The pasture has been neglected for a long time. Much of the fence has fallen down, and scrubby bushes have grown up among the rocks and weeds that litter the pasture.

Winter 2
3:30 PM

Despite the trip to the feed store, Annette decided that she had some time to work on clearing the pasture today. She'd only be able to get in one task, she thought, and picked out a single tool. The boulders in the pasture had to go, so today she'd take the hammer to one of them. Heading out to the pasture, she wriggled her way through the broken fence and past some of the spreading bushes. The snow and cold had reduced the weeds a bit, but hadn't wiped them out as Annette had hoped. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to properly chop them down and dig them up with snow on the ground. After everything else was out of the way, she'd see whether that was possible, she decided.

The snow was wet, and would probably make the rock slippery, so Annette brushed it off her chosen boulder and dried it as well as she could with the sleeve of her jacket before taking the hammer to it. It was, indeed, still damp, and harder to hit square on because the hammer wanted to slip, but within a few blows she'd found a modified angle that seemed to work. The rock shuddered, dust flew, and after long, steady pounding, the rock finally cracked into pieces. Setting the hammer aside, Annette hauled them out of the pasture, throwing the tiny, useless bits into the pile collecting between the field and the pasture--she'd have to see if she could use that to re-gravel the entrance road, later--and hauled the large useful pieces to the bin in the house.

It was getting dark by the time she was done, so Annette didn't try to take on another rock today. Collecting her hammer, she headed back to her house to clean herself up and get some food. There was basic electricity in the shack, which meant lighting, but there wasn't heating yet, so she would probably go to bed early so that she could curl up under the blankets. Once the barn was up, she told herself, she did need to make some improvements to the shack. Or she could just get a dog for body heat. That actually wasn't too bad of an idea, Annette decided. She would rather like a dog.


((Hammer + 1. Stone + 2. Before the day's work; after it.))

Winter 3
2:00 PM

Annette made it out to the pasture earlier today than she had the day before. There had been no other errands to delay her as there had been yesterday, and to be honest she would rather get the work in early in the afternoon, while it was still warm. As warm as it got this time of year, anyway. It was only the third day of Winter, so it wasn't anywhere near what she was sure she'd have to endure near the middle of the season, but she figured she'd adapt at about the same speed as the weather changed. She always had before, and there was no reason for it to be different on the island.

Today her tool of choice was the axe, and her goal was to get rid of the two slender logs that had ended up lying in the pasture. Again she had to wriggle around the oversized weeds, but these were easier to access than the rock of yesterday had been. Eying the first log, she wondered if it would be any good for lumber. The first blow of the axe, though, put paid to that idea, and threw her off-balance to boot; Annette ended up barely catching herself on the axe handle before she landed face-first on the blade. Pulling the axe out of the rotten log, she looked at the remains of the smashed shape in mild disgust. Then she sighed, set the axe aside, and hauled the crumbling pieces out of the field. As many as were big enough to pick up, anyway. The rest would probably be good compost, or something like that.

The other log was smaller, and she couldn't imagine making any use out of it. Made wary by the hidden rot of the last log, Annette brought the axe down with more care than usual, but this one was, despite its small size, solid all the way through. It took several more blows to split it into two managable pieces, and then those, too, were removed. That was all she would do today, Annette decided. The big bushes weren't something she wanted to tackle after the morning's plowing, and the same went for most of the rocks. Tomorrow, she told herself, she would get the last two packets of peas in, and then she could spend all the time she wanted on clearing the pasture.


((Axe + 1. Before the day's work; after it.))

Winter 4
10:30 AM

Plowing in the field had taken Annette even less time than she'd expected, today, so she decided to head straight onto the pasture before taking care of the chickens. There had been a rock at the corner of the field that bugged her, she remembered; it was right where a fencepost had once gone and would eventually go, and she had no idea how it had gotten there. She probably would never figure that out, but she could go ahead and get rid of it. Exchanging her hoe for her hammer, Annette marched out to deal with the annoying stone.

The ground around it was heavily scarred, and she wondered if it had been dragged here by hand or by storm. It might even had been put in to replace the fencepost, though she couldn't imagine why, not when it would probably be easier to pound in another post than to drag the stone into position. Unless Uncle Maurry had recruited someone else to do it. She could ask him if he knew how it had gotten here next time they met up in Abyssinian Town. There was no point in examining the mystery any further now, though. Instead, she hefted the hammer and took it to the rock.

It shattered in a fairly satisfactory fashion, leaving two large pieces suitable for adding to her stone stores and several small chunks that she could clear away by hand or scrape away with her booted feet. Once the ground around them was clear, she managed to heft one of the chunks and balance her hammer on her shoulder at the same time. Taking them to the house together, she left the hammer behind and went back for the second chunk. This was all she'd do for today, she decided; the chickens needed feeding. But the field was all plowed and planted, and would need less care now, so tomorrow she would start really working on the pasture in earnest.


((Hammer + 1. Stone + 2. Before the day's work; after it.))