We woke up with determination today, we had a long list of chores to do. We had to put chicken wire up in the barn, re-stack some of the firewood around the shed, collect wood pieces out in the pasture for kindling, take a load to the dump, do some food shopping. We also had to start separating manure from the big pile, we are keeping some for our gardens, giving some away.

We  had to patch up some of the holes in the barn wall caused by equine gnawing – chicken wire on the outside, bricks on the inside. Lots of stapling.

Maria had to crawl around some tight spaces to get the holes patched we found a few great old signs and an old wooden crate that held ginger ale. For good measure, she cleaned out the barn.

Then Maria had to put some D-rings up on the back of my portrait frames, she and Lisa Carrino are hanging the show tomorrow, and then the Round House Cafe closes for a week. The cafe will open next weekend and my portraits will be up on the walls. (A reception, open to the public, will be held at the Round House Cafe on September 18, 2 to 4 p.m. The cafe is located at 1 Washington Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.)

Maria is chore fiend, once she gets rolling, there is no stopping here.