So Much Done!!!

I suppose it reflects the old adage that every cloud has a silver lining, but due to my neighbor's marital problems, I am getting a lot done around here. I had hand dug the holes needed for the small horse lot and half for the second lot. Neighbor Dan brought over his tractor and dug the last five or so holes. Then he dug the last eleven holes for the round pen. Then he dug an additional four holes to jump start a third lot for next summer.

When we first moved to the country I was told about a guy that would cut hedge posts on shares. It didn't quite work out like that and most of the "posts" he cut for me were actually the tree trunks that he couldn't get his chain saw through. They had been left laying on my western neighbors land. Now the grass has died back Neighbor Dan again brought his tractor over and we got the posts drug out. We sorted them by size and straightness and decided what was usable. Then we drug some to where they would be put in the ground. While Neighbor Dan was at work I got the huge posts straightened and tamped in. Exhausting! Then I started all of the tee posts and yesterday Dan came over with his tractor and pushed the posts in to proper depth. What is left is building some temporary gates and stringing wire and the horses can be moved. Hooray!!!

While Dan was here he also covered the new trench where we had to rerun our electrical wire. Then he brought over his chain saw and cut some more posts for me. Then he got a phone call from his soon to be ex-wife and he kicked into a feverish pace. He was cutting like crazy. Getting a bit dangerous. A very thorny piece of hedge fell too close and caught his face. He said it was a scratch... the way it was bleeding, I considered it something more. I got a towel and some peroxide. Mopped up the blood that had run down his face and had been dripping off his chin. Then was dumping the peroxide in. When I was happy that the dirt had bubbled out, Dan was forced to sit down and hold the towel on his face until the bleeding totally stopped. He was left a little damaged. I was left with a small stack of fence posts.

Dan comes over here to hide when his wife is in their house. I always have things that require some heavy lifting, which makes him feel good about himself and I always have ideas. We talk about ways to make money. Mushrooms, wine grapes and birdhouses. We talk about pastures, manure and grass seeds. We talk about tractor payments.

We shall see how all of this goes. Mac and I are trying to be there for our neighbor and who knows how much will end up getting done around here!

Louie