Tractor is dying, but I still gotta build an AK house

The tractor is leaking hydraulic fluid and getting worse. I still have floor joists to mill before winter. In southeast Alaska that's not a soft deadline — winter doesn't negotiate. So this week is about making the most of what I have before I have to shut it down. We get the cover crop planted on nearly half an acre of ground that hasn't grown much of anything — yet. Farming in Alaska means working with soil that doesn't want to cooperate and a growing season that's over before you're ready. My wife helps make a big job manageable. We add chicken manure, kelp we collected off the beach, and sawdust to the garden area and hope for the best. Pull a few crab pots on the way back in. Three crabs. Out here that's dinner and garden fertilizer both — crab shell breaks down fast and puts calcium back in the soil. Nothing goes to waste here on the homestead. Then it's back to the log deck. I try a new two-tong system for moving logs that keeps them from swinging into the tractor. Takes some trial and error but it works. I get some logs cut before the leak tells me I'm done for the day. The next morning I'm up early — which in an Alaska May means 4:30am light whether you want it or not — to squeeze in one more log before going to help a neighbor. I make a stupid mistake that costs me two nice boards. Then on the very next cut I find out the log has a surprise inside. Could have been a lot worse. Some days on the Alaska homestead you just count what you got and call it good.