Thanks to old and new friends

Of all the tools I use around our property, the one that works the hardest is the wood splitter (aka blockbuster). We’ve owned our splitter for over twenty years. The photograph shows it’s the worse for wear. (I know the feeling.) And of course it’s been deteriorating over time: week by week, month by month, year by year. But I’ve been reluctant to do anything about it. It’s remained able to split wood. And it’s been a good friend. But our house guest Dieter, is less emotionally enmeshed with the dear splitter. Or, if you will, more hard-hearted. Or maybe safety’s his primary concern. Whichever, he convinced me the beloved splitter needed a new handle. And to drive home his view, he offered to fit the new handle. To segue on from yesterday’s Farmdoc’s Blog post, ‘And so it came to pass’: Last Monday in Deloraine we bought the handle, and later that afternoon Dieter replaced the old handle with the new one. Obsessionally. And expertly. To test his handiwork, yesterday morning he spent a couple of hours up on our roadway splitting rounds of timber from the trees that fell during the 16 September windstorm [1]. As well, Dieter also replaced our axe handle that had been broken since 2002! So now we’re set with good-as-new splitter and axe. Many thanks to Dieter. He’s sure a big help around here.

P.S. For more photographs, click here [2].