The Laughing Wolf

The Story On The Axe, And More

I promised the other day to tell more behind the story on the mini-rant and now is the time to do so. Last week was interesting on several levels. I lost out on some work I very much wanted, and am having to now aggressively pursue yet more work to make up for its loss. Add to that I got a message about some property I own in North Georgia. It seems that the last hurricane had indeed caused some damage, and had brought down an oak tree that had some other trees somewhat over the road. Now, the message was not real clear, so I went up to take a look for myself, and am glad I did. There were two trees hung up over the road, and some others that were problematic in future storms. I decided that at least one of the trees over the road and some of the problematic could be handled on the spot, so I went to the cabin I share with a relative to retrieve the axe.

I find the axe literally blunt, and covered with mud. I am less than amused as this was my axe before it was our axe. Dull axes take lots of work, and are a major danger as they will also bounce unpredictably. NOTE: flesh tears far more easily that wood. A good while later, using a file, I have the start of an edge on it and can deal with some of the trees. I do so, and even take down one of the danger trees over the road. I elect to come back and deal with the other with a chain saw. This was on Tuesday, and Wednesday I found out I did not get the work, so Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent locating other opportunities. Sunday was the first day I could get back up there, and when I arrived, I found yet another tree from a neighbor’s property partly in the road.

I had rented a chain saw (my own being in storage in Huntsville), and proceeded to deal with things. I finally get to work on the last danger tree, and it proved interesting. I started near the stump-end, hoping to get it to kick back and down, and had cut a clear line of retreat for this. Instead of doing as hoped, the tree pivoted from where it was hung at the top, and became straighter. It did this twice more, leaving me with the very interesting job of trying to get it unhung and on down. A come-along did not budge it, so I had to start cutting notches about head high, while keeping an eye on the top. I finally cut through to a point where it was starting to give, then backed away and began pulling back and forth on the come-along line. That worked, and the tree ended up falling within inches of where I had planned to roll it (or pull with the come-along).

I decided that was a good way to end a very stressful week, and a good omen for this new week. Still less than amused about the axe, but happy with the current ultimate outcome.

LW