Slab Wood

Does it look cold?  It was.  8 degrees, minus wind chill.  I have heard many wish for a simple, Amish life, but on a morning like this I doubt they would be out of their warm beds.  This is the last winter I will be out on a morning like this.  I am used to filth, although I hate it.  It has been interesting to see the changes made at the mill over the years--but the one thing that never changed is the love Amish horses have for crapping in front of bundles the infidel English want.  It used to be a lot harder to scrounge around in filth like Weiss Müll, even for the Amish.  The mill used to be completely open on the sides, but they finally bought a cover for cold days.  Clearly they are getting soft!  From time to time you could even hear naughty souls listening to the radio.  There were ditches on either side of the yard and often times bundles (> full cord) would roll into the water and break open.  The yard is wider now and the ditches are gone.  Sometimes there would be a crowd of

people there (mostly for blinds) and it would take forever to maneuver around; never saw any accidents though.  For the most part slab wood is a secret, but that is changing.  Some of the companies that supply the mill will snatch up trailer loads of slab and sell it as firewood or use them to drive around in the forest.  I used to work in the woods and we had to use slab a couple times to get our vehicles out.  One time I was at a restaurant and heard someone bragging about how he turned $20 into thousands by selling slab wood for firewood.  It was particularly irritating because I needed it.  Timing is everything.  This mill can produce ~75 bundles a week, but you have to race against the log companies and other entrepreneurs that grab everything in sight.  If you can show up before them you are good to go; sometimes you can even get lucky and get them to load your trailer for free because they are in a hurry.

(I gave up on formatting this.  It used to be easy.)