Greatwall Studios Graphic Design

And it isn’t from who I would have expected either. It is from one of the smaller periphery brands I subcontract for, that previously had not done much more than the occasional one off print ad for a local grocery store chain. Seems they have undergone some serious rebranding, and/or market positioning so I am essentially building it from scratch in an all new (to me) manner. Not bad.

In other news two other major clients have finally finished their PO’s, so they will need to allocate more funds to continue working, or halt until January 1st. I prefer the allocation of additional funds myself, but since the PO’s lasted from January to nearly the end of November I think they got their money’s worth out of the deal. I hope to convince them to spend more money with my company in 2026, and beyond!

I am still chasing down some small invoices from another client, which is always disheartening. Everybody wants their work completed in a rush, but then can take three to four months to pay out. It’s infuriating. Hurry up, and wait.

In other news, I found a tick on my person earlier today which I’m not all that thrilled about. Not cool. I split wood for seven weeks without issue. Now two days into chainsawing and I pick up a tick from the log piles. Ugh. Not cool man. Not cool.

The Leafs somehow managed to win in overtime last night, which was a pleasant surprise. They did not play well. Lots of missed opportunities. Will kept them in the game for much of the sixty minutes. Let in a loose near side goal which seemed to suck the air out of the room, but then the young kid scored his first ever goal from the sharpest angle possible. So that was awesome. That tied the game at the end of the third. I forget who knocked in the winner, but it was sudden, and kind of anticlimactic of all things. An away game, so it makes sense. No horns. No smoke. No flashing lights. No raucous crowd cheering for blood. A win is a win.

Now I’m waiting for further instruction on the big project. So I’ll watch the snow fall for a spell. Ciao Bella.

The issue I have with this angle is it doesn’t accurately show either the depth of the pile, or the full logs along the bottom of the barn, and the stacks at the back by the old fence closer to those Pine/Douglas Fir trees. There is quite a bit of chainsaw work to do here, and once splitting season starts in 2027 (ha!) it will take all of September, October, and much of November to get through it all splitting by hand with my axes. I’m going to have strong hands, shoulders, and back muscles by then, holy cow!

It was supposed to rain a lot harder this morning, so I didn’t take any tools with me on the dog walk. But that’s ok, because I have paid work to do today, so I’m otherwise occupied. But if I hadn’t have had any work I’d be miffed at myself for not bringing at least the smaller saw just in case. If the weather is nice on Thursday or Friday I will get a start on processing this stuff too. I could leave it to do next year, but since I do not know when, or if any urban forestry people are going to drop off any more wood, I’d like to do what I can while I have easy access to it.

On another note we went back to climbing last night for the first time in a month, and it was all good. We have memberships now, so we can go whenever we like. I’m excited! I wasn’t as rusty as I had feared after the gap in attendance. I was still able to complete a few brand new (to me) 5.8’s, so that’s a bit of all right! I did not venture to try any 5.9’s because I wanted my arms to not be fried this morning (as I have paid work to do). There were still a fair number of old routes still up on the walls, so it wasn’t as new feeling as I would have hoped for. But it’s fun, good exercise, and my youngest will actually do it, so it’s all good.

Have a wonderful Wednesday, the last one in November 2025! My how the time does fly.

I consider Pile One to be as good as it is going to get until I start splitting again next fall. I have the bigger logs that I can reasonably manage to manhandle all bucked into small bite sized sections. Not only that but I have stacked them nice and close to where I will be splitting them next fall. So that was a lot of back end processing to make the act of splitting that much easier in 2026. Good job!

I got through one more tank of gas on the big saw, and picked off some tiny straggler bits with the little saw, and then proceeded to call it a day. If we get one more day with no rain this week I will venture down to Pile Three. However, it is really big, and kind of a mess so the first day there might be spent moving bits around to give myself the best possible spot to work in, once I get around to splitting down there.

