Monday, October 6, 2008

I'm a Lumberjack, and I'm okay



Will and I pilfered wood the other day. There was a tree cut down in the neighborhood that was interfering with a telephone wire. It was a tree belonging to the city, so *technically* it did belong to Will and I, and the other random couple who drove up in their wagon who had the same reaction as Will, "Look, FREE wood!" We made 7 trips total and I think now we have enough wood, if it seasons in time, for the full winter.

The tree was cut, however, into massive logs. Not fireplace ready logs, but tree-trunk sized logs. Will bought a gasoline powered chainsaw and he spent yesterday cutting the logs into smaller bits. So, *technically* the wood wasn't free. And of course, there is the cost of the manual labor, including the oh-so-back-breaking-fun of splitting the wood.

It was certainly made easier on some of the logs that Will started a place for the wedge to go. But we split the logs. Yes, I was able to split them, several times with one whack. It is amazingly satisfying. We did about a third of the sections Will cut and will work on the rest this week.










I certainly won't need to lift weights at gym this week! Though, I may need to go to fashion school. You can see all the wood in the background that needs to split.




One swing! I am soooooo strong.

And yes, our neighbors think we are totally bizarre to be doing this ourselves. One offered another chainsaw and the other offered to split a cord of wood from a dude he knows, who knows a dude, and would come and dump it for a fee.... but now I have honed my skills. I just need a circus in town, then I could so swing the hammer and ring the bell and get a big stuffed animal.

Though, to be honest, this is a much nicer prize: a warm fire on a cold winter's night with wood we pilfered, cut, and split ourselves.

5 comments:

Fiona said...

Fabulous. I wish we had a real fireplace. The fires at your house are so lovely.

Your Christmas present came today.

No hints!

Unknown said...

WHAT IS THE PRESENT!!!!!

Grandmother said...

PLEASE be very very very careful when handling the splitter and sledgehammer! It terrifies me! And under no circumstances are you to handle the chainsaw!

And tell Will to be careful! Get some safety googles - both of you!

Your Mother

Unknown said...

Yes ma'am.

ehfriedman said...

Deborah's comment made me laugh so hard. Safety goggles would certainly add to the outfit, she's right. In any case, I'm quite impressed. You're a real renaissance girlfriend.