Flannel on. Beanie placed. Outside into the snow and cold I go.
Before I leave, I grab my axe, swinging it a few times to make sure I still have the skill. I walk out to my truck, throw the axe in the back with all my other tools and drive up to the job site.
As I drive to the site, I play with my bushy beard, thinking about everything the day holds for my crew and I. The truck slides a bit on the white and snow covered back roads. Surprisingly, once I get onto the logging roads, they are much clearer and I am able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time.
I pull into the makeshift parking lot, making sure I avoid Bud, one of my coworker’s dogs. He comes around to my side of the truck to greet me with his huge dark ears and wagging tail. I pet him and lead him to our office, which is just a gutted out camper. Instead of having beds, it has chairs and desks. I check in briefly with my crew chief and then head out to fire up the skidder, which will be my ferry to the cutting zone.
The skidder starts without a fuss, which is unusual for such a cranky machine, and I start out, breaking trail the whole way. I get to the cut site and remember that my axe was still sitting in the bed of my truck. I turn around and head back.
‘Whatcha doing Buzzah?’ someone says over the radio.
‘Getting my axe!’ I say.
There’s no response, but everyone is thinking the same thing.
I get back to the lot, again trying to avoid Bud. I jump out of the skidder and retrieve my axe and an extra pair of gloves from my truck.
Being armed with my tools, I hop back in the cab of the skidder and drive back up.
I park the skidder, seeing that Mark had already started chopping trees with his old and ugly axe that he’s had forever.
I start chopping on a somewhat small tree, just as a warm up.
One hit. Two hit. Three hit… and on the fourteenth hit, it came crashing down
‘Timberrrrr!’
It hits the ground, and I move onto my next hardwood victim. This time, it took more than double the hits as the last tree, I grew tired, but I was still able to work for the rest of the day.
‘Timberrrrr!’ I yelled as the tree came crashing down.
The rest of the day was basically the same, only pausing occasionally for food and water breaks, or to make fun of another worker that messed up.
Soon it was time to go home for the evening. I drove the skidder back out and parked, signed out of the office and start the truck. Unlike the skidder, the truck took some persuading to start, yet it did start almost on command.
I drive home, eager to take off my now damp flannel and hop into the shower.
Beanie off. Flannel off. Inside to the warm shower I go.