Sawdust Therapy

I've had a grand week, busy tagging calves and spreading straw with a pitch fork.  It has been so mild here that I have even had the urge to work in my shed. I found plans for a bench, that were nice and straight forward.   I've wanted a bench for quite a while now, in the mud room so R can sit down while he puts his boots on and off.  His hips are bad enough that bending is painful for him.  Any of the benches I looked at in stores were either too flimsy or too expensive.  So.... necessity being the mother of invention, off I went to wood pile and voila...MY BENCH...

I will paint it dark green to go with the trim on the house but for now it sits in the mud room for R to use... I plan to make several more, a couple for in the house and couple more for the deck.  This one is the prototype and is made from rough wind board that I ripped down on the table saw and then sanded to within an inch of its life.. but I hope to buy planed wood for the next one, like the plans required...and see if it is as sturdy as the one I over-built. If it isn't then it's back to the rough wind boards. hahahaha

Robert is very impressed with my attempt and thinks I could sell them if I wanted to. He uses this one many times a day and that is the biggest compliment he could give me.  I can still surprise even myself.

The only draw back to building this sort of thing for sale is that I made this one in one long day....with a table saw and a drill, but the job would have been so much easier if I had had the other tools they said were necessary, like a mortise saw, a palm sander and a angle screw hole jig....but I can't afford that stuff right now...so I made due and my effort is pretty awesome even if I do say so myself.

My wood working will have to wait a bit because I did something really stupid last night....after working outside most of the day with Robrt. sorting cows and babies to go out to the bigger paddocks and feeding and spreading straw, tagging a few new born calves and dealing with a set of twins where the girl calf is smart and the boy calf is to stupid to live...(he doesn't know how to pick up the tit) robrt deals with that while I muck out the pens...spread lime to dry the floor and put new straw in each one...(there are ten pens in all) I throw it to the centre alley and then we push it out the door with the tractor.

Any way, I was exhausted by the time I came in at 8 pm for supper...I had the where with all to slap a stew together in the slow cooker in the morning so we had something hot later in the day....I grabbed a quick shower to get the barn smell off and then Robrt was in and I was hurrying to get his supper on the table because he said there was a cow calving and he needed to get back out side...I grabbed the slow cooker to move it to another counter, the lid was off and I picked it up and moved to step across the kitchen when it nearly pulled out of my hands because the damned thing was still plugged in...in the mean time hot bubbling stew and gravy had sloshed over my right hand...It hurt like a son of a bitch...but I had to put the slow cooker down and then rushed to the sink to wash it off.... Robrt was kind enough to clean the two or three bowls of stew that fell on the floor while I cooled my hand off and cleaned the slow cooker off...

We ate and he hurried back outside... leaving me to nurse my poor scalded hand...it swelled up really badly, and the skin raised as if in welts. but no blistering, thank god....very very red... Polysporin and Tylenol and then to bed...and this morning the skin is still a bit red looking and very sensitive, but I had a lucky escape I think...it could have been much worse, if I hadn't reacted so quickly...and got it under cold water.

Off in another direction now....a fellow came yesterday afternoon from the county...to get our signature on a form giving them permission to remove our fence along the road while they rebuild the road...we are excited about it because we will get a 40 yr old fence replaced with a brand new one...yeehaw...
the road is in terrible shape and needs to have work done on it badly...they may need dirt to build the road up and have asked us if we would allow them to take some off our land...we said yes if they would dig us a dugout...he added that to the contract....so we shall see.  They plan to start brushing and removing the fence next week...

I am also excited and very happy for Maggie and David, who have just announced there will be a new member of their family arriving in September.

I can't remember if I posted this picture of my last painting or not so I will show it again..

 I finished this in September...hahahaha and haven't started another once since...although I crave painting like an addict...there just never seems to be time...and I am not afforded the luxury of sitting in the house anymore since the doctor told Robrt that I don't have LUPUS....they aren't sure what is the matter with me, they just agree that there is something the matter.
A guinea pig, that's what it feels like... try this, try that...oops stop taking that....In May when I see the specialist again I plan to cut through all the bullshit and ask him to shit or get off the pot..either I am sick or I'm not...if I'm not then leave me the fuck alone....excuse my language... because if what I feel everyday, this aching pain in my muscles and bones, sharper pain if you move the wrong thing, is normal and everyone feels like this every day no wonder there is so much killing and violence in the world...because it wears you down, it kills my spirit, and I have to force myself to do anything, because it all hurts. Even building my bench, my hands were swollen and stiff for three days afterwards because of using them so much.

