Ooooph!

[Little red maple in the meadow]

[Feral old fruit tree behind the house is a gorgeous gold]

Every once in a while I can feel my age creeping up on me. I turn 40 next week. Yesterday I did something that might have been fine a few years ago, but is a real no-no now: I yanked, jostled, pulled and lifted a 30' extension ladder by myself.

It was important to clean the chimney on my cabin and sweep the flammable debris from the roof. We had 4 people to carry the thing up the hill and 3 to bring it down. While it was against the house, though, I took it upon myself to maneuver it.

Today I'm paying the price. My strained back is bad enough to have crept all the way up my neck and triggered a fever. Ibuprofen is barely touching it.

It's perfect timing as far as weaving goes. The borrowed electric bobbin winder started giving me trouble yesterday so I'm waiting for a new Schacht double-ended winder to arrive. In the meantime I'm getting by with a very slow drill again.

It's also perfect timing as far as cabin heat goes. It's mid-afternoon and the temperature is still only 45 degrees. We will surely need fires tonight. Winter is coming fast!