Pile Three has several sixteen to twenty foot logs piled up, eight footers that are at least 24-36 inches in diameter, as well as lots of limbs, and off cut bits I will need to sort out. There is far too much there to stack it nearly, so I think my plan of action is to throw the bucked rounds into a tighter pile closer to where I was working in Pile Two. Put them up tighter to the barn. Free up some of the grassy areas for more wood should any arrive, or to allow me to park my vehicle nice and close by because that’s where all the tools are, and my snacks, and beverages. Plus the dog wants to be close, but not deafened by the saws.

Although once I get going 8 might just toss the pieces where I see fit, as the path of least resistance. It doesn’t take much log moving to get tired, and waylay all of my precious plans. Apathy and muscle soreness kicks in, and I give in to my laziness. Ha!

Now we wait for more reasonable weather to appear because I don’t fancy working in the rain, or active snowfall. Also chainsawing when there is ice on the ground doesn’t seem all that smart to me. Let us see how things shake out. Ciao Bella!

I’m hoping to go back to climbing with my kids tonight. It’s been at least three weeks if not more since we last went. I miss it!

Though my safety helmet arrived late Friday evening, I decided to wait until first thing Monday morning to put it to use. I did the usual school drop off run, and a treat filled dog walk, security coverage of the farm, before 8 got dressed in my PPE to start sawing up some of the bigger stuff my little MS170 Stihl was not having much fun with. And you know what, it kicks when you give it the beans, but it is otherwise well worth the money (so far). I burned a full tank of mixed fuel (40:1 to be exact, whereas my Stihl uses 50:1, which means separate mixed fuel cans for both machines, plus a third larger vessel just for straight gasoline.) it worked admirably. I am happy. Both the saw, the chaps, and the Green Devil forestry helmet/visor/glasses/ear protection combo worked a real treat. The Proyama 68 CC. Chainsaw is 116 decibels, so not a fun toy to run if you have no hearing protection on.

I also stacked the new bigger rounds I made today, so that took some doing. I might have cut these rounds closer to twelve inches thick rather than a full sixteen, because I had to carry and/or roll them forty some odd feet to where I’m stacking near the chopping block. More effort up front means less effort next fall when I go to split it.

At some point late this week my Husqvarna chainsaw gloves are due to arrive. I have a handful of logs in Pile One left to buck. And then it will be time to focus on the behemoth patch that is Pile Three. Good grief, it feels bigger every time 8 walk anywhere near it! I think it’s growing all on its own. I suspect the weather will turn wet, or snowy so I do not expect to get too far into processing Pile Three before I give up for winter.

One thing I hate most about my Crohn’s disease is what it has done to my teeth & gums. They get very sensitive to the cold weather. Sends my nerves into a painful fit that can last several hours, even with the proper toothpastes, and a fabric covering. Plus I start to itch like crazy in the severe cold, so that puts a real damper on being outside too. Need to dress warmly, but not too warm as once you start to work & move about you’ll sweat, then get chills, and ruin your day with weird body temperature issues. Fun times.

For a change of pace we took the kids to Wonderfest at Canada’s Wonderland for the late afternoon. Got there just before four o’clock, and was heading back to the car by six thirty. We had dinner inside the Lazy Bear over by the Mountain. I did not realize it had a downstairs eating area. What luck! The youngest & I scoured out seating for the four of us, so that worked out well in the end. We also stopped off four six pieces of garlic bread to eat on the way home, so that was a tasty way to finish off the late afternoon.

My wife has always wanted to see the show at the King’s Gate theater, or whatever they call it now. We’ve missed it a few years running, but not yesterday. We got great seats near the back by the exit, so it wasn’t hard to leave once the show was done.

The show itself was thirty minutes long, and was entertaining. Kids liked it a great deal. I know my wife liked it. The shows we saw at Busch Gardens for the Christmas holidays was hard to top, as it had figure skating in it, and my three ladies love them some figure skating. That being said, it was a good show. Lively & bright, with nice props, backgrounds, back drops, and costumes. I would watch it again this season if we needed to.