Robrt can tell when the pain is bad because sadly I tend to be short of patience and he gets yelled at...I can usually ask him to just leave me alone but if we are working on something together and I am sore and frustrated I lash out...so yes,  poor Robrt.

Why am I frustrated you ask....it frustrates me because I have a man who unless you slap him in the face and the doctor puts a label on what is wrong with me, will still ask me to work everyday...more this past year than since I first started seeing doctors.  It's like, "oh she doesn't have a disease with a label, then she isn't sick"    but nothing has changed, I have all the same problems that they originally sent me to the specialist for...but the first one jumped to a quick conclusion and since she retired the new guy is questioning all her conclusions, so I am back to square one...and until I can put a label on what is wrong with me I can't get any disability pension.

I am not a lazy person, if there is work to be done, I will do it gladly. I suspect that is what has landed me with the physical challenges I have now is that I was worked like a slave and my body is worn out. Robrt is better than my first husband but still is used to my being able to do everything he can do, like I did when we first met...and the first few years of our marriage and in MY MIND, I can still do it all, I WANT to do it .....and I can.....but there is a hefty price to pay when I do...and I find that more and more...I resent having to pay that price for a farm that barely keeps it head above water. That I am constantly having to delve into personal savings to bale it out. Soon that won't be an option as the saving is whittled down.  I should be retired already...my doctors look at me like I am insane when I talk about shoveling grain and cleaning the barn with a pitch fork...hammering planks on the fence with 6 inch spikes, hundreds in one day...so that by evening my fingers are numb from the pounding. 

They are reducing the dose of some of my meds to see which ones the first doctor prescribed are actually doing any good and it has come to the dose where I am now waking myself up in the middle of the night with my moaning and groaning in pain...I woke up whimpering and crying two mornings ago...

So they need to do something, or leave me the hell alone...and Robrt needs to grow some F'ing balls, man up and start making some changes around here , because I honestly don't know how much longer I can push myself to do this shit...I feel, quite often like I am going to lose my mind...it hurts so much and nobody gives a fucking shit....as long as I can do my work....  when I complain that I am in pain...he brings me extra strength Tylenol and a glass of water and then tells me what he wants me to do that afternoon....

ANYWAY, maybe I will ACCIDENTALLY TRIP AND FALL INTO A LIFE BOAT  and float away....
can you believe the story the cruise ship captain came up with ....I mean, what a moron....  Every time I hear about it I burst out laughing because it is so fantastically ludicrous...

I'm done whining now....admire my lovely bench and remember it cost me two-three days of barely being able to bend my fingers after building it.

Like Cloud Nine

Well thank God, things have turned around in the calving department. We have over twenty calves on the ground now and no new gory stories to relate. Thank God.

I am sitting here trying to type this while "ADELE" is blasting out of the speakers. I have no stereo in the house so the only time I can listen to my tunes is either in the truck, travelling, (pity poor Robert, he has to listen to me screeching along to the music) or when I  am on the computer.  I would love to own one of those BOSE music systems but I can not justify the cost. I have no children to harvest body parts from, ahahahaha...that comment was in poor taste I know...so sue me....

I have, for the past month now, been having a problem with dizziness.  Serious dizziness, light headedness and a feeling of floating... I check my blood pressure during these episodes and it is usually perfect...118/70 but one day, Robert helped me put the cuff on because I was so spacey...and it was 110/56.
My blood sugar was good...at 5.4.   So I thought it might have been dehydration, I drank enough water that afternoon to fill a pool and the dizziness slowly went away...but two days ago...I was dizzy when I awoke and it got worse throughout the day...by late afternoon I was whacked...Robrt asked me to watch a heifer calve...and she did, but I don't remember seeing it...I had to concentrate on staying standing...my head wanted to loll to one side and my eyes kept trying to roll back in my head...I felt like I was walking inches off the ground...and had to hold onto the fence to get back to the barn...needless to say I headed to the house because I was only a liability out there in that state...the dizziness and light headedness lasted all night...blood pressure was normal, sugars were good and I had drank lots of fluids that day. so I have no idea what is causing it...yesterday was much less dizzy....but if by next Monday it hasn't gone away, I will have to give in and see a doctor.

