I have to tell you, friends, it was one of my best days at the sawmill, for more reasons than one.
From the moment one of my forester friends sent me a picture of that log, I was certain it was going to be one of the best pieces of timber I'd ever sawed. Black walnut, and not one... Not two... But three potential crotches. That alone would have been enough, but when I saw that picture where the bark had flaked off, revealing tell-tale ripples...
Lord have mercy.
Now, he knew what he had, but it was essentially cast-away timber from his regular customers who buy by the truckload. I paid a pretty penny for that log, but it was a fair price for what it was.
I had customer orders lined up, so I had to leave that beautiful log lying down in the timber yard for three whole weeks while I sawed boards and posts. It was torture, I tell you. Finally, I put that black beauty on the loading arms, got it squared away, and fired up the mill.
The LT40 was purring like a kitten, and that four degree double hard blade was cutting like a laser. As soon as I finished that first cut to open it up, I pushed the waste off and started scraping sawdust. I could tell immediately that it was going to be everything I'd hoped for, and I couldn't wait to see what was hiding deeper down in that log.
I ended up with three eight quarter live edge slabs that each had three breathtaking bits of crotch figure and that sweet curl. The rest of the slabs were wonderful, but those three were some of the best that had ever come out of my sawmill. A furniture maker paid me right handsomely for those when they finally came out of the kiln.
I was positively giddy while I snapped pictures, and then put them up on stickers to air dry.
Of course, that's when my ex-wife decided to call and ruin a perfectly good day. The sound of her voice alone could suck the life right out of me. That will happen when you come home early with a fistful of flowers to surprise her for no reason, and find her in your bed with the fella that lives down the road.
I have no problem supporting our son. I'm doing well with the mill, so I keep up on the child support payments, and I don't mind kicking in when there's something he wants. I learned the hard way not to trust her when she asked for money, though. I put her off, saying I needed to check my finances. Then I fought that tiny screen with my fat fingers to send a text to Dillon.
I sent
him
the money to fix his dirt bike instead of trusting his mother to give it to him.
I convinced Dillon to talk on the phone instead of texting after a couple of painfully slow replies. Smartphones are useful, but I'm a simple man, and my fingers are meant for holding tools, not poking at a screen. He was looking forward to our weekend together as much as I was. That will surely lift a man's spirits.
After one last look at the figure on the best of those slabs, I was feeling good again. I headed out toward the house to upload the pictures, but saw someone pulling into the drive.
I didn't recognize the truck, so I paused by the edge of the drive to wait on whoever had come to call. As it got closer, I knew I'd never met the young woman behind the wheel. There was no way I could have ever forgotten a pretty thing like that.
My best guess at the time was that she was in her 20s. Her long blonde hair flowed out from under a Carhartt cap, and rustled in the breeze from the open windows. She was smiling, and she was stunning.
I smiled too when I saw the front license plate said
Rednecker Than U
in pink flowing letters, surrounded by hearts.
"Hey there," she said as she pulled to a stop next to me, and gave me a wave. Her fingernails were painted bright red.
Speaking of figure... She certainly had one. The t-shirt she was wearing looked like it was about to give up the ghost from trying to keep her tits inside. I was raised better than to stare — no matter how much I wanted to — so I said, "Hello. Something I can do for you?"
"Any chance I can take a look through your burn pile over there?" she asked.
"Well, I suppose. Have to tell you, there's not much in there that's good for anything. I squeeze every bit of useful timber I can out of my logs."
She said, "I'm hoping some of the knots on those offcuts might be worth turning on my lathe."
I shrugged and said, "Well, if you can find something, you're welcome to it. It's all going to go up in smoke in a couple of days. I did saw some nice bowl blanks out of a red cedar that was all full of voids a couple of weeks back, if you'd like to take a look at those?"
She nodded. "Sure, I'll give them a look. I turn spindles, but I could cut them down."
"Well, come on down to the mill. I'll show you those blanks, and then you can take a rummage through the burn pile. Name's Bill Halt."
"Much obliged," she said as she shut off the truck. "Tracy Lynn Willis."
She climbed out onto her side step, and then grabbed a chainsaw out of the bed. She was just a little slip of a girl, but she hopped down with that chainsaw like she'd done it a thousand times.
I had to stop myself from staring again when she walked around the front of the pickup. The cut-off jean shorts she was wearing weren't quite Daisy Dukes, but they were close enough, and fit her just as tight as her t-shirt. I turned toward the mill and pointed in order to take my eyes off her.
She fell into step beside me, and I asked, "You from around here?"
"I'm over by Washington. I just picked up some wood from someone down the road, saw your burn pile, and thought I'd stop."
"Washington? You know Ron Jenkins?"
She laughed. "Oh, I know old Ron. I get most of my wood from him."
"He turned me onto a black walnut that I just finished sawing."
"Oh yeah?" We reached the point where we could see into the building, and she remarked, "LT 40. What kind of blades are you running?"
I answered, "Four degree double hard."
She let out a whistle. "Those go through like butter, don't they?"
"They surely do," I said with a smile. It was always nice to talk to someone who appreciated the work of the man they were dealing with.
"Can I take a look at those offcuts from the walnut too?" she asked, pointing to where they were beside the open side of the building.
"Sure thing. That was a beautiful piece of timber."
"Nice figure?"
Yes, yes it is,
I thought when I looked at her. She was sure a hot little thing. "Three crotches and curl."
"Three? I've got to see that."
"Well, come on in," I said, more than happy to share my good fortune with that log.
It was a new stack, so those slabs were only about knee height, and easy to see. Tracy walked straight over to them.