You know what I do need to do? I need to figure out how to keep dust from the sawing out of my nose. I can feel it in there, and it’s making me want to sneeze. Glad for the new face shield. Good visibility, and easy to push up out of my way. The integrated safety glasses are a real hoot. It’s a nice touch! Soft on the bridge of my nose too.

I had best get to the paid work. I see I have at least one work related email in the queue. Ciao Bella!

Did not get ahead of my reading schedule, that’s for certain. The fact that I needed to get, and wear reading glasses put a major damper on my desire to read this year. Mostly because I don’t keep my glasses on me, but in my office. I need them for the reports, because 99% of that work comes off of an Excel spreadsheet, and while I am good at wearing them while working, I don’t feel like going downstairs to fetch them to read when on the main floor, or if I’m out & about. Definitely spent more time with YouTube, Reddit, and Threads this year, instead of reading books. It’s a weakness, I know. Should I ever need new lenses on the glasses I’m going while lense as readers. And not bifocals. I thought I might wear them all the time, so I gave myself that option to do so, but I don’t. Money well wasted at that point. Ha.

I did read six books cover to cover (so far) and two partial reads. I need books to be about 300 pages, and read quickly, without too much naming complexity in the characters. Also, I need to care what is going on, and for those two hold out books. I don’t give a shit. If I could swap these books for large print versions of themselves I might read more, because the text would be readable without glasses. I’m just lazy.

Did not go out to watch many movies at all this year. Nuremberg looks good, but I doubt I’ll get to it while it is in theaters. We had two new Predator films this year, and I have seen fifteen minutes of one (which I liked) but never went back because I forgot about it almost instantly. Not sure what that says.

I didn’t do as much wood working, sculpting, model building this year either. Played my guitar a little more. But the phone took up a lot of my time. The Xbox Series X ate up many hours with Diableo, Gears of War 4, and Goat Simulator. I didn’t do much of any creative writing at all either.

Chopped wood, and got back into chainsawing wood as a past time. Also spent two days a week this year climbing indoors, which was pretty awesome. Did a huge purge of the garage. Purged the house of my extraneous stuff. Got rid of lots of toys, and general junk. We donated coats and clothes by the garbage bag full. I have taken books, and sports equipment to the local charity shop as well. My closet is as thinned out as it has ever been. I did buy two pairs of work pants that I have worn religiously, instead of track pants, and sweats. I do still have an enormous collection of t-shirts, but with how quickly the armpits get plasticized by deodorant, I can’t have enough clean tees at the ready it seems.

We could probably pull a full jumbo garbage bag worth of clothing out of each child’s bedroom/closet, but that takes a lot of time, and considerable effort, and planning.

Been a weird year.

I have a fair bit of work ahead of me in this pile alone, but if we eventually get a splitter here then I can clean up Pile Two as well, before I head over to Pile Three. I have not taken any photos of Pile Three as of yet, because it is enormous, and I cannot wrap my head around how to process those logs, and stack them where I can easily work on them next year, or the year after, without taking up more space than is absolutely necessary. I need to clear room to then stack everything back into it neatly. It is going to be a good awful amount of labour to move all of this wood around. Weeks worth of effort, for something I won’t get to until late 2026, 2027, or after. Let’s just say that if the power grid goes down, we will be ok for heat, the ability to boil water, and have warm baths.

Starting on Monday I will begin to attack the longer logs, and then rolling the rounds into position to season for next year. Leaving myself enough room to continue splitting this year, if I decide to do so once these logs are all bucked. I did go ahead and order a face shield because while the goggles protected my eyes, the entire rest of my face was being pelted by wood chips, and debris, and I didn’t appreciate that all that much. So now I will have a full battery of PPE to keep this as safe as 8 can make it.

