Getting Any Wiser?

I know I’m not getting any younger, but every now and then I think I just might finally be getting a little wiser.

Case in point: Last week, while we were at the lake preparing to duck meteors, a large sweet chestnut tree fell across the road in front of our house during a midnight windstorm. It was large enough to make the early morning news, which may say more about the size of our news station than the size of our tree. And it sent a county crew scurrying out Cane Creek Road to get the road reopened before the school busses started their morning routes.

Anyway, in my younger days I would have been out there the next morning with my chain saw roaring, slicing and dicing my way through the trunk, cutting it up into fireplace lengths of wood. And if I was lucky, I wouldn’t have gotten cut, wouldn’t have dropped a log onto my foot, or wouldn’t have pinched my fingers between the saw and the tree.

In the past, I haven’t always been so lucky.

So, this time I did the smart thing.

Nothing.

And sure enough, the next day a man stopped by and wanted to know if he could have the tree. Like myself, he just burns wood in his family room and, like myself, he really didn’t need the entire tree, so I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: if he cut it up into firewood lengths, he could then take two-thirds of the wood with him and leave the remaining third in my yard for me.

And we both left happy.

That’s when I did my second smart thing.

Rather than waiting until next winter, today I started splitting each section into firewood-sized pieces, wearing shorts and tennis shoes rather than jeans, a hat, a heavy coat, thick gloves, and insulated boots.

And it was actually enjoyable. In a matter of a few hours I got in a good (and badly-needed) workout, and I now have an impressive pile of split firewood stacked on a pallet, covered with a tarp, and already beginning to dry out.

My motto: “Work smarter, not harder.”

Until next Monday,

Thanks for stopping by!

Bruce

PS – Alex says I need to remind you to keep enjoying our Facebook page of photos, questions, new discoveries, upcoming events, and other good stuff you won’t find anyplace else.