Mundanities, Vol 1

As I gently ease myself back into the routine of life on the homestead, especially a life of work in the barn studio (I find that each day adds another few minutes to my naturally recovering stamina), my first few projects are ones that do not require any special level of precision or strength.

Those first few outings to the barn were spent at mundane tasks like tidying up the workshop and organizing my product inventory.  I hope this makes it easier to be prompt in my fulfillment, even though I will still probably only mail things out once or twice a week.

What was most important about these tasks is that I could accomplish them while sitting down.

A second undertaking revolved around the fact that my entryway “steps” to the barn had been, for the past fifteen years, two hunks of southern yellow pine 8x8s left over from the original frame raising in November 2007.  Could it really be almost fifteen years?   In recent time the timbers had become aged and their corners rounded, making them unsteady underfoot.

Using some pressure treated lumber from the inventory I fashioned a new platform, one much steadier when I step up and into the barn.  Nothing fancy, just pure crude utility.  I will probably appreciate that even more when this coming week I attempt to hoof it up the hill rather than taking my little truck given that my legs are only now gaining adequate strength and muscle mass.  I’ll take it slow, probably 4-5 minutes to ambulate the almost 200 yards, and hope my legs don’t turn to jelly before I get there.  It’s quite amazing how much muscle tone I lost with nearly a month of inactivity.