Chainsaw Chain Damaged Directly

Phil used his chainsaw on Saturday. Within about a half hour of use, the chain caught as a tree fell, and bent the $18 chain. “Glad thing,” as Isaiah would say, that he purchased two extras, but that’s a pretty steep price for not much use. He wore his Kevlar chaps, so if the chainsaw did touch his leg, he would be more protected.

And we’re not convinced it’s much faster to use a chainsaw. He cut down saplings, but, rather than carefully setting down the chopped trees, they more-or-less just fell, creating a heavy pile of sapling pick-up-sticks. The materials handling took longer, I’d say. Probably the bucking, or chopping the trees into shorter lengths, will take less time, though. So they will each have their place.





We measured the area now cleared, and I was encouraged. On paper, it looks like I should be able to plant all the cherries, all the peaches, and all the plums on one side of the driveway, towards the road from the trailer, leaving just the apples and pears (and three apricots and whatever other fruit and nut trees might catch my fancy) on the other side of the driveway. The clearing Phil did made a big difference, and we like how it looks, too.

After a short stop at the Bessettes (they headed off the church, and we all bathed), we went to bed. I was worn out!

I woke in the night and heard rain on the roof. “Oh, well; I guess we won’t be going to church, since we won’t get the van up the driveway in wet condition,” I thought before I fell back to sleep.

On waking, though, I found out that Phil had let Chloe out in the middle of the night, and realized it was sprinkling. So he drove the truck up the driveway, then backed the van up, so we were able to leave for church. What a guy!

We intended to stay in Charlottesville all afternoon, and attend the “lifegroup” Bible study at 4:30pm. We made it through church (Abraham even went to children’s church rather than sitting through service with me. And he had a great time!). We managed lunch at Chipotle (Abigail hasn’t wanted to try the beans and rice there, but we keep setting it before her, and today she both ate it and eagerly anticipates eating it again next time we’re there); we made it through a stop at Whole Foods; we survived a stop at Martin and Mollie Bush’s house, to see what renovations they are doing. But then it was 4:15, the children were tired, I was tired, and the lifegroup wasn’t going to study Scripture, but a Lee Strobel book on apologetics. So we headed home.

It was helpful to see what our limits are, as a family. All day excursions with five young ones, when they must be confined and calm in unfamiliar environments, probably won’t be a good option for a while.

This evening I found out that photos need merely be copied into Blogger directly. (I had been dragging my feet posting photos because I thought I had to reformat them, and even that simple extra step was more than I could do.) Working backward, I am done through Christmas. I also finished September, leaving October through Christmas for me to fill in as time and energy permit. I’ll have to take some photos tomorrow, and post them right away. What fun!

Enjoy!