Wednesday 19 September 2018

Wood cutting and crochet......


Having breakfast, (porridge), and out of puff after having brought up this pile of logs from the river path, the logs having once belonged to an oak tree which fell across that path last winter and been left unattended to ever since, allowing the fallen wood to act as a platform for an energetic bunch of brambles to grow across the path and latch themselves on to field fence thus producing a barrier through which we cannot pass. Nooooooo! They shall not win this war, so with clippers, saw, and wheelbarrow, we (Maz and me) trundle our way to the broken tree to rescue the wood, bringing it back to the Courtyard where it will be cut up into smaller logs for the Rayburn stove.


This is my project, Lester is glued to his PC all day and has no time available to get jobs done other than looking after the animals each side of his working day. It is fierce for him at the moment, and he gets very tired. It is not forever, though, just for now. Meanwhile I do what I can out on the farm, which is good for me because it is building my fitness levels up after my health crash in September 2017. It is also building up my confidence in myself, which is good. It would have been so easy to have used my age (71) as an excuse not to do things. But that will not do. I love this farm and the lifestyle that goes with it, even if it is hard at times. Living life as a human being has many facets of difficulties and if we expect to coast through life without ever having had battles to fight, then we are foolish indeed. Overcoming these battles, whatever they are, strengthens the fibre of our being and keeps our spirit running high. 

Anyway, back to the logs.......... with a degree of surprise I have learnt that I can cut quite a thick branch into the right size to fit the Rayburn's firebox but there is a point at which I become stuck, as illustrated in the photo below...... the saw can't go any further through the log because the engine to drive that saw (me) is in 'run out of puff ' mode because the log is too thick and I have reached my limit. 




So what do I do? Carry on perhaps, which is not wise as my body is telling me that it has had enough of being involved with this particular task, or go do something else which will use other muscles, allowing the ones I have been using to rest.  What do I do? I go sit in my little arbre........


...... and do some crocheting........


....... but only four rows maximum otherwise I get sucked into the rhythm of crocheting and will find it hard to get up and carry on with the day. 

And thus it is that I go through my day, going from active task to creative task in small parcels of time, often about 30 minutes duration. I find big chunks of active tasks will make me too physically tired, so better to do thirty minutes per day for as long as that task takes to complete, is a more sensible strategy. I am fortunate in that I am not constrained by having to do certain things at certain times, apart from producing lunch somewhere around 12am-1pm each day. 
As for the creative tasks, these I do have to limit the time to thirty minutes, because if I go over this time then I shall probably fall asleep because I have been sitting too long!

Anyway, that is how the fabric of my day is loosely woven. And now I need to go get some lunch so I must be away, so......

Bye for now, 
Vx

6 comments:

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

You inspire me Vera. Thanks.

Vera said...

TOIRDHEALBHEACH BEUCAIL: Bless you, and glad to have done so.

Rhodesia said...

We have taken down the second floor in the 'new' barn as the floor was rotting and it was too low for both of us to walk under anyway!! The uprights are old oak and we have been cutting those for the fire, wow that wood is tough. You have my sympathies.
I love to crochet, but I have not done any for ages. You are a walking miracle that you manage to get so much done in a day and blog as well. Have a good day, Diane

Cro Magnon said...

Just this morning I have attacked some seriously big, and heavy, tree-trunks that have been awaiting my attention for years. It's hard going!

minwks said...

Hi Vera, Glad to hear that you are feeling energetic, but being wise and experienced you know to mix and match your energy demands.
I often do the same and reward myself by reading instead of crochet.
We are still meandering the canals and I was wondering if you could help me with a little puzzlement I feel. I see lots - mountains of wood stacked beside homes or farms - quite long pieces. Too long I think for a normal fireplace or sealed fire box unit. I also see small piles of wood along the canals.
So the question is - do most homes burn wood for heat in a sealed or open fireplace? Also, can locals just take the wood from along the canals that has fallen or is cut and piled - perhaps by canal workers?
Hope someone will be able to answer this if you do not know Vera.
The weather has been amazing for us. Dry I can tell for the land around Roanne and farmers are already feeding cattle.
All is well onboard and hope you continue to regain your strength, optimism and health.
Regards Janine

Vera said...

DIANE, good progress on your barn! I find that bouts of knitting and crochet during the day help to keep me chugging along during the day, but not in this recent bout of hot weather, which is sending me to sleep every afternoon!

CRO MAGNON, lovely to hear from you,...... and I suspect that your logs were much bigger that the ones I was managing to cut!

MINWKS, it has been a lovely late summer weatherwise here, but it does mean that the fields are getting very low on grazing. We are also having to give our two cows hay as well.

The wood for fires does look quite long in size, but a lot of the wood burners have side doors in them so the wood can be put into them from the side instead of having to open up the front of the fire. I am not sure about the small piles of wood along the canals....maybe it is meant to be burnt in the smaller fires which the canal boats have.
Glad that you have an 'in between jobs' occupation to do, ....I do think that it stops a lot of stress if I do as much activity as I can (or thirty minutes worth) and then have a break for ten minutes or so. But I would think that you do the same as me.....if I sit too long then I find it hard to get up again and carry on with my jobs, and if I was reading a book I would have be exercise a lot of self control because when I read a book I normally read it from start to finish, which is why I do not read very often!