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the way of leeches
Monday, February 29 2016
This morning I returned to the Chamomile Chestnut Oak salvage and made cuts through sections of thick (15 inch) trunk until my saw's power meter was down to three bars. Evidently that thing isn't actually a linear display of remaining power, because when I then tried to cut wood for immediate salvage, all I could do was fell a smallish skeletonized trunk and then make one partial cut through it. So today's salvage consisted entirely of pieces of wood cut months ago. It came to 96.65 pounds and contained more moisture than I would have preferred.
I drove into Kingston today via an indirect route that first took me north on Dug Hill Road and out to Route 28, where I made a fruitful visit to the thrift store at the Tibetan Center. For five dollars, I got a Logitech auto-focussing HD webcam (worth $30 on eBay), a 2200 mAh USB battery, a 2 amp 12v wall wart, and two cheap power extension cords. Next I tried to go to a Habitat for Humanity thrift store closer to Kingston on 28, but it is only open from Wednesday to Saturday.
While getting staples at the Uptown Hannaford (especially soy milk, lettuce, corn chips, crackers, beans, and lemons), I thought I'd also get some vitamin E (alpha tocopherol) for use as an oily salve on my lips, which have been badly chapped for days. But the only vitamins I could find in Hannaford were C, various Bs, and a wide diversity of Ds (who knew?). They didn't stock any E or A, which made me wonder if perhaps those vitamins from my youth had gone the way of leeches. While I was in the Hannaford, I was startled to look up and see the guy whose face is entirely melted on the right side. I wonder if he shops on Tuesdays so as to keep from frightening the children. [I just looked back through my old accounts and found that I have only encountered him at Hannaford on Tuesdays.]
My last stop of the day was another detour, this time out to the infrequently-visited Rondout, where I ducked into P&T Surplus for the first time in months. I was looking for brass or copper shapes to be used as ceiling plates for copper chandeliers. I eventually found two old brass plates that fit the bill and cost about $5. Overall, though, I found myself thinking that P&T Surplus isn't quite as cheap as I remember it being.
On the drive back up Dug Hill Road, I stopped near the bottom to cut up some pieces of White Ash recently felled by a line maintenance crew. But there were a lot of thick hairy Poison Ivy vines tightly bound to the bark, forcing me to cut through them, tossing toxic chips of wood into the air as I worked. I managed to cut up some good pieces, but I left them where they were. I'll want to have gloves and a jacket I don't intend to wear for awhile before trying to wrestle these pieces into a car. As it is, I've developed a Poison Ivy rashes between my fingers from when I drunkenly gathered wood here a week ago, and I'd even remembered to scrub my hands with soapy water afterwards.
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