Discovering my gifts...or not

(I decided to go ahead and let this post, funky pictures and all. I'd still appreciate any insight offered to resolve the problem.)

Clarence and I decided a couple years ago that we'd rather grow food than have to mow our steep front yard between the house and the sidewalk. He was laid off that spring, so he hauled rocks out of our woods and used them to terrace that section of the yard.

Since then, practically no area of the lawn is safe. We tried lasagna gardening at the far edge of the front yard, under a huge oak tree. We didn't have great results due to the shade but the potatoes did better than the grass that used to be there.

Clarence's folks came over the other night and his dad helped him get his tractor running again. Once that was done, they worked on taking down a couple of trees that were shading the lasagna garden from another direction. I'd like to use that area as a nursery bed for a few perennials that need a home for the summer as we dig out around our foundation. (Yeah, that's gonna be fun.)

Since then, we've been working on getting the trees ready to use for firewood. Clarence cuts it into pieces, then he and Allison split it (she LOVES splitting wood!). I help load it in the trailer and stack it near the house.

Stacking wood is not one of my gifts. Friday, I stacked the previous night's load on top of some already stacked wood. After I finished, I walked away to pull some weeds. I turned when I heard what I thought was the door opening, expecting to see one of the girls poking her head out to ask me something. Instead, I was just in time to see almost all the wood I had stacked fall to the ground.

I turned back around and started pulling weeds. I figured I could re-stack it, but why restart the vicious cycle? I think I'm more gifted for weeding, anyhow.