I was bending metal today, rebuilding a shield for a heating element in one of our antique water bowls....the element that keeps the water bowl from freezing burnt out and we had to retrofit a slightly different one but in the jimmy rigging of that the rusted/rotten portion of the original shield fell away so I was given the task of coming up with a way to attach a new piece of metal...I did not a bad job, if I do say so myself.  Robrt was duly impressed I could tell...hahaha   Last week I build from scratch, a calf processing table...when a new calf is born we have to tattoo their ear and give them an ear tag as well as put a rubber band on the male calves testicles to castrate them and Robrt gives them two vitamin shots.  For thirty years we both have always just thrown the calf to the ground and sat on them...while the other one did the deed.  But due to old age and physical limitations we needed to change our practice...So I drew a few plans and we changed a few things over the period of a year and this winter I put the plan to plywood and built this table...it hooks on to the pipe of a gate in the barn when in use....there are two belts that are attached to the table and have hooks on the other end...the calf is walked up to stand beside the plywood and the belts are lifted under its bell and groin to hook onto the same pipe....the table is lifted and legs drop down to hold the plywood up. the calf's head is tied down with a halter and its feet are secured, more for our safety than its. We can then do the things we have to do with the calf up at waist height.  It works pretty slick...I am thinking of patenting it....maybe I'll get rich...

I am working on this jigsaw puzzle,  YES it is THAT time of the year....but this one, man is it tough...I knew it would be...but I have been working on this 750 piece puzzle for a week now..some times for hours...when I can't sleep. and I am about half way done...one piece every two hours.  Argh !!!!!!
It is of a blue jay (bird) sitting on a snow covered spruce bough, with blurry spruce boughs and snow in the background.  Oh boy is it tough...

Other wise my days are spent trying to think of interesting things to eat, I am so tired of the same old stuff...I mean to say, I am trying to find some new things to make for meals....we've had stew, spaghetti, ham dinners, chicken dinners, soup and pizza...and the other day I made the most fabulous Mac n'cheese with Salisbury steak....mmmmmmmmm it was deliscious... our friends happened to show up for that meal...chocolate cream pie for dessert....with graham crust made with splenda, fat free/diabetic pudding and a tiny dollop of fat free cool whip... it was pretty good.

Well I should go and work on that damn puzzle again...

On the dog front, I refuse to pay a thousand dollars for a puppy. So we are limited to what run of the mill dogs are available for a couple hundred bucks... some sort of collie or lab cross I would think....although I am not a big fan of border collie's since they are a high energy dog that need lots to do other wise they will chase cattle or cars...and we live to close to the road for that to not be a problem.  I will keep my eye open...

Oh No, Oh No

Well, just like that winter is here with a vengeance.  Up until two days ago we enjoyed quite mild temperatures for January and were in heaven.  Now, the wind is blowing the temp has dropped from 0* to a bone chilling -25 with wind chill on top... we got a foot of snow when the cold front blew in from the north and that has made things even more treacherous than they were before because now we can't see where the ice is.  

Like last year the two weeks before calving officially starts is a living nightmare... two cows suddenly started bulling ( a term used for cows in heat and ready for a bull, they will jump on other cows and want to be jumped on ) not a good past time for cows in there 8 th and 9 th month of pregnancy to be dancing on their hind legs across the ice while piggy bagging the cow in heat.  So those two young cows had to be removed to a different pen, more work for Robt. to keep them fed and bedded separately.  Then two cows aborted their fetus's....too early, whether it was due to slipping on the ice, jumping on those cows in heat or some other medical reason, god only knows...but then a cow started showing signs of calving...the restlessness, twitching and arching of her tail...stamping her feet and general uncomfortableness.  after a couple of hours Robert could see a foot...he decided to investigate and one leg was back and not presenting itself in the right position of both front feet first along with the head further back but between the front legs. so he pulled the calf...and one leg fell off...once the calf was out...we examined it only to find that it had been dead for a couple of days and had begun to decay in the cow.  We suspect that slipping on the ice was her reason for the dead calf...she has exceptionally bad feet...like sled runners on the bottom so she has no traction on the ice and her feet slide every which way...we have seen her since go splay legged several times...but then just two nights ago...another cow, young and healthy started fussing like she might calf. Robt reached in after a while to find the calf dead but coming the right way...he put the chains on the calves feet to help her by hand, he pulled and the body of the calf tore apart (this is just pulling by hand) and it was rotten...he came in at 3 am to shower and ask me to come out to the barn with him....we worked until 5 am trying to remove the remaining half of the calf...finally I made a slip loop with some rope, Robt hooked it around the spine of the lower half of the calf body and I pulled on the rope while he guided it into the cows pelvis and thank god it finally came, but it took many, many tries..and the smell was horrendous...poor Robt got the worst of it being so up close and personal to the dead calf....we had to treat the cow with antibiotics of course, but are still worried about her going septic....with the calf body fluids still inside...it might have been better if we had just shot her but we neither have the nerve or the appropriate firearm to do such a thing, and were too horrified and embarrassed to have a neighbour do it for us.  Two days in and she is still alive and eating..seemingly no worse for wear...

