Off-duty President Bush is at home on the range

CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush is filthy, his wrist is bleeding and sweat is dripping from his chin. But he is exuberant as he hauls freshly cut cedar to a burn pile.

"We're lifting weights!" he says, a thick log on each shoulder. Throwing them onto the pyramid, he cries: "Oh, baby!"

This is Bush Unplugged at the Texas ranch he loves. It is the president in his anti-Washington mode, in a world where he can roam canyons, jog across the open prairie, fish for bass and rescue his beloved oak trees from the suffocating cedar.

Visiting the 1,600-acre ranch helps him decompress, Bush said as he gave a tour to an Associated Press reporter. But the job is never far away. Aides keep their distance. They also keep the workload coming.

"I'm able to clear my mind and it helps me put it all in perspective," Bush said as his pickup bumped across a field, country music playing on the radio. "Problems don't go away when we're here, but you can see them in a different light."