Work-away 2018 Segment 2

Workaway is beginning to spoil us April, 2018

We had an odd set of circumstances this year. Charlie came in February and made his usual mess, and the next day our first Workawayers for 2018 arrived. We had more fire prevention cutting to do, so Charlie paid us another visit on March 29. On April 1, our second Workawayers arrived. Talk about great timing! Harold is from France and Priska is from Switzerland. His native language is French and hers is German, and their common language is English - heavily accented English. So we are working hard to understand them and keep our communications understandable. You don't realize how much slang or colloquialisms you use until you are speaking with people who translate literally. Dianne commented that Harold doesn't have an off button, and that was a real puzzler! Day 1: Bright and early April 2, we got to work. As usual, the first order of business was teaching our new workers how to drive the tractor. It was a short lesson because these two are very quick learners. They drove the tractor to the area right outside the garage. Then they each pushed a wheelbarrow into the woods behind the house. That is where the wood was lying on the ground. Here's what part of it looked like right after Charlie left.

These two Workawayers believe in putting the emphasis on the WORK part of the name. They are amazing. Load after load, from the woods to the trailer, from the house to the wood pile. They were like the Energizer Bunny: they kept going and going.
Filling the trailer	The wood is freshly cut so it is very wet and heavy. We could not have pushed a wheelbarrow loaded that full.
	The job supervisor is checking on the work progress.
In short order they had moved all the rounds that could be lifted. Then we pushed the logsplitter back into the woods next to the very large rounds, and Harold began splitting those logs. Sorry, there are no photos of the process. The photographer was busy trying to keep up with the wood these two were generating. By the end of day 1, the wood pile that Nico and Jacquie built in February had grown considerably, and even more amazing -- a half of cord of split wood had already been stacked into the barn. WOW! And this is only the first day!
In the picture on the left, row 2 is almost hidden behind row 3, now higher than the other two rows, and row 4 has been added. We have never had 4 rows before. We laid new boards on the ground to keep the wood out of the dirt.

After lunch, Harold and Priska took off to hike to the top of Fall Creek Falls. They returned an hour or so later. Priska grabbed her computer and vanished. Harold changed clothes and went for a 10 mile run. Yes, that is TEN! Down our road (1.3 miles), down the highway to the Tioga Bridge (.5 miles), 2 miles west along the trail, then 1.5 miles up a logging road that passes by the trail. Then back. He did admit that the last little bit up our hill was getting difficult. Day 2: The plan is to finish splitting a few remaining logs with the log splitter, then haul slash to a burn pile we have lit about 100 feet behind the house. There was one more tree, on the ground and bucked, but those rounds were way too big to transport and inaccessible for the logsplitter. Harold was chomping at the bit to split that wood with wedges and maul. "Are you sure about that, Harold?" "Yes!" Harold started splitting the huge chinkapin. Meanwhile, the girls were hauling slash to the burn pile.
The crew taking a water break. This was when we discovered that Harold has a serious blister on his hand. Off to the house for moleskin. Once both of his hands were protected, Harold insisted on continuing splitting. The supervisor has positioned herself so she can watch all work areas.
The Workaway crew FINALLY quits, has lunch, then goes to hike Susan Creek Falls. We continue feeding the fire all afternoon. But we opted to work the closest piles of slash and leave the more difficult stuff lying downhill for the younger workers. Day 3: Everyone picks up where they left off the previous day. The coals fire up in no time with a little fuel. While we're getting the fire going, Priska hauls the wood Harold split the day before. And Harold, of course, is swinging that splitting axe. He said his hands were fine. However, eventually he split all of the large rounds and had to stop. Priska and Harold continued to haul wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow out.
Wood pile at the start of the day. YIKES! 5 rows of wood - a first at Long Shadows. If we have to add one more, the tractor won't fit between the pile of logs and the tree to the right.	First load of Harold-split wood, headed for the wood pile
This is some of the wood that Harold split. The tree was well over 100' tall and 28" at the base.	Harold and Priska bringing chinkapin back to the trailer.
Row 5 has been filled up with chinkapin.
Eventually we made them stop hauling rounds and switch over to hauling slash -- the hard stuff down the steep incline. The weather forecast was for rain that night. Got to get this stuff cleared and burned before the rain.

Much of it had to be cut into manageable sizes before throwing on the fire.	Limbs, limbs, and more limbs.
It was so exhausting watching all this work, the supervisor couldn't handle it any longer.
At the bottom of the slope, it was easier for Harold and Priska to haul the slash DOWN the hill. Harold trimmed some limbs (which we wanted done anyway) to clear a path, and they began dragging the limbs down to the lower meadow, where we'll burn sometime in the future.
Just threw limbs on that pile behind him	Relay: Priska is throwing limbs from farther up the hill, and Harold will haul an armload to the pile.
After lunch Harold and Priska head upriver to see Clearwater and Toketee Falls. Meanwhile, we continue burning and trying to beat the rain. By the end of the day, every last bit of slash has been burned, and Nancy has even raked the back yard. Three days, and Charlie's mess is completely gone. WOW! In addition, the entire back yard is much more fire resistant, which was the whole point, not firewood generation. That was just a side benefit. Day 4 is NOT a work day. We have a town day. Harold and Priska have a leisurely morning, then head to Roseburg for wine tasting. Click here to go to Day 5.