So, things are coming into focus.

We have three, perhaps four, issues to deal with in the Pole Barn, things got a bit out of hand in there.

That’s the thing about a farm, unless you are a rich person – they call them gentleman farmers – you can never quite catch up with all of the things that need to be done, and sometimes, they catch  up with you.

I am not a real farmer, but I am not gentleman either.

First, the back  wall has bowed to the point of cracking. The animals lean against it and too much dirt has built up. Secondly the donkeys were eating up the rear wall. The gates (left) were disintegrating and failing to hold the sheep.

And then, there were deep gouges and gulleys on the rear wall, we put too much gravel in and the animals lean against it when the sleep so we have deepening trenches all along the wall.

This morning, we dug out both sides of the rear wall, pushed it  back into place with the tractor shovel, and then Ray built a post and crossbars so that if there is any further pressure, the wood will bear the brunt, not the wall.

Ray built two new gates and put  hinges on the others. And Vince is using the tractor to lower the level of gravel and dirt by two or three inches and level off the gulleys. Like most farm things, it looks worse than it is, and I have the blessing of calm and competent and honest people.

They will take care of it. The Big Men In Trucks are used to moving the landscape around and making the earth bow to them. And it needed to be done, for sure.

If we didn’t take this on right now, we would be paying the piper down the road, and in a much more serious way. I have enjoyed the practice of radical acceptance. True peace of mind comes with accepting life as it presents itself, and not wishing for things it is not possible to have.

I will not ever speak poorly of my life. Or even of my barn.