This is the maple that they dropped last year. Most of the pieces of the tree besides this huge gnarled piece (we'll have to use the chainsaw on that one; it won't split by hand) are hidden by the brush that grew up around them.
The poplar tree is in Lisa's father's front yard, and when he sits watching TV, he can look out the sliding-glass door and see this pile. The tree-removal people's equipment gouged a slight hole in the ground here, and I've been raking bits of debris from the wood-splitting operation into the hole to try and fill it in.
Finally there is the biggest of the three, that being the cedar tree. Of course, after the tree cutters came and went I found contacts for area mills that I might have at least been able to ask if they could use a large cedar tree. I suspect they would have said, "It's not worth the effort for a single tree," but now I'll never know since all we have is not-particularly-good firewood. Oh, there's lots of it, but cedar burns too hot, and poplar isn't great either.
Too bad that all of the troublesome trees (including that redwood that continues to pose a threat on the other side of the property but which will cost at least $5000 to remove) are mainly good for wood-working wood rather than firewood. We'll just have to make the best of things.
In the meantime, if any of my friends think they could make use of one of the log rounds for something productive, let me know and we can make arrangements for you to have it. There's still lots of unsplit wood here, and probably will be for a year or more, as I seem to be the only one with both the time and inclination to work on it, and I'm not here that much.