Robt and I, of course are traumatized for life...we have, in 35 years of calving cows have never, ever had such a thing happen...we are in denial that there is something the matter with our herd...some disease or something that is causing these bizarre problems...and we have both agreed that if there is one more incident like that we will be involving a vet to come and examine a few of our cows, maybe do some blood work.

It certainly has us both wondering if it isn't a good time to get out of the cattle industry...while the prices are super high...we would still farm just not livestock...sell hay and grain instead..we wouldn't make as much money ( when cattle prices are high, anyway) but there would be a bit less stress and certainly make winters more bearable with out the 6 hours of chores and calving cows.  we will be thinking more about this during the winter...but what ever we decide...it will take time to implement.

I am feeling pretty good most days...I like being more active..outside everyday to nail boards or build something for Robt.  I was up in the air a few days ago, when he lifted me in the bucket of the tractor, about 20 some feet in the air to enable me to fix the rain gutter on the barn...with a tin roof the snow crusts on and then on a warmer day it slides off in a big whoosh and usually tries to take the rain gutter with it...we have band-aided it back on several times in the past but this time I wanted to do it right...since pieces of the gutter have broke away now with being loose and the wind rattling it around so much...so I had to devise some  metal straps that I could attach by taking one of the tin roof screws out and replacing it through one end of the strap, then bend the strap down to the outside face of the gutter and using a sheet metal screw attach the other end of the strap to the top bent edge of the gutter, acting like a suspender..I attached 18 of them on the worst side, it was freezing and I had to have my gloves off so I could hold the screws...we will wait for a warmer day to do the ones on the other side of the barn.

We are thinking of getting a new dog...(puppy). We tried the shelter route once and had the dog home on a trial run, it was so badly behaved, with terrible manners that we had to take it back...when you have other animals here we decided it was best to get a pup that would become trained to be around the animals...town dogs just aren't the answer.

We haven't thought about what kind...I of course still yearn for a small house dog but it isn't practical...because we also need one for outside...so we will go with the outside type dog first...we want to get one this spring while our other dogs are still alive, so the new dog will learn their good habits..like staying home when we are gone and not chasing the cattle or cats.

I would like a shepherd cross, something with a bit of hair that can be outside in the winter for longer periods of time...and this time we will train it from day one to stay in a dog house...with a heated floor...so that it would not have to be in the house or the barn...there just isn't enough room..

well I am getting ahead of myself talking about a dog...they are sooooooo much work...

Caught in lifes crosshairs

This cold doesn't want to leave...I can't sleep, as soon as my head hits the pillow my sinuses back up and I start coughing. I need to sleep...being outside helps a lot but eventually the blockage is back... R is over his cold already...lucky me, mine is sticking around for a while...

This freezing rain we get every other night is something else...I am thinking of doning my old figure skates and getting around the yard that way...with our whole yard on a slope though it could be dangerous...as it is with winter boots...once you start sliding you don't stop until you hit a dry patch of ground or a fence....

What an Anti climactic Start to the New Year

I had it all planned (which should have been my first red flag, I never learn)
R and I were going to have an awesome spaghetti dinner complete with homemade garlic butter bread sticks and freshly cut cabbage coleslaw with my special dressing....cheesecake for dessert, then an invigorating competition on Wii, starting with 10 pin bowling, then R's favorite table tennis (only his favorite because he can beat me at that game) then my favorite, Archery and I like to end the competition with adrenaline pumping through my veins by sea-doo racing....I kick his ass every time...because I take risks....and he's all DRIVING MISS DAISY.....hahahahaha

Then we would watch some of the hockey games on TV and the count down to midnight and all the fireworks...Australia always has some of my favorite ones, while munching on .......... drum roll please..... POTATO CHIPS and DIP.   My once a year cave in ....Chips are like my heroine.... I can't ever eat enough of them....then I hate myself.....hahahaha classic...just classic.

