Virtue is its own reward?

Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed. We are not a big farm, nor are we a prosperous one. The buildings are falling down and the equipment is old.
I've been attempting to repair a shed so I have a place to take the transmission out of my tractor that is out of the wind. I'm afraid to drive it to a neighbor's shop because of the potential for great expense if the three-speed fail. I could have it hauled but no one has had time to haul it. So, I needed to fix the shed anyway. It has been falling down for 20 years and I'm tired of watching it sag.
I had a friend help me last year. Or rather he worked on it and I helped him from time to time, but he got a real job and so I am on my own. My employee is pretty much worthless this time of year and I doubt we have a ladder that would support his bulk. Actually I am not sure his arms reach far enough past his belly to allow him to climb a ladder. He did leave me a plastic bottle of Canadian Mist which I found in a brown paper bag behind my tool box. I suppose I could have a sip in honor of Ralph because I assume that is all they drink up there in the frozen North... But, frankly, thinking about it makes me a little queasy.
I've been working on this project for a week. I've had a little help from a young guy who used to work for me-(my sometimes a great helper). He really got me started in the right direction but he also has stuff to do so it is not steady help.
Friday I got a call from a neighbor who needed some feed for his cows so I filled him up a drum out of my powerbin (Wilco surplus, thank you very much) and I told him it was cow feed. If he would have wanted chicken feed I would have said, "yup, that's what it is!) I run into problems when people have both cows and chickens...
I was whining a bit about putting up the tin and propping up the building and the neighbor offered to help. I'd just taken a check for $75 from him and I didn't want to give it back so I said I was fine.
Two hours later I heard the putt, putt, of his VW van and here he came with a 30foot extension ladder sticking out the back window. This is the only VW van I have ever seen that had Palin campaign stickers and a Dave Dudley sticker on it. Somewhere under the presidential stickers on the bumper is probably a Reagan sticker, a couple layers down.
He said he was there to help. He bought Harry. Harry is a another neighbor who is a bit handicapped. He was either hit on the head by a load binder or had a bad tooth infection as a kid. He is probably close to 80 now.
The VW fellow takes care of Harry since Harry's brother passed away. Harry is doing pretty well. I am happy to see he has quit listening to Art Bell. He used to stare at you for a while and then start talking about flying saucers and then reciting what sounded like dirty stories at just above a whisper. He doesn't do that any more. He actually told me what he got for Christmas and said he didn't like snow.
Mr. VW wouldn't take the check back. He said I had helped him a few times and now he wanted to pay me back. It is true that I have helped him with some hay and baling issues but I'd kind of forgot about it all.
So Mr. VW and Harry and I put tin on the back of the shed yesterday. It doesn't look the best but it is better than it was before and the tin was salvaged so it didn't cost a lot of money.
It made me feel happy.