And here’s today. This week I began splitting my annual scrounge for next season’s heat. Mostly ash, lots of honey locust, some elm, and enough pine so that anytime we start a cold stove there’s a chunk or two of pine to get the fire hot. Also, last summer I got a stash of oak, rare stuff hereabout. A friend needed an oak removed in town, so I dropped it in return for the big wood. He and his wife loaded and hauled all the small stuff, all I had to do was drop the tree, dice it up, and load my big chunks. Burr oak, nice stuff, used to be my main heat in Oklahoma.
The splitter and I begin at one end and move to the other, converting big rounds into stove-wood. I pile loosely to let sun and wind do the main drying. Then I aim to have all stacked inside the woodshed by early June. We’re still burning, and will be till late May, so I don’t want to bury the last layer inside the shed.
It’s good to be back at it. Four months out from knee replacement surgery I’m able to work, but it’s surprising to me how swollen and tender that joint still is—some minor discomfort just to walk across the room.
Detail in the photo: I stretch two extension cords from the shop and run a box fan to take the exhaust from the splitter motor away from me. With all the saws and small engine exhaust and diesel fumes I’ve sucked down over the years, I’ll be doing well to dodge lung cancer. Plus I just don’t like breathing that stuff anymore.
The deer skull and rack (lion kill) wired up to the near tree in the first pic—I’ve walked head-on into that thing several times this week. Surprisingly solid. Will have to get the step ladder and mount it higher in the tree.
I’m way behind on this thread. Been busy.