the trees and woodcutting never stop!

One of the trees that I felled was so tall that part of it fell into an adjoining pond.  Here's Sister Johnson in the Jeep pulling a small log out of the pond.  There's about 20ft of it still in the water at this time.  Our little diesel Liberty has been the ideal mission vehicle for us, as it gets used for this type of work frequently.  If it got as good fuel economy as my diesel Jetta, that would be the best of all, but sometimes we have to sacrifice economy for function.  BTW:  We'll be pulling a bigger U-Haul trailer home that we came out, with, thanks to the "treasures" that Sister Johnson has found since we got here.

The famous 27 ton wood splitter in action.  Gotta get me one of these!!  This takes a lot of work out of the firewood-making process.  I cut the felled trees up in "rounds" that are about 18" long.  We then manhandle them up to the splitter and flop them down on the foot (underneath the wood).  Then the splitter drives a wedge down and splits the rounds in two, then we keep splitting them to make firewood-sized pieces from there.  A really big round (36 - 40" diameter) is so heavy that we can barely rassle (that is a Southern word, spelled correctly) it in place.  The splitter has the power to crack open that tough wood, excepting the really cross-grained crotch pieces - those go into the burn pile.  It will take up to 20 minutes to work a big round down into small firewood-size pieces, but that's so much easier and quicker than trying to do it by hand with a maul or wedges.  Br. Jack Redwine is sitting down behind me with his hand on the control valve.  Note my cushy garden pad that I'm kneeling on to take some of the hurt out of these old knees.

Sister Johnson is everywhere!  He she is unloading cut firewood from a trailer onto the stack in the background.  Brs Jack Redwine, left, and Larry Foster, center are two of the fine branch members who are helping cut and move this wood for a single sister who lives in Houston, MS, about 45 miles NW of Starkville.

Here's our woodcutting crew at work, or taking a little break.  From left is Sister Brenda Pounders, whose place we're at in Houston.  She set up her shade canopy to give us a little respite from the direct summer sun.  Behind her is Sister Johnson, next is Sis. Pounder's sister who lives next door.  Br. Larry Foster is going for some water and snacks.  The West Point Branch President Robert Honsinger is on his little tractor with the blade - this is a lifesaver, as he is able to push all the cut rounds up very close to the splitter, and saves us much heavy labor.  Br. Redwine is obscured by Br. Cary Wilson at the right.  Br. Wilson had heart surgery/valve replacement and a pacemaker installed about 3 months ago, but he got a clean bill of health just a week ago, and here he is helping out.  We made sure he didn't overdo himself.  Usually we have Br John Shields and his son Lewie with us on these projects, but they were away celebrating Lewie's graduation from West Point High School.

These faithful brethren make up the majority of the active priesthood and leadership in the West Point branch.  Their faithfulness and dedication is very gratifying, and they do a lot to keep the branch going and to support the needs of the members here.