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T imber got up each day and carried on, no matter how much his body ached.

One morning he found arrows in all the tires on his truck, courtesy of Max.

A couple days later, a dead duck was on the front porch of Timber’s cabin.

He just dealt with each and didn’t react.

He had to conserve his energy for the work each day.

So four days later, sore and tired but with a huge smile on his face, he sat down to review his massive work list. So many things were crossed off that it amazed him.

Another dozen had been added to the bottom, and some of those were taken off as well.

He sat here, amazed, hugging a cup of coffee with a pen in hand.

Dwight came over and sat down beside him, noting, “We’re getting there.”

“We sure are,” Timber declared, with a huge smile. “It’s amazing just how much you can get done with people working together.”

“It sure is,” Dwight agreed, “and, as you know, you must have the right kind of pull with the right kind of people.”

Timber smiled and nodded. “I’m still in shock that so many guys showed up for this.”

“You and I both know that these men have totally bought into your animal rescue idea and are here and are happy to help.”

Timber smiled. “That’s one of the biggest parts of all this. The fact that they are here with such great attitudes and a real desire to help is massive.”

“So, what’s on the list for today?”

With that, the two men settled into a discussion about what to focus on today and how to maximize the assistance they had available right now. As they were about midway through today’s plan, Toby joined them.

He was still yawning and rubbing his shoulders.

“Did you hurt yourself?” Dwight asked him.

“No, I’m just,… you know,… getting old.”

Dwight laughed. “You don’t need to tell me that,” he muttered. “We’re both feeling our age these days.”

“Yeah, we are.” Toby looked over at Timber and asked, “What do you and Andy think of our idea about looking at a couple small pieces of land close by?”

“From my perspective it would be a huge boon to have you guys close by. And Andy seems to be getting old before my eyes. So he may be more inclined to sell off those parcels with each passing day. I’ll remind him the next time I see him.”

“You can’t run a place this size on your own.”

“I know it. At the moment, it’s fine because we don’t have any animals—well, not any rescues that aren’t mine.

Although that might change soon enough. I did tell Tiffany to bring one this weekend, before I knew these guys were coming.

So she should definitely bring her foster dogs around because some men here might take one or two home. ”

Toby laughed at that. “And that’s yet another excuse to bring Tiffany back over here again.”

“She’s been here a lot this week,” Timber admitted, “so I kind of hate to even ask her to do anything more.”

“And yet she seems perfectly happy to help out,” Dwight pointed out.

“I know, and it’s been a godsend,” Toby noted. “She’s done trips back and forth for all of us, trying to keep things flowing, like the beer cooler packed full and the kitchen stocked.”

Dwight added, “I’ve been keeping up, but, man, I forgot what it was like to cook for this many.

We don’t really have the big pots and things we need for bulk cooking,” Dwight pointed out, as he looked around at the kitchen.

“The outdoor kitchen setup helps, but we still need some more kitchen equipment to make life a whole lot easier.”

Toby shared, “I think Kat mentioned something about that earlier today.”

“ Today ?” Timber asked Toby.

Toby winced. “It must have been yesterday. I guess I’m a little tired myself.”

“The men will be up soon, so I better get started on pancakes,” Dwight announced.

Timber nodded and stood. “Yeah, I can give you a hand.”

Dwight pointed. “You start cooking bacon by the yard, and I will make the pancake batter.”

“I can help too,” Toby offered.

“No worries,” Timber said, raising a hand. “We can take care of the breakfast, but, if you’re up for it, can you go feed the animals?”

“I can do that.” Then he tossed back the last of his coffee and headed out.

Knowing that a lot of the men would be up soon, and some of them already likely were, Dwight and Timber started filling huge coffee canisters with fresh brewed coffee, so, when the men got here, something would be ready for them.

Timber had set up an outdoor cooking area, with a big work table and a huge gas griddle that Kat had brought out.

Then she added an outdoor Blackstone grill and a two-burner gas hot plate, complete with a huge stainless steel buffet server and lid.

With Timber filling the grill with bacon, Dwight cooked pancakes on the griddle.

