Chopping Wood

We bought a 16 inch Stihl chainsaw, protective gear and got chainsaw lessons. We walked into our woods to cut up some fallen trees for firewood. The chainsaw worked great with no problems and we cut several logs. Then reality dawned on us, how do we get the 30+ pound logs out of the woods? We put two logs on a garden cart and the rollovers began. Finally, after 30 minutes we were able to walk 3 logs out of the woods. No one told us how to get logs out of the forest. We don't have an ATV, mule or golf cart. We realized later we would have to cut the logs with an axe on site and pull the split wood out. We did get those 3 logs up to the garage to split into kindling. It was a lot of hard work and we got our workout that day. And now we have firewood for our home.

The Coldman cometh

We got an Arctic front hitting us hard for an early winter in the Ozarks. Woke up to 3 inches of powdery snow everywhere. This was not the good kind of snow for making snowmen, but light and fluffy kind that was easy to shovel.

Oh and the shoveling I did this frosty morning. Three inches of snow becomes 18 inches of snow in a shovel very quickly. I had to clear our deck so if it melted ice would not form. Then I trod out to A's car to get it uncovered. It got so cold his logo came off his Subaru. So sad to see the logo just sitting on the snow. Took almost 20 minutes to get all the snow off the car and a path cleared for him to get to his car.

The dogs ran around like kids chasing the "snow-nadoes" created by the wind.

I got half the deck cleared when it was time to make oatmeal. After getting A off to work I finished the deck. Then I found all that deck snow had blown on to the bottom porch, ugh, more shoveling.

At lunch we got a call from a neighbor who had a whole truck bed full of wood for us. He brought his truck to our garage and we got busy unloading all the split wood. We learned a lot about chainsaws and cutting wood from him. Being city folks, we have not bought a chainsaw, yet. We are very happy with Stihl weed eater. Seems to be the one maker everyone uses around here in the Ozarks for logging and firewood.

I found a chipmunk's nest under the older split wood. It had used my broom bristles to make a fine nest. The chipmunk was no longer in residence. I guess he went south for the winter.

Upon coming home, we discovered A's Subaru had a flat tire. Something else that needs fixing. But he filled it with air to get to work. We shall deal with that tonight. Good thing it is not cold or anything.

Just life as normal in the Ozarks, except just colder.