Ah, summer vacation. The beach? Camping? Perhaps a week off in the city, catching a show or museum? Or how about lugging a chain saw around for hours in close to 40 degree-heat, chopping up cedar trees? Ah, summer vacation for President George Bush.

The president chooses to unwind during August in a furnace called central Texas and his most cherished pastime there is "clearing brush" on his 1,600- acre ranch. This summertime hobby, he has said, along with fishing and jogging, helps him relieve his job stress.

A man cut from the frontier, Bush dismisses any notion that he should be sprawled on some breezy beach.

"Most Americans," he told a reporter last summer, "don't sit in Martha's Vineyard swilling white wine." (The vineyard just happened to be a favourite summer destination for President Clinton.)

The president seems happiest wandering the canyons and prairies on his spread outside Crawford, Texas, wielding a chain saw, showing no mercy to unwanted flora. He is typically escorted by friends or aides as well as by Secret Service agents.

Mr Bush lays waste to cedar and other species that dare sap water from his oak trees or stand in the way of walking trails. The president hacks, chops and buzzes. He loads dead brush into burn piles. Never mind the dry, stifling heat. He's out there, sweaty, grimy, bleeding from cuts and yes, he likes it.

The president returned on Friday night from a trip to California to begin five days on the ranch with an empty public schedule. There is a lot of brush to clear.