Tree work, travel, computer woes

Yesterday evening I go the majority of the tree cut away from the corral and cleaned up most of the larger branches. To get the bulk of the tree moved, I cut the larger branches in about six-foot pieces and moved them with the tractor. I placed those large pieces on a pile of wood we have accumulated from trees we have had to cut down on the farm. That allowed me to get access to the barn opened up. I managed to lift one end and shove the stump - which is about ten feet long – away from where it had fallen but my tractor was not able to actually lift it. In fact, the tractor struggled with a couple of the large pieces of the tree I cut away from the upper part of the trunk. How we will get that stump to the mill is a question I have yet to solve, but that is not important at the moment. I plan to work on whittling the trunk down to manageable pieces over the next few days, but it is a challenge for the chainsaw I have which has only a twenty-four-inch bar. At least, the barn and corral are accessible for our neighbor should he need that access this weekend.

Working on the tree removal has left me with some seriously augmented aches and pains. A constant reminder that I am not as young as I used to be. Thankfully, with the tractor and the chainsaw, I am able to meet the challenge, albeit with less vigor than in the past. In ways, it has been fun to tackle the project especially when it looked so massive at the beginning. As I began to cut away the upper branches and expose the trunk of the tree, I had to make sure every cut was safe to make. That the tree would not roll onto me or that the branch being cut would not snap back into my face or body. There was a lot of stored kinetic energy to be released and I did not want to be the recipient of that release. So, it took me a while initially to get started and a while to clean up what I had cut away so that I did not stumble over the limbs with a running chainsaw in my hands. But it all worked out especially when I was able to use the tractor to roll the tree over and off the corral fence. Now, I have only an hour or so of cleanup to do and a large hole to fill where the tree uprooted itself.

Mama and Victoria are in the final phases of packing for their trip to visit Grandma. I believe Mama is going because Victoria did not want to go by herself, but that might not be the only reason. This time, they are planning a trip to the beach so Mama can get her sand, saltwater, and seashell fix for the year. Grandma seems to be doing better but the care she requires from Grandpa is getting to be a challenge. Since Grandma cannot even reposition herself in bed, much less get out of bed on her own, Grandpa is required to provide that help to her every couple hours or so in order to keep Grandma from getting bed sores. Grandpa, at 79, is willing but is limited in strength and eventually endurance.

At some point soon, Grandma will need to be placed where that care can be given by others on a fulltime basis. We are not at that juncture yet, but we are close. It is a subject that no one wants to discuss right now. If Grandma gets worse mentally, the decision will be a less emotional one. It will become one of necessity. Again, we are not there yet but we are close. I wish they had stayed close to us so we could help. It is a good reminder that all our decisions have consequences. Some of which we will not see before the decision is made and acted upon. However, with this decision to move, most of the outcomes were fairly evident before the move was ever made. We cannot undo what has been done and at this point there is no good way to get Grandma back here whare we could help Grandpa. God is still in control.

Yesterday afternoon, my computer decided that it would reject the password I have used for weeks and lock me out. When IT intervened to allow me to access my laptop, none of the passwords I have been using for any of the programs I have been accessing worked. Not one. So, I had to spend the rest of the day getting into programs I need to do my job. It is surprising just how frustrating that can be when you are used to those passwords being stored on the computer – mostly forgotten except by the computer. When the computer forgets, and there is no record of what the password is, it has to be reset. I hate resetting passwords because it always takes me a while to remember the password I chose for each specific site.

Anyway, that is how I spent the afternoon yesterday so working on cutting up a large tree was a good outlet for the frustration I was dealing with.