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- Aug 26, 2004
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Woodbusting, Day 1:
3 hours
Friday:
Mud: It had rained before the fire. Everything was soaked.
Arrive on sight. Weather is decent. Hoodie weather, more or less. We bust out the timber carriers and proceed to go crazy with them. ATV was down, dump truck was out of gas, so it was all manual labor to get the wood. Dragged a few long trees out (8 inches or less in diameter). Carried them over, dragged more, etc.
Some flipping.
The timber carriers are excellent grip tools, especially if only two people are using them. That way, you have to carry the log using a famer's walk grip on them instead of a deadlift grip. Excellent workout with these.
Firetending:
15 hours
Ugh. Good night for firetending, esp considering how cold it could have gotten. Still, 15 hours is 15 hours. I actively tended for about 6 or so, chopped up some of the long trees with an axe, took some time off, drank alot, sobered up a bit, tended a bit more, drank more (alot_ and went completely off duty. Evidently, me and another guy started a game of "headbutt tag" where one of us would run up to the other, headbutt them, and then run like hell as the other person chased them around the fire. Finally crashed at around 10-11 AM.
5 hours sleep
Woodbusting: Day 2
Wake up and woodbust. Straight back into it. 2-3 hours of carrying wood (timber carriers, again). Not a lot of big stuff to get, but a lot of longer cabin logs to play with.
Firetending: 15 more hours
Took first shift while everyone else went up to eat.
Next up: Wind. Lots of wind. This wasn't bad at first. Warm day, decently warm at first at night. First 4 hours or so of the burn were going good, but then:
Rain: Most of the attendees who were not firetenders retreated to the shelter barn on sight where the food was earlier. Temperature gradually dropped over the course of the night. Everyone got soaked. I went through three jackets and all my hoodies, hats, and beanies. The rain bad, but it was the wind that really got us. We sat up an Easy Up pavilion, which we ended up having to hold onto to keep it from being ripped out of the ground. All this time, we of course had to keep the fire going.
The pit had developed a moat around it, so we had to go through the ankle deep mudpuddles to tend the fire...
1 hour break in which I went up to the poll shelter barn, mainly to keep an eye on a very intoxicated person who was only wearing a sweater and jeans. I gave them a dry change of clothes and some anhydrous caffeine (which went over very, very well at this event).
Finishing it up: Finally, the rain stopped around 4 AM. Now, it was time for:
Cold. Tempurature dropped quickly from here. Luckily, we were equipped for that, and tore the fire apart and rebuilt it so it was a Meteor. We through pre-cut firewood on in a huge pile, surrounded that with longer cabin logs, and let the wind rip into it. It was awesome to see the huge glowing orb sitting in the middle of what was rapidly becoming a frozen lake. When it flared up and really caught, no one was cold, and people were able to dry out.
8 AM: Sunrise. The ground is freezing now. We've burned everything. None of that mattered. The fire was still going, and we busted out the Discordia (Orange juice, Rum, and a ton of other random alcohols/ ingredients) and got totally smashed.
2 hours sleep
Pack up, go home.
3 hours
Friday:
Mud: It had rained before the fire. Everything was soaked.
Arrive on sight. Weather is decent. Hoodie weather, more or less. We bust out the timber carriers and proceed to go crazy with them. ATV was down, dump truck was out of gas, so it was all manual labor to get the wood. Dragged a few long trees out (8 inches or less in diameter). Carried them over, dragged more, etc.
Some flipping.
The timber carriers are excellent grip tools, especially if only two people are using them. That way, you have to carry the log using a famer's walk grip on them instead of a deadlift grip. Excellent workout with these.
Firetending:
15 hours
Ugh. Good night for firetending, esp considering how cold it could have gotten. Still, 15 hours is 15 hours. I actively tended for about 6 or so, chopped up some of the long trees with an axe, took some time off, drank alot, sobered up a bit, tended a bit more, drank more (alot_ and went completely off duty. Evidently, me and another guy started a game of "headbutt tag" where one of us would run up to the other, headbutt them, and then run like hell as the other person chased them around the fire. Finally crashed at around 10-11 AM.
5 hours sleep
Woodbusting: Day 2
Wake up and woodbust. Straight back into it. 2-3 hours of carrying wood (timber carriers, again). Not a lot of big stuff to get, but a lot of longer cabin logs to play with.
Firetending: 15 more hours
Took first shift while everyone else went up to eat.
Next up: Wind. Lots of wind. This wasn't bad at first. Warm day, decently warm at first at night. First 4 hours or so of the burn were going good, but then:
Rain: Most of the attendees who were not firetenders retreated to the shelter barn on sight where the food was earlier. Temperature gradually dropped over the course of the night. Everyone got soaked. I went through three jackets and all my hoodies, hats, and beanies. The rain bad, but it was the wind that really got us. We sat up an Easy Up pavilion, which we ended up having to hold onto to keep it from being ripped out of the ground. All this time, we of course had to keep the fire going.
The pit had developed a moat around it, so we had to go through the ankle deep mudpuddles to tend the fire...
1 hour break in which I went up to the poll shelter barn, mainly to keep an eye on a very intoxicated person who was only wearing a sweater and jeans. I gave them a dry change of clothes and some anhydrous caffeine (which went over very, very well at this event).
Finishing it up: Finally, the rain stopped around 4 AM. Now, it was time for:
Cold. Tempurature dropped quickly from here. Luckily, we were equipped for that, and tore the fire apart and rebuilt it so it was a Meteor. We through pre-cut firewood on in a huge pile, surrounded that with longer cabin logs, and let the wind rip into it. It was awesome to see the huge glowing orb sitting in the middle of what was rapidly becoming a frozen lake. When it flared up and really caught, no one was cold, and people were able to dry out.
8 AM: Sunrise. The ground is freezing now. We've burned everything. None of that mattered. The fire was still going, and we busted out the Discordia (Orange juice, Rum, and a ton of other random alcohols/ ingredients) and got totally smashed.
2 hours sleep
Pack up, go home.