Alas, my plans were all for naught....there was no Wii tournament, and no snacking on junk food... because...like a pair of wieners....on Christmas day, the day I had planned for three months...just me and R, a turkey and dressing...and the afternoon spent together outside working....was all thrown out the window when my old close friend and neighbour called to say they were all by themselves and bored silly, did we want to come for a simple ham supper and save them.....we have a hard time saying no to this couple mostly cause they are like a family to me... so we only nibble on my lovely turkey dinner when it was ready at 1 pm and were starving by 6 pm when we ate at her house...she said to us when we got there that Clarence had the sniffles and they think it was something he was allergic too at their granddaughters house the day before....but it wasn't, because three days after that both R and I had scratchy throats and clogged sinuses....god damn it, he gave us a head cold.....so there we were on New Years Eve....both barely able to breath through our noses, hacking and coughing away...my supreme spaghetti dinner might as well have been straw for all the taste it seemed to have....and we spent the night watching three hockey games in a row on TV...R watched by choice, me, not so much...but it was that or spent the night in a different room trying to block out the hockey commentator...R's ears were plugged due to the cold and he had the TV blaring load....my ears, unfortunately were not not plugged...well not by the cold anyway..they were later plugged by the tissue paper I stuffed in them as a noise barrier...He was is bed by 10 pm...and snoring at 10:02....I read for a while but as soon as I laid down my sinuses plugged up and my head started pounding..so I got up at 11 pm and played lonely Wii bowling ....then archery then golf....I played a game of 18 holes and ended the game with a score of par...not bad...on the virtual golf course. Move over Tiger Woods.  I headed to bed around 1:15... and it still took a while to drop off. 

Today Jan 2, we still have our colds....symptoms are  slightly better, less congestion and no sore throat...but my chest is tight and it hurts to cough...my colds always last twice as long as R's.   I'm so lucky....

For those of you interested, I may be caving in to HIGH SPEED INTERNET after all.....wireless, no less... the cost is the same as what I pay Telus now for dial up from hell....so it can't get any worse than it is now...where I go out of my way to avoid having to do anything on the Internet...  I'll keep you apprised of my status....it may mean changing my email address and phone number...so keep your eyes peeled for updates....

Gotta start getting ready for calving, starts Jan 20 officially..... order tags, get the tattoo ink bought and tag ink.....

Did Ya Miss Me ?

I'm back, again.  I am presently experiencing an aversion to my computer. Largely due to my only having dial up Internet.  I have had many people roll their eyes at me when I tell them I can't afford high speed, but honestly I just can't justify the cost.  I am then subjected to a long list of advantages to our having high speed, here are a few for example:
I could watch You Tube videos
shop on line
watch movie trailers
download music
do online banking
play word games on line
access more face book

and I would love to do some or all of those things but I don't NEED to...and so to spend a hundred dollars a month just for high speed Internet seems ridiculous.

as it is with dial up I can send an email as long as it doesn't include a picture
I can shop on line late at night when the web isn't so busy, I blog and that's about it... we google a lot, when we want to know something...but don't use the computer for much else while on dial up...I do use my computer a lot for office work and graphs...but it think I could live with out Internet.  I love to write letters....I could start writing letters again...

We had a good Christmas, went to Rs nephews Christmas eve for a family dinner and movie exchange, which was a hoot...stopped at our friends Vi and Raymonds later that evening for a cup of tea and I saved the day by finding the lost plug end on the tree lights,so they could light their tree lights on Christmas day.  Christmas day I got up early and put the bird in the oven,
while R watched the news on TV, my friend Phyllis called to invite us for an impromptu ham dinner, because she and her hubby were bored out of their skulls, so we just nibbled a bit of my fantastic dinner and drove to the lake in late afternoon to eat ham and coleslaw... we watched a really stupid movie "dinner for smucks"  it was so stupid it was funny.  groooooaaaaaannnnnn

Boxing day, I was desperate to go outside and move around a bit....after two days of doing nothing but sit and eat....I repaired a few more calf shelters and cut a few sheets of plywood into smaller pieces in preparation for the next days repairs.

