Time and age make me hire help to split a felled 60-foot plus red oak tree. For nearly a year a 40-foot-long pile of logs (some of which are 30-inches plus in diameter) have been sitting in the back, drying out.
It is a perfect day to work outside with just a touch of crispness in the air. The light cascades down through the trees, which are now leafless. My landscaper arrives with three men, who haul the huge log splitter up the hill, resting it near the pile behind my shed. Tomas is left to operate the machine, while I work along side as a helper removing bark and split logs and rolling logs his way to split.
The machine starts easily with the pull of a cord creating a deafening noise. We both don protective ear wear. Tomas brings the first log to the machine, which splits it like a hot knife through butter. I have never seen a log splitter in action but its power is impressive. With each split, Tomas tosses logs in my direction and I start to stack them up.
We soon work into a good rhythm and sweat as the pile begins to decrease in size. I can tell that the wood is well-cured because there are few yellow jackets save a few scouts that investigate our activity. Fresh oak sap really can bring them out en masse.
One hollowed out log that is split reveals an active carpenter ant nest. The log is riddled with tiny tubes that the ants have made and try to escape from. They scurry about attempting to save their larvae, which look like tiny grains of rice.
By the end of the day we have split all the logs making 3.5 cords of firewood. I think that will keep us warm for many a winter to come.
