It’s a 1998 Ford Expedition.

The unspoken Law of the Forest dictates that every citizen thereof have a dog, a gun, and a pickup. Well, when I had the choice, I opted for a Jeep. So no truck. Our neighbor has a pickup, but the second time I ever borrowed it I busted the back window out of it with a stray block of firewood, and vowed that I would never again ask to borrow it.

The first thing we did after purchasing our property was to have it thinned. The trees were so thick that they were straggly and unhealthy, not to mention a significant fire hazard. There were two large piles of logs down in the garden area when the snow melted last spring. I cleared out and blocked the first pile last spring (hence the broken truck window) and its place built the shoop and fenced off the duck yard. These are part of the second pile.

It was taking forever to move these logs up from the garden area, and wearing me out to do it one at a time by hand. Most of the blocks are six to 10 feet long, and many are wet from two winters outside. Fortunately Jessica pointed out that the BGF is on the same chassis as Ford’s trucks. So we took out the back seats, threw down a tarp, and loaded the logs into the BGF.

It worked beautifully. This is the third load I moved last Saturday. From here they were stacked back near the woodshed and, since Jess picked up the parts necessary to reassemble my chainsaw, I’ll get back to blocking those up when I return from my camping trip, late tomorrow morning.

Here’s the wood pile when I had moved three loads. There’s another big pile to the right, and lots more wood on our mountainside. I enjoy this labor, and I’ll take it in place of next winter’s fuel bill.