Neanderpundit

To the street, so the town can haul it off: Less fun than one might imagine. But it requires a lot of rope and chain and blood sweat and tears.

I kept pulling knots too tight to loosen so I put in an eye, and thought this would be a good time to demonstrate how that’s done.

First you need a hardwood block and a damned sharp knife. Cut the end of the rope off square and sieze the ends of the three strands- I used electrical tape but you can use thread or string or heat shrink or anything you want. With poly rope you can also just melt the end.

The knife I use was given to me by Jim of Sunk New Dawn. I don’t use it for anything else, and I keep it razor sharp.

Next, unlay the rope about six full turns

Fold the rope over until it gives you an eye the size you want. At the point where the unlayed rope meets the standing part, spread the top two strands

Put the bottom two strands of the unlaid rope into the two holes this creates.

From this point on it’s pretty easy. You go in the opposite direction of the rope twist, over the adjacent strand and under the next, doing one strand at a time This is the first run tucked through

And this is the completed piece. On hemp rope or manila I will put some strain on it and cut the tails off a little proud and beat them down with a rubber mallet, which sort of “peens” them and keeps them from pulling out.

On poly rope I often just leave the seizings.

here’s a pretty good video showing it done- the guy has a little different technique than I do but the basics are the same.

I quit a bit early, put the tractor and rope and chains away, and came inside. I took a good hot shower, and once out iced the knee, and sprayed some topical analgesic on it.

The result of which, was, when I went to bed I actually could find a sleeping position which wasn’t agonizing, for the first time in a week.

All of which was negated by the dog, who kept me awake most of the night because of an errant lightning flash.

So here I sit, exhausted, but at least the dog has settled down.

I did something I haven’t done on a weekday in about twenty years, I ate breakfast. Cheerios. Somebody want to tell me what the fuck is cheery about cheerios? These fuckers are as cheery as dirt. Dirt is probably a good deal tastier.

The wood dragging goes thusly: I drag a pile of logs that are in the vicinity of 5′ long into a pile at the bottom of the hill.
Then I use a chain to snub a couple of the logs and a rope hooked to the chain to drag it up hill. The tractor is at the top of the hill, it doesn’t like to go up the hill while dragging. So the tractor drags on the flat and the rope pulls the logs up hill.
Then I back up over the rope and reach back and hook the chain onto the tractor

Then I drag the logs out to the street. I lean back, unhook the chain, and give the chain a flip to unhook it from itself (anyone who has done this knows exactly what I mean) Then I loop the chain over my shoulders a few times (only place on the tractor to carry it) and turn around and go back to the top of the hill and repeat.

Except one time as I’m looping the chain around me (About twelve feet of heavy logging chain, an improbable necklace) one of the neighborhood ladies runs by, and looks at me as if I were some kind of “old-Stone savage armed” as Frost put it. Then she grins and continues on her run, a pair of black yoga pants clad buns bouncing along under a pink sports bra.