Today, as the last of the snow (from our April blizzard) is melting, I look forward to the blessings of spring. April snowstorms (known in the Shire as “second winter”) are nothing new to the North Country, but the results are predictable as well. In my neighborhood, several extremely large hardwood trees, covered in ice and snow, fell before the gale-force winds. This has led to me being an extremely helpful neighbor and offering to help remove large chunks of said trees … to my house, where I will be making them into turning blanks and other useful wooden products.
The challenge is convincing my spouse that the transformation from “junky (possibly vermin infested!) chunks of wood” to useful and beautiful stuff will happen any time soon. Apparently, she thinks history is a good predictor of future behavior.
Still we must take advantage of what nature has to offer — do any of you have extra storage?
Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal
