But ...oh no! That's too easy. Instead, what I do is spend the summer cutting up trees, and then hauling them down to our place and stacking up the logs. By the end of the summer I had quite an impressive pile of logs all ready to split. My big plan was to rent a power splitter and make short work of the task. One day, during the summer, I was talking to a neighbor who is much my senior. Ole John is a great guy. I told him about my plans to rent a power splitter. He says to me, "Why don't you split it by hand? Good exercise, and it will help you get rid of that gut!" I laughed off his comments about my gut but the idea of trying to do it all by hand stuck in my mind. After all, a power splitter rents for $50 a day.

After a few martinis and a couple days to mull it over, I decided that I should give it a try. Just a few logs a day and by the time it snows, I'll have the job done and no gut! So, I started. I was huffing and puffing but making progress. A few logs a day led to an obsession to get the job done with my own two hands. I felt tremendous pride knowing that I not only cut the trees up, but that I now was splitting and stacking the wood and doing it all on my own.

Two weeks ago we had our first snow. Earlier that usual, it caught us all off guard but it melted after a few days. My log pile had gone down to the point where I was about 90% done but I didn't quite beat the first snow. Today, I am proud to say that the job is complete. We now have about seven cords of firewood all ready for this winter. It's all neatly stacked along the garage and covered with a tarp which is tied down securely. I stood back and looked at it knowing that I did it all on my own without the aid of a $50 a day power splitter. A job well done but with only one problem.....I still have that gut!