By the time he had a good forty or fifty pancakes stacked up in a warming tray, the crew started coming out and loading up, then sat on the benches scattered around the yard.

There weren’t enough actual seats, but people made do with everything from five-gallon buckets upended to lawn chairs that some of them thought to bring along.

Timber felt bad for not having better accommodations for the men, but thankfully the cabins that Kat brought in allowed the men to sleep in shifts, now that they were working around the clock on the barn, which meant nobody could sleep in there.

Yet now it had a good roof on it, which made it inhabitable for any incoming rescues that came before the proper facilities were set up.

Timber also had a rotating team of four who were out at night, attempting to keep extra eyes on the property except that was hard with everyone working.

Even with all the work, the nighttime perimeter watches, and the one-star accommodations, so far there didn’t appear to be any complaints, as everybody had a really good idea of what they were getting into when they had volunteered for this gig. Still no one could keep watch 24/7.

A few of the men sat around talking, while some came over to speak to Timber. Jaxon pointed to the guys with him. “We’ve got some suggestions on some of this workload.”

“I’m open to hearing it,” Timber replied, still flipping bacon, while Dwight continued to mix up more pancake batter.

“We’ve got a group of carpenters, a group of tradesmen, and a group of framers,” he began. “We’ve got the lumber, and the fencing is well in hand, and we’ve already got a team working on that.”

“Two teams,” Timber corrected. “They are working from each end, so they should handle that this week and have the entire place fenced and cross-fenced.”

Dwight looked over at Timber and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, do you realize just how huge of an accomplishment that is?”

Timber laughed and nodded. “Damn right I do, as I’m the guy who planned to do it by myself. So thank you, guys, for taking that off my plate.”

Jaxon nodded. “Seems the expansion on the old barn is done structurally, so time to get people to do the electrical and plumbing. While they’re doing that on the existing barn, we wondered what you thought about us building another barn beside the old one or at that other location we discussed?”

“Is it necessary right now?” Timber asked.

“I know it’s not on the plan for this year, but you have the wood, and you’ve got the framers, so that’s probably putting our skills to the best use,” Jaxon suggested. “We’ve also got a couple guys building gates, and you’ll need a ton of those.”

“I know,” Timber nodded, listening attentively.

“Once the fencers are done, they’ll come back here to help with the paddock work.

We’ll have to mark those off, get the post holes dug, before the fencing begins there.

” Unrolling a big drawing, almost a blueprint of the property, Jaxon added, “This is where you indicated adding a large animal barn over on this side, and I think that’s a great spot for it.

So, we should at least get the concrete poured and the framework up before this weekend. ”

Timber laughed and repeated, “A concrete foundation in my new barn?”

Jaxon nodded, with a wry smile. “You’re laughing, and, because the barn’s for animals, we don’t want concrete in the stalls, although …

you might want some concrete between the two buildings, around the buildings, even a center driveway through the center of the two barns, so you can drive in wet conditions and unload and load a trailer. ”

“Right,” Timber muttered, “but I think rain is in the forecast, so we may have to delay any concrete pouring for a bit. We still need to address flooring in both the barns, including an estimate for materials needed.”

So that started a heavy discussion, with the general consensus suggesting something that could be accomplished this week, meaning a dirt floor with rubber mats, topped by straw.

Somebody went out and checked the inventory supply.

When he returned, he stated, “We’re close to having enough to finish the flooring on both barns.

But can you get this list of stuff brought in today?

I know that might be an impossibility, but I think we can get it done. ”

Timber frowned. “Not sure if Badger is coming here today, but let me check on that. If not, I still think I can arrange for a delivery today.” He looked at the men around him, then at the drawings for the second barn.

“I do appreciate this, guys. Getting that second barn built would be absolutely massive, if we could get this far.”

Jaxon added, “Not only this far, but let’s get the water running too. That’s a hell of an artesian spring you’ve got here, and you’ve got a good watering hole, so it shouldn’t be too hard to tap into that either.”

Pleased and seriously stunned to see how much work was being done, Timber also needed to take a serious look at his bank account, but that wasn’t happening today. No matter what it looked like, it was game on. Today was all about making sure that the work continued as much as it could.