Mag gets a German lesson, J performs magic, and I get hit in the head

After the awful weather broke, 2 days ago, I've been working like crazy doing everything around this farm I'd been longing to do.

I've also had some sort of plantar fasciitis (!?!??!) and limp a good portion of the time. Help?

The government schmucks turned out to not actually be government, so there's no recompense.

I attacked the huge pile of Ash tree they'd left behind, J assures me Ash is a good wood to burn, in comparison to the massive amount of crap Fir we have stacked, and the 20 or so Firs still standing but completely dead since we last cut down deadwood. 

Then I did a cleanup of 72 that I haven't done in a while, mostly involving moving piles of wood, sorting by "are there nails in it?" and "are they burnable or just crap?" 

Then I took my wire cutters and opened up 72 to the upper grazing strip (which is non-existent now that the hay is gone and the Schmucks are gone - our grazing strips are only there for hay season, we take them away in Autumn). It was so hard to cut that wire. Now my animals have two different ways to get to pasture, and this one is much, much bigger, so hopefully less mud.

J had complained that our wheelbarrows were blocking his progress on 72 sorting the leftover scrap wood from their Yurt. He's been removing nails and sorting out usable wood.  

I was amazed at his progress removing nails and I finished sorting all the wood, and removed the temporary fence we'd had there to keep the animals away from the danger.

Then I took all the wheelbarrows back to the back of the barn to their proper home. I have to say, we have an excessive amount of wheelbarrows after Mag broke our good one, we bought a replacement, and then realized all three are still viable. I hate having too many things, but I admit I'm one of those people who have a small collection of binder clips and no office job anymore *sigh*

To my dismay I realized my new fence opening between 72 and our pasture was putting stress on the last T post, I'd tightened the wire so much. You really need "corner" and "starter" sets, I'm still learning.

The idea occured to me to make a woodpile from the Ash tree pieces they'd left, stacked up against that T post. 

It worked pretty good, J said, "Not straight, but not bad." 

***

In back of our barn we'd repurposed a long, wooden fence gate, that used to be our driveway gate at the street. I didn't want a fence around our house cuz we don't have a dog, and it was ugly. So this big old wooden gate was used to block the space between the barn and greenhouse. Last night it collapsed from the weight of the rotted wood.

I had to crawl under the huge Rhododendron to try to prop it back up, and then find objects - our 2 long ladders to keep it from falling down again. I judged the task wrong and as I was bent down under it, it fell on my head. 

I remember the last time I had such a head trauma, when Baasha kicked me in the head in ridecamp and I needed stitches. Today I kept feeling for blood, and found none. I realized right then that under that bush, if I'd been seriously injured, J would not have found me for several days, perhaps. I didn't feel well but I remembered who the president of America was, my  name, and the year.

When J finally came home I asked him and he agreed it would have taken days to find my body. Ok then.

Then he handed me the electric screw driver (?) and some screws and he took a strip of wood he'd grabbed from all the piles I sorted today and began some mystery task.

Our tackroom half-door has been sagging for years, since we built it. 

I don't know what magic he did but he told me where to drill the screws in and (DRILL!) and apparently if you are clever/magic-gifted, a diagonal piece of wood can "lift" a sagging door!

I know, I didn't believe it, and I was right there. The door is fine now. 

My husband is a physics teacher, and a math teacher. Which means we never need to hire an electrician, and apparently he can control GRAVITY.

***

J stood there with his tools and Mag pressed his muzzle into them, eyes half closed.

Mag sleepily nuzzled the drill, the box of screws, etc and J spoke into Mag's ear at each item, stating the German name for each. Schrauben, Schrauben, Schrauben, Schraubenzieher, Schraubenzieher, Schraubenzeiher, etc. The lesson went on and on. Bellis was nudging me from behind, curious what the deal was.

J really misses our cat. It was good to see him talking to Mag as he used to talk to Mercer.