(written on the 30th)
I took a day off today from things that are or could be more stressful.
Today was just a grunt labor day.
I haven’t done any packing or really done anything to speak of on JustAnswer, not since before the storm. That means I’m not going to make my financial goal for the month, but whatever. Is what it is. I made plenty to live on, just not what I’m used to.
It’ll be fine.
Anyway, grunt labor day.
The bulk of my time was spent burning a brush pile that also had the huge sections of the big oak tree. After counting the tree rings, my estimate is that the tree lived for about 135 years and died probably 10 years ago or so. So it’s been there for 145 yearsish.
The tree is so big around that getting the massive sections to burn, even though it’s been dead for ages, is quite the feat. The example that comes best to mind is like a firecracker. Fire, of course, is super destructive, and a firecracker, if you hold it in your hand with your fingers closed, can blow your fingers right off, but if you put it in the palm of your hand and let it go off, you’re just going to get a burn.
Trying to burn a tree that was that wide and easy. Ain’t quick. Anyway, I wrapped duct tape backwards around my legs to try and reduce the number of ticks that would crawl into the nether regions.
The tape works really well, gratefully. 🎉
Anyway, I started burning the brush pile, and realized that a significant portion of it was poison ivy vines, big ones.
Lovely.
I kept burning, but I worked really hard to avoid the smoke. I also spent quite a while reshuffling all of the wood so that it was in between the two huge sections of tree. When Jim got back from work, he grabbed the tractor and lifted the section that was actually in the ground originally and laid it on top of the other two.
Since I was already burning, Jim pointed out that underneath one of the properties largest oak trees, there were a huge number of limbs and branches that apparently have been falling off and people had been collecting underneath that tree instead of taking to a burn pile. So I spent a good while dragging those branches from under the tree, through all the tall grass of the Hayfield, to the burn pile.
It probably took dozens of trips, but hey, I got my 10,000 steps in for the day. 😅
I also went and grabbed the other trees that I had cut down probably a month ago and got those onto the burn pile.
Intermixed with the reshuffling of wood and the dragging of branches and trees, cleaned out and reorganized the back of my work van. It’s been an absolute mess since I stopped working on cars, as it’s been the receptacle of everything from trash to yard equipment to metal scraps, etc.
But I got it organized, at least the back.
The front will have to wait for another day, as will removing the stuff in the back that isn’t supposed to be in the van, but it’s all sitting on top ready to be taken out instead of being in one big jumbled mess like it was.
Also intermixed with the burning and the reorganizing, I pulled the barbed wire out of the tall grass. People had removed the t-posts but left the barbed wire in the grass, and so there were four strands of barbed wire tangled up.
Have you ever tried to untangle tangled up barbed wire?
Not easy. 😶
Anyway, I got that done, I helped Liz unload a bunch of stuff for her dog business. I gathered up all the ash from the burn job and put it in a big burn barrel ready to take down to the pond to dump in to hopefully help seal it.
Hopefully, I’ll get that ash moved tomorrow.
Went home And ate dinner, mostly vegetables, as We’re trying to eat down everything in the fridge and freezer to make it easier for the move.
I still don’t have a clue where I’m going.
I am considering going back to New Zealand. It would be a much longer trip this time, And I would set my affairs in order so that I didn’t really have anything left at home to deal with. Sell my cars, sell everything that’s going to cost me money to just be sitting there, and just… go where I go.
We’ll see. As I’ve mentioned several times, I’m a mess.
~ stephen
Lift the World 