Gathering Firewood & Back Pain

I went to get firewood today. Our oldest could not come with because she had a lot of schoolwork do catch up on, already, and she does not want to get behind. Well, I cannot argue with her on that. So, I left her behind, and our youngest came along with. I was hooking the trailer up to the truck and as I stood up, the middle of my back produced a sharp pain, and this just about put an end to the whole trip. I decided to go anyhow, and the pain persisted even after we got to where the wood comes from, and I started working. That was more than 45 minutes at least.

Pain notwithstanding, I did get maybe almost a cord of wood sawn down to length and loaded into the trailer. The pain carried on through the whole time I was there. Rather than struggle with picking up the logs, which were heavy with water, I used the dolly to roll them up the ramp and into the trailer. My daughter helped roll the logs onto the tongue of the dolly, and I levered them up from there. Then it was an easy roll into the trailer. I have found that if I set the dolly horizontal in the trailer, that has given the log a lift to the right height to put it onto the first row of logs, saving me the lift, again. This makes all the difference when preserving self from strain.

It was a good haul, even though I was only able to get about a cord of wood. My daughter’s little helps made a big difference, and I was able to work through back pain, the worst, and get firewood despite it. It has turned out to be the smallest load I have ever picked up, but a cord of wood is a cord of wood, and that can last as much as five or six weeks in winter when it is cold out!