Book Burners Unite!

It was good to read in London's Metro paper about UK seniors, poor, and unemployed burning books in order to stay warm this winter. Good because now I don't feel so all alone.


Here's an excerpt from the article....

"Workers at one charity shop in Swansea, in south Wales, described how the most vulnerable shoppers were seeking out thick books such as encyclopaedias for a few pence because they were cheaper than coal."

Out of Service

I messed up my lower back yesterday morning. I lifted up the whole Ski-Doo because its tracks were frozen into the ground. Even after I hurt my back, I had to keep doing lift after lift to pry the frozen track clear. Good to know I can do it. Good to know it will make tying my boot laces agony.

Was going to attempt some cargo sledding and maybe even log skidding today. No dice. Thank goodness for red Tiger Balm and yoga stretches.

I really have to watch out how I abuse my body. The laborious life is a hard life.

But you know what keeps me going? This great Portuguese guy, Joe, I knew in Toronto. 65 year old, worked construction on the big buildings, body of solid muscle. He said to me the secret: "Always think of yourself as young and strong and powerful". Thanks, Joe.

So that's what I keep saying to myself...

"...young, strong, powerful...young, strong, powerful...".

Droppin' Sugar

I'll show you the nice, non-scary still photos of a sugar maple tree I felled along a trail yesterday.

The semi-scary time was between cutting out the front wedge and the actual falling of the tree. When I did the back cut, the tree fell to about a 30 degree angle from vertical, caught up on branches from two adjacent trees.

I had to go all 'Lumberjack Bill' on the mostly cut 16" diameter stump. I finished the cut and gave the trunk a few good kicks and away it went. It can get dangerous when a cut tree gets hung up because it can suddenly shift and fall unpredictably, kids. You can be standing there, just watching it, and it comes down without time for you to move out of the way if you're too close. From moment to moment, alone in the woods, I don't know what's going to happen next.

I survive The Game of Death. This time.

There's so many dangerous elements to dropping trees in dense woods. Maybe I'll have a Lumberjack Bill series of posts now and then to describe the many dangers.

Why, just the other day, right after dropping a tree, a 2 inch branch fell 50 feet straight down and slammed into my face. Lucky I had my face visor down. If it was a 3 inch branch I'd have a broken nose and be spitting teeth. If it was a 4 inch branch....

Mondo Pine

Believe me, this is a big pine tree. Could get my

arms only halfway around the bottom branch.