Eager to get back to building

The leaves are all down now, other than the real stubborn oaks and beeches. And after the violence of autumn the woods once again is at peace, arms reaching out to the coming snow. I am reaching the same contentment, with nearly all the Winter's wood stacked in the shed, and a vision of the next phase of house-building becoming clear.
Someone reading this might wonder where I find time to build a house. I'm always trying to figure it out myself. I work at night, which gives me the days off, sort of. I sing two nights a week and three nights a week I sleep in an apartment where two disabled gentlemen live. This night work is sometimes real easy to work around and then sometimes the lack of sleep catches up and I become useless or even ugly. Today and yesterday could be tallied under useless builder days –which followed a couple ugly days, come to think of it. This past weekend my impatience with finishing up the Winter's woodpile had me working a little harder than a peaceful man should, substituting coffee and chocolate for rest and as a result I woke up feeling very sore and worn out on Monday morning. I pulled a muscle somehow and after spending most of Monday lying around I feel mostly free from pain. So today and tomorrow I'm going to try to keep out of any heavy lifting and that should be good.
The next thing we have in mind to do with the house is to close in the lower level. I had hoped to close in the entire place by Winter but the lower level could be done real soon and that would allow for much easier working conditions in the cold months. We'll be able to make a fire and keep ourselves moving freely. I know there are some builders up here who work year-round, our next-door neighbor Dave for instance, and I marvel at their endurance but find it hard to be productive myself when it gets below about 20º. So that's the plan for now.