Rest? Or resume?

The easiest thing to do Tuesday — and arguably the smartest thing I could’ve done — would’ve been to celebrate my accomplishment (finishing the big oak) and take the day off. My body certainly would’ve welcomed the break.

But I didn’t do that.

I wasn’t inclined to swing an ax again yesterday. What I had in mind was getting something on the next pallet — the way I looked at it, anything would be better than leaving it empty. After considering where best to harvest small standing-dead trees and windfall, I decided to run up toward the summit.

That paid off in just the right way. I located enough to meet my objective, nothing difficult, all relatively close to the trail. I bucked what I found, then stopped for coffee.

Naturally, while sitting I saw something else worth taking — a hickory snag, nine inches at the base and about 15 feet tall. I put down the coffee and picked up the saw.

Felling was smooth, uneventful. As I expected, the top of the trunk was unusable, six feet of pith. The rest, though hollow in places, was solid.

I noticed that several of the stove lengths cut from that tree would benefit from splitting. Rather than hauling them intact to the wood yard and doing the deed down there, I made the fresh stump my chopping block and split them before loading.