Day 3

I am sore typing this.  What a tiring day.  I woke up at 730 and didn't eat breakfast until 8.  I am starting to get the sense that things are pretty laid back here.  I had toast again today, but mixed it up a little bit.  I put blueberry jam on one piece and raspberry on the other.  I added a thin layer of honey, and finished with peanut butter.  Classic case of lunch for breakfast.  I finished and started the chicken chores.  I collected the eggs, and fed the turkeys, and decided to go look at their pigs.  I knew they had them, but hadn't seen them before.  I walked up to a 15X8 shed completely enclosed besides a small opening on the front too high for the pigs to get out of.  The pigs looked as pale as ghosts.  I felt pretty bad for them, i could barely tell that they were pigs.  Coming from Whitmore, where I dealt with pigs on the daily, pigs aren't supposed to be cooped up like such.  It was kind of strange.  Anyways, I went back to the house dropped the eggs off, and then Harold summoned me for wood chopping.  I had my tutorial already, and now it was time for the real deal.  So we got prepared with all of our instruments, and put on our gloves, and earplugs and goggles.  We marked the logs with a 4ft stick, to know where to cut.  Cutting logs in a pile is almost a puzzle because you don't want to cut one and have the whole load fall down.   You have to be smart about which ones you take out first.  You don't want to cut only the bottom or only the top or only the middle or else the logs will just topple over you.  And these are huge logs, we are talking 30 ft long and sometimes, with the big ones, 3 ft wide.  Using the chainsaw isn't hard.  My parents were a little worried with me handling that pier of equipment, but to be honest that as not that hard part at all.  The hard part is having a 10ft wall of logs in front of you, and hoping one does fall randomly.  So I cut for about 45 minutes and then took the cut logs and stacked them in a pile.  That part is incredibly strenuous.  Debatably the hardest workout I have ever had.  the small logs aren't bad, because I can carry those for a good 5 seconds an throw them in the pile.  It is the large ones that get me.  I have to roll them to the pile then hoister them up with my chest and arms then barely get them on the pile.  After cutting for 45 minutes Harold realized a screw was lose, so we had to go to the country store and get a new nut.  We drove in the big van, and it took us about 10 minutes to get to this country store.  After finishing Cannery Row I had just read about Lee Chong's grocery.  This country store is what I imagine his store to look like.  They have everything from nuts and bolts, to precooked food, and ice cream, to sculptures and housing items.  The store has it all.  So we bought some nuts for 50 cents a piece and went back to put them in the chainsaw.  Harold is very meticulous with everything.  He takes a very long time to do a simple task.  Some would get annoyed, but some see it as dedication.  So he screwed on the nut, and then we went back to chopping wood.  We went for another hour and a half and I probably hauled 20 logs onto the piles of wood.  I was so sore, and tired after; but on the contrary my stomach was as empty as ever.  Probably why I ate 6 pieces of bread with my two bowls of chicken soup.  Laura insisted that i digest for thirty minutes after I ate which was so unbelievably clutch I can't explain.  After lunch I helped Harold and Josh set up miniature green house coverings on some of the outside plants so that the frost tonight wouldn't render them un-harvestable.  That wasn't very hard but carrying some of the sandbags to weigh the sheet down hit some sore spots.  That took awhile and then for the remainder of the day I was pulling out green bean plants and picking the last few of them off.  I had to do two rows of beans each about 45 ft long.  That took me awhile.  And I didn't plug in my iPod until I was almost done for some reason .  Guess I just forgot.  After I pulled them out I had to take all the roots and weeds and throw them in the compost pile.  By this time it was almost 430 and then I went to do the afternoon chores.  As I was entering the first coop I noticed a chicken lying on the ground basically lifeless.  I went up to the chicken to see if it was still moving and it was, but it was suffering.  I picked it up and I could feel the muscles in its legs moving but for some reason the eyes and mouth were shut close.  I tried to pry the mouth open, and I did but it was a dirty, soggy mess, and it wouldn't stay open.  I tried to put the chicken's beak into the water, but she couldn't drink.  I called for Zoelli's input and she didn't know what to do with it, and at that moment I noticed that the cloaca, where the egg comes out, was stretched and bleeding.  I took the bird up to the house and asked Troy what I should do with it, and he thought I was dumb for asking.  The only reason I wasted was because I thought the chicken was still alive, and it was!  It would shake its head like it was trying to get out of its body, but was trapped.  It was kind of frightening.  I wondered if I should take it out of its misery before I buried it in the compost pile, but couldn't see myself doing it.  Just before I was about to bury it, it stopped moving. Zoelli stood beside me and I asked if she wanted to say some words, and she said I already did in my heart and my mind.  I asked what she said, and she said life is sacred no matter what you are.  Genius.  This line applies to many misfortunes today, and I hope people take that line seriously.  After we came in I washed my hands thoroughly and just about fell asleep before dinner.  I was exhausted.  But dinner was good, and Laura made hamburgers.  Josh, the oldest, was putting butter on his toast, and after he took a bite there was a clear one inch thickness of butter atop the bread.  It looked like cream cheese the amount he spread.  Classic.  After dinner I didn't do much, just came to my room, and am about to go to sleep because I am so exhausted.  Oh! also the boys make their own dried apples, and they have about 5 jars worth of deliciousness.  I do not know if I am allowed to take my share of, but when none is around after lunch and dinner, I always sneak a handful.  They are delicious.  And the cookies from Whitmore are still treating me well also.  I think that is it for the day.  Time to get a good nights sleep.  Nighty.