Friday, August 17, 2012

Getting wood... @ the farm


Yesterday we got wood. At the farm. This is a labour-intensive session, so we tend to make an event of it!

Here's what we do... (these are the technical shots, I've some pretty ones to show you another time).

First, the chainsaw gets some action (see above). That results in lots of sawn off sticks, of varying diameters, like this:


Then the axe gets a turn... Mr Muscles uses it to split the larger sticks.

You see, if the sticks/logs happen to be wider than 200mm they won't fit in our fire box. This can result in some VERY frustrated and scary moments when you have a glowing red bed of coals and you're trying desperately to 'shove' the night-stick in through the door of the firebox. Grrrr. I've even seen some boot action in these moments - thankfully it wasn't my boot! I'm of the cautious type with fires and tend to know my limits - other people in the house tend to be a bit more silly adventurous!


You often meet interesting creatures like this one below, he was the size of the palm of my hand! I'm just glad we get wood in winter when snakes are hibernating!


After the chainsaw and axe have been through we all partake in a lot of lifting action. Bend, load up the left arm (if you're right handed), straighten, walk to the ute/trailer and load the wood. Good little workout, this wood-getting!


And the final result is a lovely load of wood. Transported home, in this case, in the trailer. With a pretty sky; cloudy and a lovely shade of blue. Some nice greys in the posts and trees. Here's another post about getting wood, in the desert! It wasn't so grey in the desert ;-)

Getting wood at the farm makes for a quite a day; you sleep very well and you know it the next morning as you stretch your limbs! But we're toasty and warm with the fire burning merrily, and I've lots of other shots to show you of the interesting things that happen when you are getting wood (aside from the workout). Will save that 'til next time 'cos I'm preparing for a sixth birthday party today! I've just made the 2-4-6-8 cake, and I'm still about 2 hours behind 'cos I wasn't here yesterday - ooops. Am glad it was a nice day ;-)