Bolt Hole Report

This is my last night at the Bolt Hole for the foreseeable future. I'll be packing up and heading home tomorrow (Thursday). I managed to get quite a bit of stuff cleaned up on the west end of the property. Left a couple of stacks of birch, cherry and red maple cut to firebox lengths to be picked up either later this fall or during next summer. Just didn[t have the energy to do so today after I finished reducing several piles of slash into much smaller piles filling holes in the landscape. Now you can see/walk though some of the area. Still a lot to do there and eleswhere but that will have to wait.

After three days in the woods wielding the chainsaw for 5-6 hours a day I've suffered two maladies.

1. My left thumb seems to lock in place every so often. It's been responsible for gripping the chainsaw almost nonstop and can't seem to understand that there's no need to clamp onto...well...nothing while I'm typing on the laptop. Not as bad a Peter Sellers doing his Nazi salute in Dr. Strangelove, but similar. Muscle memories over riding the brain.
2. I woke up last night to a bout of cramps in my let hammy. Had BOTH hammies cramp up on me this afternoon when I took a rest on the couch and tried to stand. Very painful those cramps! All that bending, lifting and chucking of log sections and branches, I guess. I've been drinking two liters of water a day while working and a beer or two when I'm finished but I guess my potassium levels are lower than they should be. I used to get calf cramps back in high school after two-a-days in late August/early September that would have me screaming in the night.

 As you can see, neither has anything to do with knees or lower back pain. Which is GOOD! The back does pain me when I stop working and try to relax in the recliner or when I go to bed, but NOT while I'm working in the woods tossing logs around. Go figure!

It was nice to be awakened this morning by the chattering of the red squirrels and the snort of a doe in the backyard (with two youngsters)  instead of the howls of Shadow and Chester at the door. That same deer (or another doe at any rate) has snorted outside the front door two of the four evenings I've been here. Lots of droppings in the woods, too, but I haven't seen any deer out there and wouldn't expect to with the noise form the ATV and chainsaw. (In the past I have had deer show up while using the chainsaw and/or lawn mower. They are curious critters sometimes. Skitish as hell at other times.)

My work in the woods is done...for now. It's supposed to start raining tonight and continue during the AM hours on Thursday. I'll be cleaning up and winterizing the cabin and then loading the ATV onto the trailer to haul it home. (I'll try to do that inside the barn so as not to get too wet.)

Terry leaves for points south on Saturday and will be gone for about two weeks.