WoodPile

When I came home from Loa there was a large pile of wood just inside my backyard gate. The pieces of tree trunk were huge and very irregularly shaped. Some weeks ago I bought a splitting mall and wedge because I like the "I'm A Lonesome Polecat" song from "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" and I used to sing it for Stan as he was splitting wood. Well, Jenny and I went out to see if we could split some of the wood. I managed to get one maybe 12 inch round split into four pieces. Took at least 150 strikes. I tried to get her to take pictures but she declined. It became immediately obvious that WE were not going to get that wood split and stacked and the back yard cleaned up before the family reunion. Erin came over and saw our dilemma and got David over here to split wood while she, Jenny and I stacked it. Her kids helped a little but the pool was full so they opted for swimming even though the water was freezing.
David split maybe 3 or 4 pieces and then the head came off my splitting mall. He asked where I got it and I said, " Harbor Freight" and he said, "no wonder." So he called Johnny and he brought over a Heavy Duty splitting Mall. Meantime we stackers got the smaller stuff and the split stuff stacked--It's better than a cord of wood. Then the Heavy Duty mall broke-split the handle right in two. We aren't sure if the wood was too wet, David's muscles were too strong or his was a defective mall, too. So we still have a bunch of wood to split and the cement to sweep before the reunion. But we sure had fun while it lasted. There's probably a half cord of wood left to split and stack. Jenny got it all stood on end ready to go if anyone else has a splitting mall they would like to test. Wouldn't pictures of this one have been fun?