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NEW NEIGHBORS

We have new neighbors just up the mountain from us, very nice folks building a log house on a good piece of land, with southern exposure and a view of the Lake. In the process, they are trimming some trees on the property to make clearance for their roof, and will not be heating with a wood stove, soo... in a mutually neighborly favor I offered to carry all the wood scrap away, and yesterday began cutting it to stove lengths in the last light of day. There's cherry, oak and some ironwood, I was hard put to get most of it sized and stacked and covered before the rains came in the night. Out of the big pile of trim also came a dozen 1.5-meter oak logs of size enough for shiitake culturing. The monkeys will be delighted. Still much cutting and sizing yet to be done, I think wistfully as I look sawlessly out my office window in Osaka at millions of neighbors.