling live oaks that were growing up under the deck, threatening to come through the boards, were taken down.  Firewood that was too long for the stove was cut into usable lengths with a chainsaw and stacked.  Two big slash piles were hauled over to the burn pile.  Bessie Anne got a much-needed pedicure.  She does not, repeat not, like to have her feet touched and it was a wrestling match and many treats to get a modicum of cooperation.  The decrepit, falling-down board fence along the lower driveway was not replaced, but propped back up with T-posts and wire; a spit-and-bubblegum repair, to be sure, but 100% better than it was.

Helper Dude got all this done in two hours (two and a half, but who's counting?).  I was only permitted to observe regardless of my offers to help, and I'm exhausted.  Michael is like the Energizer Bunny.  "Michael, take a break."  "Michael, would you like some water?"  "No, I'm fine.  What's next on the list?"  Wise in the ways of the world of women, this 15-year-old young man had suggested(!) I make a list.  HD doesn't really need supervision, but he's a talker and, I think, likes company while he works, and works, and works.  We discussed future jobs, including the burn pile before burn season is over.  Not that I can't light it by myself; I have done, but I'm not comfortable doing it alone on the off chance that a spark would set off a brush fire or land on the feed barn roof.  There are those things, like using a chainsaw, that should only be done when someone else is around for an emergency.

When HD tootled off on his riding mower (a favored mode of transportation up here), Bessie and I went in for a nap.  Whither I go, she goes, and we were exhausted.

It was a good day!