Timber

Took refuge in the forest for this mornings walk to shelter from a nasty cold east wind. Taking some solace in the weather forecasts for later this week.

Some may remember Blips in the autumn of my adventures with taking tree trunks to a local sawmill owned by Max Zinth. A family business run alongside their small organic dairy farm by Max and his wife with a little help from the two school age young boys.

In the Blip, the 60 odd, twenty meter long logs have been marked up for him. If I happen to go by the sawmill, will have to ask him if it's timber for a contract he has or for stock.

Marking felled trees generally follows a very standardised scheme but I was a bit surprised at how many markings these had. Seems they must have had the auditors in or else the piles were used for training apprentices.

From my time of helping out ex neighbour Sepp Ort in his forest, the felled logs are measured for length, then with a large caliper, the diameter taken at the middle of the log and a set deduction made for the bark (1cm I think for spruce of this length up to 29cm dia. and 2cm. above that.). The result is then written on the base in a circle such as 20/27 meaning 20 meters and 27cm diameter. Once measured each log is entered in a logbook and a dot sprayed on to show it has been entered and in Sepp's case we always numbered each log with a large hammer with a number dial.

Have actually felt quite buoyed up after seeing the German presidential election yesterday and in particular hearing the new holder's speech. In the current situation, choosing a politician to fill the role is more than risky but his record suggests he will be a good choice.

To hear him talking about Germany having a responsibility to defend democracy, a gift they were given in 1945 by the Allies was an eye opener. At least two of the Allies ruling politicians have forgotten what democracy is, and in one of those countries, one is prepared to sell one's soul to the devil.

He did also say Germany was certainly not perfect but isn't it nice to see that even Germany's extreme right wing nationalist party (AfD), threw out one of it's senior leaders today, because he criticised Germany for their holocaust memorial in Berlin ""we Germans are the only people in the world who have planted a memorial of shame in the heart of their capital". Sadly it looks as though the ordinary members of the party will be able to get him reinstated.