or was it?

Oh, it started out as a fun idea. Tout the idea of a full day of sawmilling. Let’s call it a marathon milling extravaganza!!!

Not that Dick and Jane could compete with the professional sawyers or you young-uns out there. Jane considered it a success if their current record of processing four logs in a single day increased by one.

After the first cut into the old hickory, the couple realized that it indeed would feel like a marathon with the wind blowing the sawdust right in their faces. It was right down miserable.

Of course, Dick and Jane could have called it off. Probably should have called it off. They almost did call it off, wearing those cumbersome masks that fogged the glasses and pinched the nose. Like sand, sawdust fills cracks and crevices, stings the eyes, and clogs the sinuses.

What happened to the footage of the fifth log? A gorgeous white oak log. Dick and Jane aren’t sure, but one thing they do know, they did not quit even when their mouths were full of grit. Pretty soon, hickory benches will populate the property.

The giant hickory, though dead, lives on as a reminder to Dick and Jane that they can do whatever they set their minds and hearts too.