Possibilities

I don't have much of a 401K here lately, but I have wealth in abundance out the back door. We had, (before the economy dropped a cigarette in its lap), planned on building a big new house on our land, relegating our present log cabin to "guest house" status. So we had a fair bit of clearing done. They don't call it White Oak Mountain for nothing - it's like walking through a cathedral. We took down maybe 5 or 6 (each one hurt me as it hit the ground with a crash that would wake the dead) but I swear we can't even see where they came from now, and it seems that 2 more have sprung up for every one we dropped. 

So the logs sit there. Like in The Telltale Heart, I hear the insects eating them in my nightmares. I wanted them cut into lumber while it was still cold, but the sawmill man was "waiting for a part". And here it is August. I guess I've lost an inch all around each one to rain and rot and insect mandibles. What empires, what towers, fell into ruin while the sawmill man waited for a part? 

But it won't be long now - he's on his way he says.



There should be about 1,200 board feet of white oak there - perhaps justbarely enough to floor the addition to the cabin (two floors) that I'm building now. I am ambivalent about oak floors - for historical authenticity in my neck of the woods, I would have preferred yellow pine, plus my forearms hurt just thinking of driving cut nails through dry oak. But this is here and it's practically free, and what's more it came off this land. I think there is a proper symmetry there. If a tree falls into your lap, you should make the most of the situation.