Today we ran the cow herd through our new and improved cattle handling system to give them their booster shot for scour guard and dribble bug dope on their backs for lice and worms.  The wind picked up and howled all afternoon, making the +2 seem like   -15.  My hands were froze.  I carry the jug of dope on my back and squirt the liquid down their backs while R gives the shot in the neck.  It is very icy here and the cows were trying to be so careful not to slip yet be fast enough to try to escape our clutches, but we won...and they all got done. Tomorrow the herd bulls and yearling heifers will have their turn.

New years eve we will be staying home and having a Wii tournament with snacks.

Then we will start getting things ready for calving which starts January 20th officially. but we always have a few early ones.

My Red necked-ness is showing

Robt and I were shopping the other day, just groceries and such. We went early in the day to try and avoid the Christmas crazies, but it still wasn't early enough. We stood in line at Walmart for 45 minutes, no kidding. I personally would have put my shit down and walked out after 20 min. but Robt has the patience of a saint (that's why we're still married) and he stuck it out...I, in my ADHD mode, was flitting from the line up to the book isle, back to the line up, then over to women's wear, then housewares...I start talking in a stage whisper, how stupid it is that they don't open more registers, with my voice becoming louder as I conclude my diatribe.... Patience is not something I have in un-ending supply like some people. I mean, just how badly did we need that litre of egg nog and those sweat pants.

After Walmart ( I felt like I had aged a year or two while in that store) we headed over to Canadian Tire.... I bought some Xmas lights there a couple of weeks before and received a $20. gift card...no joking...my lights came to $37. and they gave me a gift card for 20 bucks back...now I know that that was just to lure me back to the store at which time I was suppose to spend another couple hundred dollars but I am not that person....We went there for a very specific thing....a hammer....yup, I get excited about the ultimate hammer like some women do Diamonds or shoes...or guys do about a muscle car or a 60 inch flat screen TV with surround sound.  Not just any hammer though...it is only the one I have drooled over for the past five years, ever since some one who shall remain nameless, but you'll all know who HE is...dropped my favorite old hammer down the well riser...never to be seen again....gonzo...adios and arrivaderchi...

They had this hammer and its litter mates locked up in a glass cabinet in the store...while the run of the mill cheap ones hung on open hooks on the wall....Robt had to round up a store clerk to open the cabinet while I gazed, mesmerized, my face pressed against the glass, staring at it.

I wasn't allowed to reach into the cabinet, I had to wait while the clerk placed the hammer in my open hands....it felt so good, like a missing limb had come home at last...the weight, and the feel of the shock absorbent grip in my hand felt like it had been made just for me. I swung it a few time, MY GOD, it was like it had angels wings, I swear I heard a choir singing....I stood it on the floor, head down and tapped the handle, it rocked like a babies cradle and didn't fall down, perfectly balanced, the handle stood perfectly perpendicular to the floor, a sight that made my eyes mist up with tears. The perfection of it was humbling to say the least.  I picked the hammer up and handed it back to the clerk, resigned to taking home one of the cheaper brands, since we are a bit cash strapped right now. (an understatement if I ever heard one). But then Robt said "where are you going?" and I replied " over hear to look at these hammer"
and he said " I thought this was the one you wanted?", "Oh, it is" I replied " if I was a lottery winner" and he looked at me weirdly and said " use your gift card".  I swear I went weak in the knees.. the vision of my ESTWING 22 oz Framing hammer hanging in that cabinet under lock and key wiped it completely from my mind.....I was so used to just looking through the glass and then walking away that I had forgotten all about it...MY BEAUTIFUL, LOVELY GIFT CARD......  The clerk walked the hammer up to the till at the front of the store and left it there for us to pick up when we were finished shopping...I rushed Robt through the shopping he had to do there and bought my hammer....she said the total of my purchase and I (I swear it was in slow motion) slowly drew  the gift card from my wallet and placed it on the counter. She picked it up and swiped it........and IT WAS TRUE  20 dollars off my purchase...no stings attached....yipeeeee....  I held the hammer all the way home from the city...and have anxiously waited for Robt, every day, who promises that we will go and nail some planks on the fence, but everyday his chore take him longer than he anticipated and I have yet to use my new hammer....I want him to take a picture of me using it for the first time....

I know in the picture it looks insignificant but when you hold it in your hand it feels like a part of your arm.... 

I AM SOOOOOOOOOOO LUCKY.... I have an ESTWING hammer....na na na-na na na