Wood Splitting

Although we have good intentions, neither Scott nor I are particularly motivated when it comes to working outside. I go through spurts of interest, typically only long enough for me to plant new flowers or the garden. We love our house and the tranquil wooded setting, but we are woefully ill-equipped to maintain the yard and landscaping.

Two years ago we had a large tree cut down from our front yard. In order to save money, we only contracted for the tree to be cut down and segmented into fireplace length rounds. We reasoned that we would not only save money for the removal but also we could rent a log splitter and cut our own firewood.  After the tree was laid, I worked for hours to roll the extremely heavy segmented trunk sections into a neat and orderly line on the edge of our property. The log train was rather unsightly, but we knew that it would be temporary because we were going to rent the log splitter.

We had the best of intention, but two years passed and the logs were still where I moved them. Friday afternoon our neighbor called and invited us to split the cost of the log splitter. Without hesitating, I agreed to the rental. I was delighted with the prospect of finally removing the ugly logs and cutting our firewood. 

In my defense, I did run the log splitter rental by Scott before the plans were confirmed. It is not my fault that he forgot, only to be reminded after a Friday night of revelry. I'm sure that splitting logs first thing on Saturday morning ranked among getting a colonoscopy on his list of preferred activities, but the machine was delivered to our front yard and an audience of our neighbors was beginning to form.  He had no choice but to swallow some ibuprofen, put on a smile, and get to work. 

Robby and I worked the controls while Scott moved the trunk sections and lined them up for cutting. Although it was time consuming, it was not nearly as difficult as we had anticipated. In retrospect, we should not have avoided the chore for two years. 

The yard is looking cleaner, and we have an impressive pile of firewood for next winter. Splitting wood was certainly not the sexiest way to spend a long holiday weekend, but it was certainly productive. Our neighbor who proposed the rental only used the machine for two hours. I'm beginning to think that the "split the rental" invitation was more of a ploy to get us to do something about the ugly wood pile. In either case, I'm glad that we finally conquered the wood train.