After church I came home and decided that today was the day I was going to attack the mess of a woodpile in the backyard. So I spent 5 hours out there throwing logs all over the place and waddling like a pregnant woman trying to carry the big ones. It was a pretty mild day and the sun was out (I think it was nearly 40 F) and I found myself sweating like a pig, but as the sun went down at 6, I had turned a mess into a neatly stacked woodpile that takes up a fourth of the space it did before. I basically just tore the preexisting pile apart, drove some scrap two by fours into the ground with a sledge on either side of the pile to shore it up and provide support, and then went to work stacking. I also took apart some old fence we had lying around and made that into a manageable firewood pile. I found some great old boards I'll use in the spring for making a raised bed for my garden, and I set up the old Christmas tree so the birds can use it as shelter for the rest of the winter. Surprisingly, I didn't run into any animal friends as I was tearing apart the woodpile. Dad was concerned there would be a badger or woodchuck or raccoon in there that would attack as I ripped open its nice dry home. They can get kinda mean when you corner them. But the most ferocious thing I ran into today was a couple of really huge, black, hairy, and very lethargic spiders. They were hanging out with a white fuzzy egg sac under the bark of one of the smaller logs. When I lifted up a piece of the bark to get a closer look at the big insect-looking leg I saw move underneath, they moved back under in slow motion, and one lost his grip and fell off into the sawdust. It took a lot of coaxing to get him back with his companion. They reminded me of my sister in the morning. :) I am SORE! But one of the greatest thrills in life comes from doing a job well. I really find fulfillment in work.