Spring, New Driveway and Chainsaw (tiny) Steps

It is indescribably wonderful to hear the songs of the birds in the morning, it really invigorates you and makes you feel alive. I'm hearing chickadees and thrushes and robins as we speak, not to mention a stray wild turkey or two, and it makes me feel lucky to live in Vermont. It's really beautiful out here. On the days when it's sunny and cool, with blue skies and a gentle breeze, the kids playing in the background, I can't think of anywhere else I'd like to be.

We had an excavator look at our driveway and give us an estimate on putting some hard pack on it, and it was higher than we expected. We're looking at a sizable investment, so it's not going to happen right away. There are too many other things to address, and that much money keeps us up at night, so we'll sleep on it. Our driveway is a mess, however.

My whole journey to get a chainsaw has taken a new turn: my wife gave me the thumbs up to get the bigger, more powerful machine that I wanted but didn't think warranted the extra $75. It boils down to how much do I need, versus how much do I want. When you talk to real men, they won't hesitate to say, "Go for the bigger (better) machine," as if money were no object. Well, it is an object, and highlights the dilemma of being dependent on someone else-you can't spend it freely. I'm fine with that, but it influences my purchasing decisions, as it should, in my opinion.

I see a lot of guys all around me who drop horrendous amounts of money on every tool they can get their hands on, but skimp on things that they don't have to deal with but their wives do. I feel like a tool is for our family, not just me, so I have to factor in many issues, not just what I want.

Because of this, I've been assembling my chainsaw package piece by piece. My first issue was what saw to get. It boiled down to two-Stihl or Husqvarna, of course. Most of my friends have Stihl, but a lot of serious loggers use Husqvarna. What to do? My sense is that they are equivalent, and you can't go wrong with either, so for me, it boiled down to where I was getting my saw. I went to one store that sold Huskies and it was a bit out of the way and rather new. My store of choice, Joe's, sells only Stihl (also other brands, but no Husky), and I like them for service. They just give me the best vibe, so that alone made me choose Stihl.

Except that my good friend keeps plugging Charlie Brown's. They are a local, family run shop with very cool people, except that they only sell Shindaiwa saws. I have complete faith in Japanese products, and would get one, except that there is such limited information on their saws. When you check out the forums and opinions, it's all about Stihl or Husky. The price of the Japanese saw was not that much better, anyway, and you have way more options with the Stihl. I.e., the Shindaiwa makes big jumps in size, where as the Stihls have a more gradual rise. Charlie Brown's offered a package deal, but it reminded me of the surfboard wax approach. When you buy a board, they give you handfuls of wax, giving you the impression that they're dropping all these gifts in your lap, when in fact, your not saving that much money.

CB's had a package that threw in a lot of peripheral stuff that was necessary, but the overall saving was not that huge. Lots of oil and a gas can, but really the only thing that stood out were the chaps. The saw themselves were about the same price for comparable performance, so I was not taken in. I did, however, want to support them, so I'll buy certain things over there, like chaps and helmet, and then get my saw at Joe's. At least, that's the plan.

Another part of the puzzle was steel-toe boots. They had some at CBs but they were like rain boots, which didn't bother me, but I figured I'd look around since I'm not pressed for time... sort of. My friend GS told me he saw some nice ones at Dann and Whits, and since we're out there a lot, I checked it out and found some. They were reasonably priced, though the guy who was helping me didn't help me at all. Everytime I tried to get some advice or an opinion, all he would say is, "Whatever feels good." I guess you can't argue with that, but throw me a bone, dude.

That's what you get when you deal with real men. I found a pair I liked, reasonably priced, and rather than hem and haw over it, I just got them. So I'm about 30% of the way there. I figure the saw is half of it, and once I get a helmet, I'll be half way there.

Until then, thanks for reading.

my optometrist has a stihl