Kicking my butt

Song of the day…well, there wasn’t one. I’m sick as a dog. Got a stuffed nose, some fever, and have little aches all over the place. I had some discomfort in my nose and the back of my throat yesterday, and the fact that we went out to work in the freezing cold of El Burgo, didn’t help in the end, I think.

But anyway, we left early for it, loaded up everything that had to go to Liane. Meaning the tiles and tools, and, on the way there a big load of sand that we bought at the local construction company. The guy did apologize for this time being a little less than usual, because he has to guess the load, but then we agreed that the next time he’d put in a bit extra, so all’s well.

So we got on site, luckily with grandpa who helped us unload both sand and tiles, prior to us leaving for el Burgo where we had an appointment with a dude who’s in control of a large piece of property, with loads of trees on it that were either dead or in need of trimming. The biatch is that almond wood is pretty tough, so if I hadn’t figured out at some point that you could just rip the trees from the ground when they’re dead, we wouldn’t have managed to reach our quota for the day. One I pulled out was a bit on the big side though, seeing as when it “went” I couldn’t hold it, and landed flat on my butt. Pulled a thigh muscle in the process, darn it. Took me at least half an hour to walk that off. *sigh*
Good I was a little upset too, otherwise I would never have managed, I’m sure. Hah. But anyway, most of the following six hours were spent pushing, pulling over trees, and carrying them all up the steep, steep incline toward the car where we could process them.

Bad news was that by the time we started the processing bit, both the chainsaw’s gave the spirit. *sigh* So, in order to meet the deal we’d made with the dude (giving him a big load, ready for use) we stacked what was already sawed and chopped inside the car, so I could drive him home and unload at his place before dark, and before big brother and grandpa froze to their deaths on that deserted mountain top.

Personally I was frozen halfway through by the time I got back, and since the sunshine was gone by the time I got there I didn’t warm up anymore either. But anyway, we got the wagon full at least, and part of the back of the car, so it wasn’t for nothing. But cold. Gawd it was, really, really cold over there. Sooooo not doing that again. I think grandpa and I went up and down that mountain some odd twenty or thirty times, and boy was it steep in places. I am terribly glad that I didn’t take Knight, because he would have perished from the cold.

We didn’t get home until dark, and by then we were so sick that big brother’s teeth were chattering, and I could barely move anymore. So I went to take a shower, a hot one (as hot as I could stand it while my toes tingled) for as long as the boiler water held out, end then up to thaw out in front of the stove while trying to do some work on the computer. I couldn’t of course. The common cold had set in for real by then and I decided to just give up and go to bed at ten.

Basically slept through the night. A solid ten hours, and I will tell you that they were downright wonderful. I just slept, and slept and slept (woke a lot, but turned over and went right on) and finally got up around nine feeling still sick, but at least not at all sore from the activity. Guess my stamina for such activity has improved at least.

This morning, what with the pounding head, my leaking nose and sleepy state of mind, I didn’t get much writing done, so around noon we headed up to unload the wagon and car (the first got damaged some, by the way. Big brother went right through the wood putting in a trunk). Got a phone call from the hospital that Sally had to return asap, because her cultures came back and because she still has a fever. Caregiver took her, and she (Sally that is) has been admitted in hospital once more because her cultures showed that she had some sort of unknown bacteria that was making her blood respond oddly.
She’ll be staying there for a few days on antibiotics.

Tenant also has the same cold as us, Cousin Ed…the only one exempt at the moment, appears to be grandpa, so I’m hoping that’ll stay that way. Would be a pain in the behind if we all end up useless.

Had to take Knight II to the vet this afternoon. There was some swelling in his foot, so he’s back to the antibiotics, darn it. He did like being at the vet, though. His tail wasn’t down for a change, and he let them fuss with him without trouble. Gawd, sometimes it seems as if that stupid paw is never going to heal.

By the time we got back there was the trailer to fix, you know, from the broken barrier and back that I mentioned earlier. It took some time, and a brisk wind made it rather unpleasant. Then, after the damage was fixed, we still had to shovel it full with sand, get the wheelbarrow strapped on, and prepare that wood for tomorrow’s job at Liane.

I am going to bed early, by the way. This cold is really kicking my butt.