I now have in my possession, or coming via mail, steel toed boots, Husqvarna chainsaw chaps, Husqvarna chainsaw gloves, and a Green Devil helmet, with integrated goggles, face shield, and hearing protection. I feel like I can tackle the wood pile in a safe manner now, with the protection I was looking for. I can’t do anything about logs shifting or rolling with PPE, so I do need to be ever vigilant about that sort of thing. Same with tripping hazards. Must keep a clean walking surface, and eliminate obstacles wherever I am able. Picking a suitable working space has been vital to this step. Flat even ground. Wide open spaces. Having clear paths throughout the pile, to the bins, to the waste bark pile, and to the chopping block area. I have fuel, and tools stored at a safe distance.

I have snacks and drinks for myself, and the dog on hand in the vehicle. I also have a comfortable camping chair for frequent rest breaks. I am really setting myself up for success here, I think. Until I get bored of it, or paid work starts to roll in, and I’m too busy to be outdoors working on the wood piles. I should be fine to set aside 90 minutes in the mornings, but we will see how life shakes out!

Happy Saturday morning to you all. We’re off for photos with Santa shortly. Then an afternoon doing some of the inlaws back yard leaves, with no blower on hand to help out. Should be a blast!

While it is on the warm side, relatively speaking, it was still a process to gather up both kids to take the dog for a nice long walk at the farm before the rain clouds opened up. We made it! Just barely. In the car heading home only two minutes before the sky opened up and it unleashed a torrent of pelting rain drops upon us. Didn’t last all that long though. Must be pushing south at a good clip.

We saw the grain trucks coming and going while we were there too. I’ve seen them several days in a row, sat idle. One day I caught a longer double truck leave when the road construction was present doing work on the culverts. How he managed to get out on the road with all that equipment there is beyond me. I know he didn’t take the grass because it’s got a serious grade to it, and he’d get stuck in seconds trying that route. That’s why you hire professionals I suppose.

I took the kids to inspect the wood piles, so that I can get a sense of where I want to start processing the larger logs next week. I still feel like some of them should go on a saw mill for planks, and furniture wood stock, but that’s a whole separate issue. Right now I’m focused on prepping wood rounds to be split next fall, because I have not been able to split in a couple weeks now. Both because I was busy with my final three reports for the year, and a short family vacation, weather interruptions, and a general sense of feeling a little lazy. Also because much of what is left in pile one isn’t seasoned enough, and I cannot seem to get it to come apart without the wedge & a sledge hammer. That’s not as much fun as the axe, or swinging the maul. The wedge is far slower, and far more labour intensive. It also results in my wrist, and elbow pain for me, so I limit how much I do with the wedge. I have my eye on a larger Estwing wedge, but the price skyrocketed from $38 to $56 over the course of the last three weeks. That’s a lot of cash for a nine inch glob of shaped steel in my books.

Also I have the chainsaws up and running, so the new fangled toys have my attention right this minute. It all plays towards the same ends, so I’m not going to fight my whims right now. Processing the logs needs to be done anyway, if I want stuff to chop next year. Pile three could wind up taking the better part of a year in, and of itself. So I’m in no rush to get to that. I am going to have to stack really long lines of wood on the grass, because we could not keep enough green wire bins on hand to house all the wood we have right this moment. If any other arborists come by to drop of more wood, we will happily wait until next year to even attempt to process it, for the year after that’s splitting session. This stuff doesn’t go over night. Pile three could be twelve feet high, three stacks deep, and forty feet long, and I’m sure there would be wood, bark, and chips left over. It’s going to be insane. Might have to sell the split wood by the truckload just to be rid of it.

Although to be fair, in order to get to that point I would need a gas powered splitter, because while I have had fun chopping for ninety minutes a morning for the last two months, the real tough, fibrous woods have given me a nasty time. To actually get through all of this wood, a 32 tonne, or higher gas powered splitter would be necessary. Preferably one that can tilt to vertical so the much larger rounds don’t have to be lifted up off the ground. Maybe a four way wedge too, wouldn’t go amiss. Speed things up considerably! If I had the money! Not only that but a vehicle with a tow hitch mount, and a ball, and safety chains, locking pins and such.

