Yet another woody adventure
I had a brilliant afternoon in the garden yesterday using gadgets and things. First the lawn mower, then the new trimmer thingy (can you tell I really don't have much idea what I'm doing out there) and, finally, the small electric saw which was used to create sticks.
While I was at work with the saw I remembered some logs which are laid at the side of the footpath not too far from the house. They've been there two or three years now and no-one has laid claim to them so I decided to collect them and add to my slightly diminishing pile at the bottom of the garden. At that point I remembered the day I came home laden down with far too many pieces of firewood and, as a result, almost ended up tipping backwards into the stream. I wasn't doing that again so I decided to take the wheelbarrow which I planned to load with the logs before pushing it back through the church yard and into the garden where I could unload it easily, neatly and without fuss.
I unearthed the wheelbarrow and felt quietly pleased with myself when I remembered that Ash used to use a plank of wood to get the barrow up and down the front steps. I felt even more pleased with myself when I found said piece of wood, propped it in place and wheeled the barrow down it. By that time I was hot and sweaty so my coat was cast aside and off I went, straight to the logs which were by now buried in long grass.
It's all very old wood so each one was easy to lift and place in the barrow and I was managing very nicely until I found, at the bottom of the pile, quite a large and heavy piece. At that point I really should have remembered what happened last time when I overloaded myself but this time was different because I had the barrow so what could possibly go wrong? Onto the top of the pile in the barrow it went, along with some smaller pieces which wouldn't add much to the weight and, in a very short space of time, the thing was full and it was time to set off for home.
I looked at the load and decided that the best thing to do was to back into the space between the handles and then pull it along behind me. There was a slight wobble as the contents settled into place but I still thought it would be ok right up until I pulled and the barrow rammed into the heel of my foot. That hurt (and there may even have been words spoken) so I reconsidered, turned the barrow round and pushed instead, all the way up the not so gentle slope leading to the bottom of the church yard.
I won't go into too much detail here but I will tell you that there were obstacles to getting back home that I'd never even considered before. There's the slope for one which, when you're just walking, doesn't seem like a slope; the two foot bridges each with a lip to be negotiated by turning the barrow round and then walking backwards to get to the stage where I could point it forwards once again and then there's a hill. It's not long but it is steep, especially when you're pushing a barrow of what was turning out to be increasingly heavy wood, from the very bottom to the very top. I considered that hill very carefully before deciding to turn round and, once again, pull the barrow up while walking backwards.
If you read the post telling of my last wood adventure https://www.memoryfortwo.com/2021/01/wood-collecting.html you might remember the point where I almost tumbled backwards into the stream. This time there was no water in sight and no teetering backwards but there was a point when I thought I was going to fall flat on my face, headfirst down the hill. My toes dug in, my shoulders moved forwards and, for a very brief moment, I thought I'd come to the, premature, end of the expedition. Somehow though I regained my balance and, with an awful lot of pauses to admire the scenery(!!!), I got the barrow to the top of the hill, turned it round and headed up the slight incline that signalled the home stretch.
There were logs left behind which I'd intended to go back for but it might not surprise you to learn that I decided to leave them for another day. I did however finish that particular expedition with a feeling of accomplishment and I'm still amazed at the number of challenges I can overcome just because I have to.
Just think, if it hadn't been for dementia I'd have no idea that I could do any of this.
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