All Logged Out

We are done in, done enough, are done with it.  The logging, aka cutting, splitting, loading, unloading and stacking firewood.  

Yesterday we took the tractor and trailer out with us when we took the dogs for a walk through the bush.  On the way back Larry drove the tractor and trailer down the trail and parked it at the closest spot to the pile of split wood.  Oh boy oh boy oh boy that maple is heavy wood when it's green.  Got it all loaded on the trailer and Larry started along the trail.  When he first drove in there I did think in my head that I wouldn't have been facing that way, but I (unusual for me) kept my mouth shut.  There is a bit of a hill, but with the ground being so frozen, we (or he) didn't think it would be a problem.  Well it was.  The tractor isn't 4 wheel drive, it started to slip on the steep bit, the tires spun and turned the frozen ground into ice.  The trail is just wide enough for the trailer, so he rolled back a bit, but there was no room to maneuver to back up, as the trail wasn't straight either.  So we just left it there because our boy David would be here today and he could pull us out with his landrover 'Gruff' and his wench...er winch. (That one's for you Suzanne!)

Later in the afternoon I walked out there and split the rest of the wood further up the trail, with the help of my buddy Jake.

This morning David and Gruff and his wench...er winch came out.

He didn't use the wench...er winch, he just pulled the tractor with the tow rope and it didn't take much and the tractor and trailer and Larry were on their way.

 I did have to yell once for him to lower the bucket before he whacked it on a tree, and he did squeeze a trailer tire against a tree trunk, but it was all good, not a piece of firewood was lost.

I continued on and gave the dogs their walk while Larry drove back to our wood shed thingy.

David helped us unload the trailer and we got the wood all stacked.  Larry and I went back out to pick up the rest of the wood, and I told him about a couple of good sized pieces I had seen on the ground.  So we drove out to where they were, were able to carry them out to the trailer, and sawed and split them right there.  Then we went and picked up the wood that I had split yesterday, heading the opposite way along the trail, which worked out just fine, and I mentally said 'I told you so'.  Got that stacked in the woodshed with Meredith's help, and felt a great glow of accomplishment, because, added to what we already had, we have enough wood in there now to get us through the next winter.  And then exhaustion set in.

Note 1 - A Facebook and blogging friend was describing a farm vehicle they had just bought, and she said it had a winch but spelled it wench, so I made a joke of of it.  I think of that every time I see winch now:)

Note 2 - How Gruff got it's name.  The Landrover club that David belongs to said his short stocky vehicle can go just about anywhere, like a little billy goat gruff.