It's not easy being old. You move much slower and if you do too much you ache in places you had forgotten you had. Odd muscles begin to scream and new ailments seem to pop up. Since when did I ever have hip problems? Starting about two weeks ago! Near as I can tell from internet research, it's probably some type of bursitis from overuse but I woke one night in excruciating pain in my left hip and radiating down my left leg which prevented any sleep. That was when I was in the middle of moving tons of the stick piles to a massive bonfire for two full days, which was nothing but bend over, pick up, lug, toss, and turn around and do it all again as I sweated profusely while standing next to a 2000 degree (at least) blazing inferno rendering coals over a foot high. It was easy the next morning to stick a dry piece of branch into the coal/ash pile and poof--it would take off again.
My other recent task was to work on our sitting area. Marc had ordered some gravel with lots of larger cobble in it so we had picked out the larger rocks into a discard pile. I decided to use them to spruce up the cut bank which was cleared long ago leading down to the lake. I built two flanking dry stack walls and also used some smaller gravel to fill in and expand the area which dropped away steeply. By doing this we will be able to install the largest boulders as a fire pit in this area after the bug tent is moved. It will go elsewhere. After carting rocks and shoveling gravel for two days to accomplish this I was able to truthfully answer my doctor during my annual if I was doing any weight bearing exercise for my osteoporosis! I want to add some small plantings to the side hills behind the stones but don't know if that will get done this summer. Whatever goes in there will likely be the extent of our "landscaping" here. I have enough to maintain with the two acres in Waupaca every time I go home.
Our main endeavor of course, has been continued progress on the shop. The roof trusses came in and Marc's contractor friend came with a helper to install the sheathing and roof paper. After that, Marc worked hard to finish off the gable ends and do the headers for the man door and the oversize garage door, which he just finished installing. He still needs to get that actually hooked up to the opener when he returns from an unexpected speed run to Waupaca.
You see, our RV fridge unexpectedly died. It had stopped running on electric about a year ago and now won't run on propane either. Fortunately, since we have an extra refrigerator at home, he is there now to pick it up and also bring back the pontoon. The fridge is actually the one in our house with a decent size freezer so it will be set up in the shop to do until we can move into our new RV.
Next up will be tackling the metal roof installation. Roofing is expected in on July 7th. In between we'll likely get started on installing the siding.
Slowly, as we have time, we're also working on selectively clearing out the hillside which sits between the bog and where our RV will be placed so it opens up an expansive view to the lake. It'd be nice to have it all placed by my next post! Marc has found that the forklift really helps in knocking down the smaller diameter trees.
