Now I was sitting here just wondering what to do today. This is quite a decision some days. If I should decide to go outside and do stuff, then I need to decide just how many layers of clothes to put on. In my younger days, a t shirt and a light shirt would have been fine. Not now I tell ya.  It is starting with long johns or what.  Then I can start adding layers. I see there is a lot of stuff that really should have been picked up before the snow came and went.  I know for sure the snow is coming back.  It always does. There really is no excuse not to round up some of those shovels and splitting mauls to put just where they belong. It is not in the back of the plow truck where they get lost in the snow. Losing the splitting maul is quite ok.  That is such a great excuse not to use it.  I have an electric wood splitter that does a decent job, but those big old burly ones just make the splitter grunt and groan. I usually just set those aside until I get the chainsaw out. that works much better. Well, normally it does unless you get a stick such as I did yesterday. This was a wide pasture spruce someone had hauled in.  I had decided to slab it and create something from this knotty stick. It measured almost four feet across and the knots were awesome. This would be quite a project. I have only 17 projects on the list, one more will not matter. I like having choices. It fits the mood of the day. But this stick was not in the mood to be what I wanted it to be. I had my saw and was in the process of cutting it in half when my chain saw made an all too familiar noise. I will admit here I used some of Dad’s words because I did not expect this problem.  Well, I rolled the stick over and started on the other side.  Again, there came that noise. With the greatest of hopes, I stood the stick up and made a couple of cuts so I could split this with the maul. Upon splitting this three-foot-long stick with the maul, I found the culprits. Yup, sure enough, there were four nails and some wire inside this tree. I had successfully cut one nail in two. There goes the idea of putting the rest of this log on any type of band saw.  I was lucky there were only 6 teeth on the chain that needed a lot of attention. I knew how to do that for sure. I have been sharpening chainsaw chains for many years. The first time was in 1960 when Dad allowed me to use the motorized saw instead of the bucksaw. He had brought home some long pieces of hardwood for firewood. It was usually my job to cut and split wood for the kitchen stove. The wood was just a tad larger than usual. It would be too much of a job for the bucksaw and the operator. Now, that saw was one heavy mother. But it was a step toward being man. Sometimes, I wish I had never learned how to do the firewood detail. That is one of the task on my to do list for this week.  Heck, it remains on the list until about the fourth of July. Then I can take a break for a couple of days. That is all summers are for up here in Rangeley, get ready for next winter. Well, it is winter, and my wood shed never did get filled. But, no fear, I have a plan to keep warm. I learned this way back when I was in fifth grade. It was cold, there was snow, but we ran out of kitchen wood. Brother and I was given the task to go out into the forest and bring home some firewood. So, we cut a white birch tree down, dragged it home and bucked it up into kitchen firewood. There are a couple of tricks here.  One is to split the wood into small sticks. Then take these and stack them just right behind the kitchen stove. Once the stove got going, it would indeed dry the wood. But to help this, mother would place a few in the oven after she got the fire hot. By cutting up some of the old barn planks as a fire starter, we were all set. Every once in a while, the fire would just not go well.  Dad in his greatest wisdom volunteered to fix that. He took an old tire and cut it into little squares. Every time the fire started dying down, throw a couple of those in. Now remember in those days, there were no steel belted radials. With a nice sharp jackknife, one could slice and dice the side of those tires quite expertly.
I don’t use tires, but there are other manufactured things that burn very well. One year, I used a piano to help the stove do its dance. You see, Gram told me one day “if it makes smoke, It will make heat”.  I refuse to be cold if there is something that I can use to feed the stove. I have been wet, cold and hungry and I don’t want to go back there. I just may have to make a new shed next year, that’s all.  I didn’t like that shed there anyway.  At least, that is what I told myself.
Well, I guess it is time to put some socks and boots on and go outside to play. The sun is shining, and I was taught, “if the sun is out, I should be outside playing”.   Ya all have a most fine year now.   Its just around the corner.     Ken White COB mountainman.

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