Lumberjack Gym

Today, after a breakfast of home grown sausage and egg breakfast with maple syrup, Nyle and I went over to my brothers house and picked up the old freezer that the rest of my pig was in. We emptied out the old freezer with it's rust covered door then loaded it with the cobwebs stringing from its coils in to my old Isuzu pickup. Or at least what is left of the old Isuzu. The freezer is an an old upright so we had to haul it standing up. I am always a little nervous of hauling something that towers above the cab of my pickup truck. I fear the wind might snatch the cargo out of the bed and in to on coming traffic. We had it loaded in just a few minutes and I strapped it down with a good cargo strap going over one of the uppermost corners and then down around and behind it to a side post embedded in the bed of the truck. It's what I call a 3 corner tie. I never have lost anything using that method of tying fridges and freezers in. I then went on a junk/scrounge tour of all the stuff my brother was going to leave, or throw away. I scored a brand new very large roll of barbed wire. An old Yaesu ham radio transceiver. An old 23 channel Cb. Some old wall thermostats. A little 2 wheel trailer like you pull behind a lawn mower. A 12 foot piece of 1/2 copper pipe. A home brew screwdriver antenna that needs finger stock installed. I just happen to have some! It would make a really nice multi-band vertical antenna. He has an old wheel barrow I need to go back and get. The handles are rotted on it. I have a wheel barrow with steel handles that has a broke plastic "barrow". I also picked up a few scissor jacks he was getting rid of. Basically I came home with a truck load of his junk. The old saying "One mans junk is another mans treasure", is so true. I am now sooooo rich!
I unloaded all of my treasure, plugged the old freezer in and loaded the pig back in the old rusty bucket. I then set about cutting another load or 2 of firewood if possible. The first thing I had to do was sharpen my saw chain. Yesterday I hit something and dulled it down pretty good. So I started out sharpening the saw while Jen started on preparing lunch. Nyle was "helping" me, of course. Jen called lunch just about three teeth from having them all sharp. I told her I'd be just a few more minutes and then I would be right in. I finished up and inspected my file work. It looked pretty good. I was ready to go. After a quick bite of lunch, Nyle and I loaded up the saw, ax, and a maul and headed to the woods. The woods is about 60 seconds away so it was a short and uneventful trip. I put Nyle in the bed of the truck so he could see me work yet not be put in harms way. The brier bushes helped in convincing him that was where he really wanted to be located for this adventure. I cut about 3 pieces of fire wood before my saw stopped cutting. The chain was dull again and looked as if I had hit a piece of metal in the tree I was cutting up. I took a close look at the tree but could not find anything that looked like it could had done the damage. So I loaded up what wood I had gotten cut and went back to the house because Nyle had to take care of a personal issue that could not be taken care of easily without a bonafide toilet. While I was at the house I sharpened my chain again and then dug out the old chainsaw chain I replaced last year and put it on the saw. I did not know what was damaging my chain so if I was going to ruin one, I wanted it to be an old worn out chain. I then kicked back the weeds and briers to see what may have caused the damage. Nyle and I went back to the woods after I got the new "old" chain on the saw.Just about the time I got out of the truck, my cell buzzed. It was Jen telling me she was going to town to do some errands. I called her back in a few minutes and asked her to pick me up some new chainsaw files. It looked like I was going to need them!
This time, before I started cutting, I made a careful inspection of the area to see if I could figure out what was damaging my chain. I kicked back the briers and grass to get a good look at the ground. That is when I discovered I was cutting firewood on top of a big mound of dirt colored sandstone rock. I am not kidding, it looks like dirt, but it's rock. So I was extra careful and this time was able to cut without damaging the the saw. I almost got a load cut when Jen drove back by comming home from town. In a few minutes my cell buzzed again. It was Jen reminding me it was Nyles' nap time. I told her I would bring him in just a few minutes. I loaded a few pieces of wood so I would feel like I had accomplished something before I went back home. Nyle was about to fall off his perch he was so sleepy. So I decided to take him in and get me some more sweet tea while I was at it.
After about 30 minutes I was back at the woods cutting up a new tree top. I had diced up the smaller limbs and was about to start on some of the bigger material in the top when the saw ran out of gas. The gas can was setting down by the wood pile back at the house. So loaded up what I had cut and headed back to the house. I had about 3/4 of a load so it wasn't all that bad. When I got home I unloaded it and started splitting up some big pieces I had previously cut. That took me the rest of the evening to split and stack. I finally finished a whole row of firewood. I need an=bout 4 rows to go through a winter. I now have 2. I am 1/2 way there! I am getting a great work out. I am sore all over!
For supper we had Beef Manhattans with home grown corn. The beef was raised by my father in-law. He grows his own hay, corn, and soy beans to feed to his own cows. I can tell you, the beef is real good tasting! Each year we get a portion of the slaughter. That's real nice of him. He is a good man with high standards, morals, and respect. I could not have asked for a better set of in-laws.
Speaking of farming, my chickens have really slowed down on the egg production. The days are getting shorter and we have been having a lot of gray days as well. I still have over a dozen eggs in the fridge, so I am not too concerned. I have been thinking about getting a rooster for the old hens and raise a new crop of chickens. I have also thought about getting a milk goat. I am not sure if it is economical. Feed is rather costly. I will have to give this some further thought and research.
I guess I will do that now.
Have a great day!