How Much Wood...

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I don't have an answer for that burning age old question, but I have chucked a lot of wood today.

A while ago, we needed to have some tree issues dealt with, as did our neighbour. Our big spruce had a couple of really big branches snap over, but not come down completely. The ash tree which belongs to our neighbour, but is right next to the property line, was slowly dying and dropping branches onto our yard. As well, neighbour had another dying tree (I think a Manitoba maple, but not sure). The neighbour owns the property, but does not live there. He comes around every once in a while to check on it and maintain the grounds. The house is currently empty. I believe he will move in when he retires. Husband and he formed an agreement where husband found someone to come and do all the taking down of trees and branches. He would supervise and tell the arborist what needed doing. They split the cost. Neighbour agreed that we could have the wood.

We have a dear friend who has lots of wonderful equipment, much of it part of his business. He has a wood splitter, so we were able to borrow it. Some wood had already been done by husband, but today, husband, daughter, and I really made headway. He ran the splitter, we loaded up the "gorilla cart", and chucked the pieces of wood into a pile in the car park.

The one dead tree had the most bizarre wood I have ever seen. We joked that it looked like pulled pork!

Yes, you are seeing red. There were lots of big ants as well. Hopefully they will scatter with all of the 'chucking' and later stacking.

This is the pile so far. It looks smaller than it actually is. There is more of the huge ash tree to be added. Then the stacking begins! Oh goody!

We were very happy to be able to get all of this "free" wood. Just our time, gasoline for the splitter, and sweat equity, and we have enough wood for two or three years. (We don't primarily heat our home with wood, but we do have a woodstove in the den which we use intermittently through the winter).

So, this woodchuck will be tired and stiff after all the bending and  lifting and chucking. I'm making supper in a moment, grilled vegetables, smokey sausages, and sweet potato. Have a great weekend!