Sunday Drivers

Well, it was our intention to go down to the beach Margaretsville this evening, as boy loves to play in under the falls. However, for some reason he decided that he'd rather stay home and have a bath.


So, instead I've been cutting wood in preparation for the splitter tomorrow.  We had originally planned to have the wood made into lumber, but hemlock has so many knots that it's virtually useless.  The ash may have made good flooring, but it's checked much of the way through.

As I was cutting the hemlock, I took a moment to count the rings. This tree was well over 300 years old.  And it was cut down for what? Nothing apparently, as it was left to rot on the hill.  And now, instead of a magnificent tree, I have fire wood.  I'd rather the tree was still standing, to be honest with you.

There is another, even larger log, laying on the hillside.  I will try and cut it up to bring it down, but I'm not sure I'll be able as it's surrounded by swamp.  Although I now know who did the logging, I can't help but wonder why they would do such a thing.

As for the ash, it fell at some point last winter.  This is the tree that Mooshum helped me take down about a month ago.  I've been gradually dismantling it and had moved the largest part of the trunk to the logging road.  This tree taught me the limits of my tractor and winch and after moving that one piece of trunk across the run-off stream and up the road, I'm surprised we were able to move the entire tree.

 Ash trunk in the foreground. Normally ash makes you feel like a super hero, as it splits quite easily.  But after trying a couple pieces, I learned to be very afraid of a bouncing 8lb maul. So, we're renting a log splitter.

 There are 60 pieces of wood here and each one of those pieces weighs at least 75lbs. I've taken these photos for posterity, but also because someone made off with almost a cord of firewood last year - after I'd cut and split it.  I've been very wary of my wood ever since then.

The big hemlock trunk. That's my rubber boot for scale. When you consider that boot is almost at my knee, you get an idea of the tree's size. 

I'm not sure how many cords of wood are contained in those logs, but we'll have a pretty good idea by tomorrow night.   I just hope the rented machine is big enough to get through it!  The rest of the ash is of a much smaller diameter (and will have a bit more time to dry), so I'm hoping I'll be able to split it by hand.

Post Script -  Yesterday, for the first time ever, I let the boy "drive" the tractor.  He steered (in a circle) while I did the rest.   It really is too bad we didn't have a video or at least a couple photos of his ear-to-ear smile!