Ow.

Just ow.  Worked a full shift today, so up to a whole 22 or so hours for the week.  Better than nothing, so not griping, but my feet hurt after all these half days we've been pulling lately!  If the commute currently wasn't so long, I'd volunteer for extra hours in another department after a half day, but most don't get out till so late that a 90-minute commute right now kind of makes it impossible due to being too pooped.  The move grows closer daily, so I keep telling myself that it won't be long before my commute is halved if not more than halved. It's only 22 miles from the trailer to the plant, but there's a lot of windy curves on the main drag I have to take which slow things down to 50-55 mph ... not exactly made for a quick hop back and forth!  But still not too bad once the move is done.

So I stopped for an hour or so today, and tried to get started digging up the electrical splice.  No go ... that ground is pure nightmare hardpan.  Three tries with the shovel got me a teacup saucer-sized dimple about an inch deep in the ground.  So back went the shovel, and out came the saw.  Time to work up a sweat cutting logs for the woodpile.  After, of course, stopping in for a snack at the wild raspberries.  Heehee.  I sure do hope we can reclaim some of them, because those are good black raspberries!  But we have to cut them way back if not completely back.  A lot of trash is buried in the brambles as well as dead canes which all has to come out.  If we can save anything, fine, but if not, they'll be past fruiting for this year anyhow and things will have to come back over time.

But hey, I got a surprise looking at the pile of stuff I left for Q to cut up.  Something BIG trampled through the pile, because a lot of it is now broken up.  Either a deer or the local sow bear went rampaging through, as those are the only things I can think of that could step on a 3-inch or so log and break it.  More likely to be the sow bear, which means she's coming close to human habitation, and will require a call to the DNR to come trap and relocate her.  Especially if she's got cubs, and from what I've been told, she's old enough to be breeding, and that means trouble if she and the cubs come near the house.  I don't want her or her cubs killed, just not so close to my house and eventual livestock!  If I see further signs, I'll be putting in a call for a trap and relocate so she can be happy and alive somewhere a bit safer for her and us.

I did get some more smaller logs cut up.  We found out Q has to work this weekend, so that leaves out a trip to the property for him again ... so I showed him the pictures to give him as much of his surprise as I could.  He was thrilled to see the progress and thinks my little handsaw is just peachy. Turns out he likes Kobalt, so getting a saw in a brand he likes is a good thing.  It also means that stuff that is too big for me to use the loppers on to cut to stove length, but which is also kind of wimpy for the chainsaw, can now be cut up during the week and save some chainsaw gas and a lot of effort for Quentin.  He's happy about that, as am I.  He gets to deal with the big stuff that I can't haul around well, nor cut up well, and I get to feel like I'm more important to the woodpile efforts than just cutting up the piddly stuff that's barley half an inch across.  I can now easily go up to two-inch logs/trees before it gets hard for me and the fibro, so it's a big step up and a big help to Q and the woodpile efforts.

We will be so glad to get things finished up so we can move.  We have some seating (even if we have to take the extra captain's chairs out of his van temporarily), a couple of beat up end tables we can use, the countertops in the kitchen, and so at a minimum, all we need is the hangar pole in the bedroom closet, a bed and a dresser to be able to  move.  Fixing the deck better and putting up a screen door are near necessary as well and we hope to get those done really soon.  We want away from where we have trouble finding a parking spot, have to deal with a lot of traffic and the long commutes, and especially we want to get away from the noisy neighbors who fight and drink all the time!  Okay, so we'll still have noisy neighbors who fight and drink all the time, but they'll be the wildlife, and their fighting is to be expected and is normal, and their idea of drinking is water from the local streams and ponds, not alcohol!

But overall, it was a good day.  Hard to beat a full shift and some homesteading work done.  All to the good, and makes me a happy lady!  Off to bed so I can get up at 4 AM and do it all over again, whee!