I did finally order myself chainsaw specific gloves to help me keep all of my fingers, and both hands. So 8 will be working in proper CSA boots, chaps, gloves, hearing protection, and goggles. I don’t fell trees so I believe I can get away with no hard hat. A face shield might come in handy, but the goggles are doing a lot to protect my eyes. Sharp chains are keeping the wood bits nice and big limiting the amount of dust (so far).

Today is the last PA Day of the year, so I am trying to keep work at bay today, so that I can focus on the kids. They are fighting others together on Roblox if what I’m hearing is correct. That or 99 nights in the forest. Either way they aren’t squabbling, and for that I am happy. My oldest is off to a birthday party this afternoon to see Wicked II, so she’s pretty excited about that. The youngest not so much. She isn’t going. She doesn’t have the attention span to sit through an entire movie, especially not one she has never seen before. Has a touch of ADHD, or something along those lines. Can concentrate like a mf on something she enjoys though. To the detriment of all else. So perhaps a little spectrum(y) too. Ha. Just like dear old dad I’m afraid. I really have to push to do things I do not like. Singular focus is my jam man. Being interrupted suuuuuuucks.

Happy Friday to all those that don’t have to work on weekends. May your last PA Day of 2025 be uneventful, or very eventful depending on which vibe you were striving for. Ciao Bella!

I really got a good groove going on with the wood pile. Turning logs into useable rounds. It’s rather fun actually. I have steel toed boots, chainsaw pants, goggles, hearing protection, and for now leather gloves, which I hope to upgrade to chainsaw specific gloves so I don’t lose a hand, or any fingers if I get some kick back, or a moment of distraction from the dog, or other farm workers on sight.

The stuff I’m bucking into 14-16 inch portions now should be good to split next fall. I have lots of bigger stuff I can split, but now that I have my Stihl up & running smoothly. Along with multiple spare chains, I feel like doing this for a bit instead of swinging the axes around. Plus the 24″ bar, 68 CC Proyama is up & running now, and I might choose to tackle some of the larger stuff either tomorrow or first thing Monday morning. I will be very glad for my hearing protection, because the new Proyama 68 CC chainsaw puts out about 116 db of constant sound. That’s an awful lot. Not ever going to use that without headphones on, that’s for sure. Yikes!

I have uncovered a number of midsized logs that had been hidden by other limbs, and junk wood. So soon my to be split pile will be rather large, but I’m stacking it near where I’ll be splitting it, so that should eliminate a fair bit of labour next year. I haven’t even touched pile three yet. Now that I see how long it takes me to buck, stack, sort, and split wood there is almost 6 months of work for me in pile three alone.

I don’t foresee myself working on this stuff throughout the winter, as it gets too cold here in southern Ontario. But for November, and possibly early December I can certainly see myself out there puttering around for a couple hours each day. I’m not doing 9-5’s here folks. I’m very privileged that I can come & go as I please while working away on these wood piles. If I didn’t do it (even as slowly as I am moving) it would not be getting done otherwise, so I have that working in my favour. I get grace on my pace, because I’m footing the bill for gas, bar oil, 2 stroke engine oil, chains, sharpening, the saws themselves, my safety equipment, my time, effort, and my own food/snacks and beverages. This is about exercise first, and foremost. And also about staying occupied, giving the dog longer walks at the farm. Being a visible body at the farm to deter ne’er do-wells, as they had a break in months ago because the tenant fucks off all the time, to God knows where, and doesn’t tell anybody he’s going.

Anyway, it’s now Thursday November 21st, and we are so close to the end of yet another year. I’ll have to get into the habit of writing 2026 on stuff before you know it. Oh well. The alternative is death, so I’ll stick with the mild date confusion for now.

