chop wood and carry water would have been easy in comparison to today

I can barely type this message after what I did today.  The renovation guy here at the house tends to be a bit of a sloth in regard to work and clean up behind himself. I cannot bear it any longer, so decided to start cleaning up myself.  He dumped a pile of 2x4s of tongue and groove fir boards on the front of the house verandah that piled higher than the kitchen window.  I was fearing that rats might decide to call that home, so I found a hand saw and began cutting these damaged boards into fire pit lengths.  They cannot be burned in the fireplace - the wood has been lacquered.  So, there I stood all day, cutting each board into 5 pieces and then snapping the cut lines with my foot, piling them into a bin and taking them up to the fire pit.  By 5 pm I realized I had a right arm that looked much like I had recently had a stroke. I could not lift it above my hip, and knew it was time to stop.  I did manage to saw 2/3 of the pile by that time, but yuck - I have to go back to it again to finish.  I will.  Anyone who knows me also knows just how stubborn I am, and if I have to use my left hand to make my right hand work, I will.

Before I hit that job I had to clean up the wood (shed) because there were just a few logs left from the recent order of a cord and I have a new cord arriving on the weekend.  I scavenged all the bark for kindling, and stacked what was left of the cord(about 12 logs) to allow room for the new cord.  I am not a complete fool.  I have advised the delivery man to have the order stacked as well as delivered. It is worth every cent that I will pay.   You can also be sure that I will either put a meter on the wood pile for the construction guys to pay in order to burn the bloody stuff, or a rottweiler to bite their hand off if they try to take it without paying.  They are the clowns who burned through a full cord in about 6 weeks.  A cord should last 6 months if it is the sole source of heat for a dwelling.  This is not the sole source, so you get the picture.  I am not at all as nice as my son who accepts this kind of squandering of resources by others who are not paying the bill.

If I have the strength, I will take a picture of the stack of fire pit wood I cut (with a hand saw - powered by ME) and show you just how much work I did.  Now gotta turn this machine off and ice the arm.