Awesome Saturday

Started with a massive wood cut to provide firewood for several church families. We had 33 men ranging in age from 10 to 72. K7 had play rehearsal for "Christmas Carol, the Musical", but joined us halfway through.

Wish I had thought to take photos from the very beginning, but we were too busy cutting and splitting wood. You can get a good idea of just how large this monster oak was. The weather was cool and overcast early on.

We had 6 chain saws and 3 log splitters in action, which is more than we normally have at a wood cut, so we were really moving along.  

This trailer was completely filled, which will provide almost 3 months of fuel to heat this family's home this winter.

Filled this truck and the stock trailer to the left. We also took 2 truckloads of wood to a single Mom and her family. And there is still more wood left - what a magnificent gift this tree was to our community.

Kept cutting away, and there was never a stop in carrying wood to the splitters, or carrying small branches to the massive burn pile. As you can see, the sun eventually came out, but the temp never got above 51F.

Great effort and teamwork by everyone.

Had to finally end off cutting up the last few giant pieces when our biggest chainsaw (at the feet of Jayson on the left) hit a nail that was buried deep inside the stump. It was so deep that it had to have been hammered into the tree over 45 years ago and covered over with much growth. It was a surprise, and it ruined the brand new chain on the saw! Glad we didn't hit it earlier in the day.

K7 made it to the woodcut and was wearing his Scout uniform (and as usual, the only guy in shorts!). He was one of 6 Eagle Scouts working with us. Why in uniform?

Because after the wood cut, some of our boys had to rush into town to carry flags in the annual Veteran's Day parade at 1:30. 

While in town, I couldn't help taking this pic showing the lowest gas prices we've seen in a long time. After the parade, we ate Subway sandwiches because it was 2:30 P.M. and we were pretty hungry since we hadn't eaten since early morning. Then it was off to another service project installing a dishwasher for a family before the boys could attend a birthday party in the evening for two good friends. What a day!