• Mood: satisfied

When you're holding a chainsaw, all trees look like firewood.

Various folks have remarked that I seem to have an obsession with firewood lately. I don't.

Here's what happened:

A large tree next to bedfull_o_books apartment was felled back in the fall. (bedfull_o_books tells me it was a sycamore.) This tree was more than three feet wide at the base. But it was eaten hollow, and a danger to the buildings around it. So some tree disposal experts came over, dismantled the tree, and took most of it away, leaving a largish pile of debris and branches.

Months passed. The snow covered the pile, and everyone forgot about it. Then spring came, and the debris once again became visible, an unsightly tangle of branches cut to unwieldy sizes.

I decided to haul away all the pieces that would fit in my car down to my parents'. I figured I'd cut them up with their chainsaw. There was enough wood that my car was riding low on its suspension when I was finished loading.

Back at their place, a couple of trees--a pine and a crabapple--lost branches in recent storms. Dad and I had planted the pine after we'd used it as a Christmas tree one year. Now it towers over the property. A fallen branch pulled down a telephone wire, and we had to have the phone company come by to restore service.

The crabapple tree narrowly missed falling into the neighbor's yard, but it still needed to be cut up and taken away. I mentioned I could find a place for the branches, and he said that I could do whatever I liked with it as long as I got it off his property.

The chapter house of my old co-ed frat has a working fireplace. The more firewood's available, the more the fireplace gets used. We like fire.

I cut a large amount of wood into fireplace-sized chunks with the chainsaw, then split the larger pieces with an axe. Then I loaded all the pieces back into the car, which was now truly a low-rider, drove it to the house, and got some help unloading it from the larger and more buff guys. Thanks!

Chainsaws work so much better after you've resharpened them. :)

It's a win-win-win-win situation. bedfull_o_books gets a pile of crap moved out from in front of her place, Dad gets branches hauled away, and the house gets a carful of firewood. I get some useful exercise, which I clearly need, and makes me feel much better.

And that's why eeyorecol, R, and kidsnide saw me emerge from the woodpile under the big tree in the back forty Friday night. :)