Ryan McFarland

I have a long list of things that i like. I’m into stuff. Well, more than 10 years ago i added a Husqvarna 262 chainsaw to my collection of things. It is one of my few hard-working posessions that still does the job as well as the first day i used it. You know the saying “i’d rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford” - i’m like that about my chainsaw. I’ll drive home and get my saw instead of using the work one when the occasion for me to run a saw pops up. Four pulls and it will start.

It has cut trees on my parent’s lot (what, maybe a dozen mom?) and i took it to Pennsylvania for a paid job at my Aunt and Uncle’s place. By some glances at my life you might think i’m a whacky environmentalist - recycling everything i can, a distain for hunting (but love for the meat), the constant urge to compost… but let me get my chisel-tip chain into some yellow cedar and you’d see a different side of me. I have even transported my chainsaw in my kayak (gasp!). I can’t wait to have a fully healed leg so i can pull on my Carhartt overalls that are so worn they feel like flannel on the inside. Load my saw, some gas and oil, the axe that i bought for $2.50 at a garage sale in the Adirondacks in 1993, the cant hook, and a few plastic wedges into the surplused Forest Service truck and fill the bed with cedar. I’ll have to get the sawdust out of my pockets and boots. The sap will stick to my hands and the smell of the bar oul and exhaust will be on my skin, clothing, and hair.