So I’m a little peeved that Leroy wasn’t here today.  (No, I am not living in denial, I know cancer took his life 7 years and 5 months ago tonight)

Since the sun came out today and the temps were in the 50’s, I decided I’d give the yard a final clean-up before we really get our winter.  I took out the blower and cleared the leaves from the driveway after the wind storm we had last week.  The trees dropped a million little branches, so I filled up bags full of sticks too.

Tomorrow, my back will remind me of every time I bent over to play ‘pick-up sticks.’

This took hours and then it was time to tackle the split rail fence.  One of those big, heavy wooden rails needed replacing so I got in the car and went to my friendly home center where a young guy helped me find what I needed but after I bought it, there was no designated “loader” to put it in my car.  These things are 11 feet long and weigh a ton.  So, I struggled with it, finally got a little help and drove home.

And I’m thinking, that would have been a piece of cake for Leroy.  Why wasn’t he here to do this.  And as I found out, the really hard part was still to come.

Split rail fences need TWO people to fix them.  They are like a puzzle.  All the rails need to be placed in the post holes evenly and all together or they pop out one by one.  Believe me, I have learned this first hand.  So I’ve successfully managed to get 5 of the six rails back where they belong.  The sixth is on the ground waiting until tomorrow when I will attempt to finish the project.  I stopped because it got dark and then it started to rain.

These kind of days remind how much my life has changed.

This would have been so much easier if the Big Guy had been here.