Last PA Day of the year tomorrow, so I had best get my self in gear to finish my last report for 2025. I’d love to not have to bury my nose in my computer screen while my children are home out of school for the day. I’d like to go and do something meaningful with them if I can. They won’t be children for much longer. My eldest is already double digits, running head long into being a pre-teens “youth”. My youngest isn’t exactly that far behind, hot on her heels. Soon enough they will be ignoring me, and out & about with friends at all hours of the day. It’ll just be the wife, dog, and myself here before I even know how to cope with that! Waaaah… Boo-urns!

And… No one cares. Ticket prices have dropped a good 40-50% for the 300 sections up near the rafters, and you know what, I’m still not sold on going. It’s a whole lot of work to get down town. Driving, train, and buses all have different schedules, departure locations, and the timing to catch any of those options means we can’t stay to watch overtime play, should the game get that far. If we miss the ten pm train, we essentially have to wait for the midnight bus, and then still have to walk a good portion home, and then get ready for bed. It’s a whole thing. I’d much prefer a weekend game where I don’t have to be up for the school run the very next morning, along with a cranky over tired kid.

If I drive to the train station well south of us, we have no choice but to wait for that line to run again. Which could put us at Union station potentially for hours plural waiting, and all the food court locations shut down by then. No food, no snacks, just two tired folks having to wait too long a time for public transportation. Driving down and parking ourselves isn’t any better. Parking costs more than the bus/train trips combined. Ridiculous. I’d rather wear our jerseys and watch the game at home. No bathroom lines. Cheaper food. Better food.

Oh well, no matter. They came of a five or six game losing streak to win last night. So I don’t fancy this year going any better for them. Time to sell off whatever they can, and rebuild — again.

Started off by filling two more green wire bins with split firewood, and then changed the chain on the saw, and used one tank of fuel to chop up some smaller diameter logs into useable fire wood rounds. I didn’t do any of this yesterday because it was cold, windy and the snow had yet to recede. Today was perfect for bucking logs, and stacking wood in bins. The dogs not a fan of the chainsaw, more so than the axe splitting, but I made sure he got to run around before I got to work.

I did order myself (for Christmas) a new higher powered Proyama 68CC chainsaw with both a 20″, and a 24 inch bar. So now once I get that set up, I will be able to buck even the largest logs that have been left at the farm. Though it seems I will not get to any of that this week, because the third, and final report for the year has just come in, and I need to start on it immediately. Luckily I was already done with the small saw because I had run out of fuel, and had packed up to come home. So fantastic timing!

Now I can wash up, eat breakfast, and hunker down to work on the final report for 2025, barring any crazy last minute requests that could potentially pop up, however unlikely. Then at the end of January we will start on the 2026 RoseBowl Parade & Bowl Game.

Not going to lie, the chinesium saw I bought was 4X cheaper than the equivalent Stihl or Husqvarna with the same capacity. I am hoping that because I use them fairly lightly, and not at all regularly that it will last me a few years. I can find lots of parts on Amazon, so it should be mostly repairable if I have an issue. Fingers crossed!

Even if it isn’t rated at the full 68CC it should still offer me more power than the 30CC of the MS170 Stihl saw 8 currently have that is nearing twenty years of age. Like I said, I don’t use them all that much. Twice a year on all these old trees that drop limbs is about all I do. But now that I’m interested in splitting wood, I’d love to be able to process down the bigger logs that get dumped by arborists at the farm. Might cost me some gas money, time & effort, but it stops them from going to rot. Maple syruping uses an absolute fuck tonne of fire wood to boil 24 hours a day, for eight to eleven days straight. But I digress. The reverse osmosis machine has removed some of that boiling time, and freezing off the straight water helps too. Still needs a big flame to keep a 3 x 6 foot pan, of five inches deep sap. boiling continuously. It’s a process!

Since I am the one bucking these logs 8 can make them shorter, so they aren’t as heavy, and hard to manoeuvre around the yard. No need to put my back out for a hobby. If we somehow get rich, then a gas powered splitter will come my way in the coming years. Here’s to dreaming!