It's Mic's birthday today and what could any guy want to do more on his 63rd birthday than to come up to LoneWolfForest and cut firewood, right?
Mic and Nicole arrived about 10 AM and by 10:05 Mic had his clothes changed, his work boots on and was ready to head out the door. Luckily I know Mic so I had the chainsaws sharpened, full of gas and oil, the machines cleaned of snow and we were ready to go.
Or maybe not. "Where is the spare gas and oil?" Mic asked. "Well I figure a full tank on each chainsaw should be enough until we come back for tea" I replied. Well no way was Mic gonna agree to that so I got the extra gas and oil and out we went.
I had spotted a few leaning trees and a couple of damaged ones just past the yurt so I thought it would be a great place to start. I had driven the ATV back there a few times to pack down a trail and this time we were going to fell and block the trees, fill the trailer behind the ATV and drive the blocks out to a pile where they would be split and stacked in the spring.
By the time I drove the ATV and trailer past the trees to the turn around and made my way back, Mic had both trees down and half blocked. We unhitched the trailer and used a tow rope to drag the rest of the trees onto the trail. I backed up, hitched up again, threw blocks into the trailer and took off to dump them. By the time I got back Mic had finished blocking the two trees and had another one cut and ready to fall.
The problem with this one was it was leaning against a branch on another tree and wouldn't fall. I got the strap out and we put it on the upright tree as high as we could, got as far back as we could and proceeded to pull. As the tree swayed we pulled, released, pulled again and released until the tree swung enough to come crashing down, missing us by a good amount but clearing the ATV my just a foot or so. Hmmm, I'll have to park farther away next time.
So While Mic cut and blocked, I loaded up the rest of the blocks from the first two trees and off I went. I came back to see Mic sitting on the partially blocked tree, out of gas in his chainsaw. Ah yes, that extra gas and oil I had on the bike. Time for tea? No way, Mic said, we had trees to cut down.
By about 1 PM and several loads later we headed back for a quick bite to eat and then it was back again to take down, block and drive out another four trees. A couple were further off the trail down the hill so I used the long cables Mic had made up for us a few years ago to drag 8-12 foot lengths out to the trail where we blocked them. Several tanks of gas in the chainsaws later saw the eighth trailer load of wood head out as the sun was close to setting.
Time to go home I asked? No, lets go back and get that last load of blocks, there is still a bit of sun left in the sky.
Nine trailer loads of blocks later Mic and I got back to Owls Nest in the dark, just in time for a drink a a great dinner prepared by Lucy and Nicole. I heard that Mic was too sore to get out of bed the next day (I was feeling pretty drained myself) but at the time, he said he couldn't think of a better way to spend a birthday than out in the bush cutting firewood.
I kept working (much slower) the rest of the weekend and we've got 4-5 cords blocked and ready to split. Now to do this 3-4 times more and we'll be in great shape for firewood next year.
Mic and Nicole arrived about 10 AM and by 10:05 Mic had his clothes changed, his work boots on and was ready to head out the door. Luckily I know Mic so I had the chainsaws sharpened, full of gas and oil, the machines cleaned of snow and we were ready to go.
Or maybe not. "Where is the spare gas and oil?" Mic asked. "Well I figure a full tank on each chainsaw should be enough until we come back for tea" I replied. Well no way was Mic gonna agree to that so I got the extra gas and oil and out we went.
I had spotted a few leaning trees and a couple of damaged ones just past the yurt so I thought it would be a great place to start. I had driven the ATV back there a few times to pack down a trail and this time we were going to fell and block the trees, fill the trailer behind the ATV and drive the blocks out to a pile where they would be split and stacked in the spring.
By the time I drove the ATV and trailer past the trees to the turn around and made my way back, Mic had both trees down and half blocked. We unhitched the trailer and used a tow rope to drag the rest of the trees onto the trail. I backed up, hitched up again, threw blocks into the trailer and took off to dump them. By the time I got back Mic had finished blocking the two trees and had another one cut and ready to fall.
The problem with this one was it was leaning against a branch on another tree and wouldn't fall. I got the strap out and we put it on the upright tree as high as we could, got as far back as we could and proceeded to pull. As the tree swayed we pulled, released, pulled again and released until the tree swung enough to come crashing down, missing us by a good amount but clearing the ATV my just a foot or so. Hmmm, I'll have to park farther away next time.
So While Mic cut and blocked, I loaded up the rest of the blocks from the first two trees and off I went. I came back to see Mic sitting on the partially blocked tree, out of gas in his chainsaw. Ah yes, that extra gas and oil I had on the bike. Time for tea? No way, Mic said, we had trees to cut down.
By about 1 PM and several loads later we headed back for a quick bite to eat and then it was back again to take down, block and drive out another four trees. A couple were further off the trail down the hill so I used the long cables Mic had made up for us a few years ago to drag 8-12 foot lengths out to the trail where we blocked them. Several tanks of gas in the chainsaws later saw the eighth trailer load of wood head out as the sun was close to setting.
Time to go home I asked? No, lets go back and get that last load of blocks, there is still a bit of sun left in the sky.
Nine trailer loads of blocks later Mic and I got back to Owls Nest in the dark, just in time for a drink a a great dinner prepared by Lucy and Nicole. I heard that Mic was too sore to get out of bed the next day (I was feeling pretty drained myself) but at the time, he said he couldn't think of a better way to spend a birthday than out in the bush cutting firewood.
I kept working (much slower) the rest of the weekend and we've got 4-5 cords blocked and ready to split. Now to do this 3-4 times more and we'll be in great shape for firewood next year.
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