36° SUNNY, 34° CLEAR

A mighty fine morning, warm and sunny, coincided with our plans to buck up logs down on the tide flats.  Pete donned full safety gear and got down to business with the chainsaw.  Two of the logs were cedar and in fine condition and the other two, unfortunately, soft and rotten.  The warm air and and combined smell of gas and cedar sawdust was intoxicating.  The noise I could do without.  Even with the ear protection, the whirring had me on edge. Pete & I took turns splitting the rounds and the end result was roughly a cord of wood.  We raced against the rising tide to hoist all of the rotten rounds onto the boardwalk, for fear of releasing any navigational hazards into the bay. Pete found he-man strength for the job.  The incoming tide did the clean-up for us.  Only a scattering of sawdust left behind, it was as though we’d never been down on those flats.

Over the radio, Dave & Anke caught wind of our activities and they offered to pitch in and help with the numerous wheelbarrow loads ahead.  We couldn’t ask for more kind, helpful neighbors!  It sounded like Anke wanted a bit of a workout, and we certainly made her sweat.  Both Anke and I loaded our respective wheelbarrows and began the ascent up the steepening boardwalk to John’s cabin.  If the task became too onerous, one of us would push the other up the hill.  Pressure applied by the “pusher” gave that extra boost needed to make it up.  Pete received the wheelbarrow loads and stacked the wood underneath John’s cabin. Meanwhile, Dave loaded the rotten rounds onto a dolly and piled them in the public picnic shelter.  The job was certainly made more fun with four.  We rewarded ourselves with whiskey gingers and an L-tub soak well into the evening.  It was a calm, star-studded night in contrast to last night’s volatile storm.