You may, dimly, remember that a couple years ago we snagged some fallen tree limbs after a heavy storm knocked them down all over the neighborhood. And last year we even got a chainsaw to cut them down to the roughly footlong installments that would fit well in our fireplace insert. What we had not done is split the wood so there'd be both bark and exposed ... you know ... wood innards to make for good fire-having.
A couple weeks back ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger got something that promised to simplify the wood-splitting trade around here. It's a gadget that holds a blade upwards, so that you set the wood on top and hit it with a sledgehammer over and over. The advantage of this over the splitting maul we had is how this lets you save intermediate progress. Only split the wood a couple inches? That's fine, it'll stay there, balanced in place, ready for the next hit. bunnyhugger tried this on her own a couple days ago and was able to split several logs that she would never have been able to do by maul.
Now I finally had the chance to try it out and, you know, it works quite nicely, especially on wood that's been sitting in the driveway two years or whatever it is now. It can take a fair number of starter taps to get it wedged enough to stand upright on the blade. And it can take several reasonable swings to start it going. But once the wood starts splitting it just cracks apart like you're Popeye punching a cinder block or something. Very satisfying. After I'd cut enough for the night's purposes I had to restrain myself from doing just one more log.
Now in our extreme tour: after a full day at Six Flags America we would need to be driving on, hoping to meet up with my brother and then get to HersheyPark. But first ...
The view from our hotel! At least, from the window beside the elevator. We were a whole ... twelve? ... floors up and this was the highest up we'd been somewhere in a while.
And here's the view outside in Cinerama!
So our first visit was to Glen Echo Park, once upon a time an amusement park and now a National Park, with echoes of the amusement park still there. Also, the place was next to New Jersey heroine Clara Barton's final home.
Neat wooden bridge leading to what I imagine was always the back side of the amusement park. Don't worry, I have photos of the front.
Coming up to it we passed the Glen Echo Park Aquarium, closed when we visited, but with such let's say folk-art signage that we were enchanted and hope the animals are kept well.
Also ran across this sign hidden deep in the woods as we got closer to the former amusement park.
Trivia: George Washington was sworn in the 4th of March, 1793, to begin his second term as President. John Adams was not sworn in until the Senate met the 2nd of December, 1793. Source: From Failing Hands: The Story of Presidential Succession, John D Feerick. Adams, you of course recall, had in 1789 begun serving as Vice-President nine days before Washington was sworn in, although it would not be until June that there was even an oath of office for the Vice-President to swear.
Currently Reading: Lost Popeye Zine, Sundays Supplement Volume 20: 1958, Tom Sims, Bill Zaboly. Editor Stephanie Noelle.
PS: If you read about What’s Going on in Rex Morgan, M.D.? Wasn’t _Rex Morgan_ Supposed to Start Looking Weird? December 2025 – February 2026 I'll explain the rules of beloved childhood game Punch Belly Blue!
