December 8, 2020 - Tuesday morning

27 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

This business of sleeping in is becoming a habit. I like it.

Wishful thinking aside, over the past few decades, I've come to realize I'm a seasonal sleeper. I did well during the summer in the arctic, subsisting on two to three hours of sleep a night... or was that day? With twenty four hours of daylight, I never was certain what time it was. When the battery died in my wall clock and I lost my pocket watch, I even managed to confuse a day or two. I once thought it was about three in the afternoon and after checking, found the time to be 10 the next morning.

During the winter months, the opposite was true. It wasn't uncommon for me to be in my bunk before 8 pm and if work allowed, slept a solid twelve hours or more.

At any rate, with the shorter days, I am enjoying an extra hour or two of slumber going into the dead of winter.

Speaking of winter, with no snow, we're actually accomplishing much of what we normally do during the late summer and fall months, cutting wood.

Bare, frozen, ground, provides conditions that are perfect to rid the woods of dead or damaged maple or other hardwood trees. 

Sargie and I had run to town earlier Monday morning where I left chains from both power saws to be sharpened and purchased two new ones.  I usually sharpen my own chains, but after a while, a good, professional, sharpening makes them like brand news. It's two dollars well spent.

The next question was, would the old Ford tractor come to life. Having not been started and sitting out in the cold, the six volt system is often sluggish.

I needn't have worried. Just like its owner, it was slow, but steady. I soon had the old beast running, and loaded with both saws, took off for the south woods.

The tractor, with forked tines, really saves my lower back when cutting. My biggest saw, a Husqvarna, isn't light. Combined with continually bending over, coupled with the fear of hitting a rock while sawing, lifting the log waist high makes the job much easier.

Two trees were dropped yesterday, neither very big,  and with new, sharp, chains, the job was enjoyable.

I was sawing along, impervious to the outside world, when what should appear? It was Pentoga Road's own wood nymph. Sargie had walked back into the woods to join me.

We quickly fell into our usual routine and I was soon hauling wood to the portable shed. 

Three trips were made before it was all under cover. I'll begin splitting and stacking today.

On the subject of wood, purchasing the cord of maple slabs last summer generated quite a bit of interest, mostly from those wondering if all the effort was worthwhile.

Simply put, the answer is yes. 

The smaller pieces are used as kindling to get a fire going, yet they burn for quite sometime and give off no small amount of heat. The larger pieces are burned like normal firewood. 

Sargie and I, both, agree that we'll process two bundles of slabs next summer. Between the indoor wood stove and outside wood furnace, plus the maple syrup boiler, it's well worth our time and effort.

Other than applying a final coat of finish to the bowl late yesterday afternoon, I did nothing in the shop. It's ready to separate from the tenon and have the bottom finished. 

It's light enough to see outside which means it's time to go for my morning stroll. On today's agenda is to get the rest of the wood worked up, finish the bowl, and continue work on the segmented dog piece. 

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...