The last few winters kicked my ass. This time I’m in it to win it. I’m not going into that dark night (again) without a goddamn fight.
I’ve been stacking wood every moment I get. The weather, however, has been uncooperative. Also, tragically, I’m only human. The latter is a hard limit. When I talk with people about firewood it’s a Rorschach test that tells me more about them than about firewood:
Me: “Been working pretty steady but I’m only up to 3 cords so far.”
Them: “Buck up little camper. I’m sure you’ll do it. You just need the right attitude.”
Translation: “I’m a nutless dipshit who’s never worked physically. I can’t do a goddamn thing on my own. My whole world view was formed during junior high group projects and it hasn’t changed. I am a pointless waste of oxygen that enjoys committee meetings. I think things are easy because they seem easy in my imagination. When the zombie apocalypse happens, I’ll be a dead by mid-afternoon and a shambling corpse pounding on your door by sunset.”
OR
Me: “Been working pretty steady but I’m only up to 3 cords so far.”
Them: “That sucks. Good luck doing as much as you can.”
Translation: “I’m a solid resident of reality. I’m not going to ask you to sign a petition, bitch about your choice of foods, or make fun of your truck. I’ve got my head straight and when the zombies come I’ll thin out the herd best I can. Now get the hell off my lawn.”
Anyway, I finally limped across the 3 cord threshold. It’s not enough for winter but getting there. That said, I’d like to ride into winter oversupplied… not “praying for global warming”.
I decided to throw money at it. Ugh, I shudder just thinking about it. What a revoltin’ development. I hate trying to do basic capitalism in America in 2019. It’s like my whole society forgot how to do anything. Honestly, if there was a way to buy a cord of firewood via Amazon and shipped from China… it might be worth it to avoid local yahoos.
But I set out to do the deed. Stay tuned…
You aren’t going to go buy wood like you have the past couple of years, are you?
(OTOH, those posts make me LMAO)
Good luck, remember “Advil is your friend”
I’ve been trying to cut all my own… but have resorted to cut much and buy more. Last winter kicked my ass and I’m not about to let it happen again.
Not only is three cords a lot of trees to cut, it takes a lot of trees so you need a big woodlot that needs a lot of thinning. We just live in town, but the more the price goes up, the more pecan and oak seedlings I let grow too long in the wrong places: worthless when pencil thin, but three more years and it’ll be a nice pile of kindling. LOL
I have to hunt around and find a new source every year. Cutting firewood is one way young guys hustle up some Christmas money. Or truck payment money. Or to help keep the wife from having to get a job. Their prices are competitive so they can sell it FAST.
The old guys who sell firewood charge way too much. The reason they charge twice what I want to pay is that they are hiring young guys to do the hard work, while they lean back there holding the truck up. 😉
I usually start soliciting bids (LOL) earlier than this. This year I lost nearly three weeks waiting for someone with a great price who kept claiming they were going to cut “next weekend”. The delay cost. Next year, I will start in March.
Comment two, sorry: I just discovered your Notable Sagas. Oh my! Looks like I’ll be back to the front page in the spring LOL
Oh yeah. That’s a lot of reading. And that’s only some of my “sagas”. Each one takes a full cup of coffee in time to read. (A big cup of coffee!)
Also, when you get to the squirrel stories you’ll have the joy of almost half a book… and the frustration of an author who hasn’t finished the book yet. (Never fear, I’ll finish it sooner or later.)
I was always impressed by those folks who get their wood done by the end of spring. I always kept in mind where I could find some already down & dry wood when I needed it …
For a few years I was cutting & stacking 2 years ahead (i.e. stacking in fall 2019 for wood I’d burn in fall 2020). It was pretty awesome. I had my shit together! But then I lost my shit.
I demand squirrels dammit!
Oh man, I know. I’m sorry I’m so slow with that. At least you can tell I’m not sitting on my ass. A dude who stacks wood may have weird priorities but he ‘aint lazy. It’s taking forever but I do intend to write more squirrels.
I believe I already have enough firewood for this year.
Do note that I do not have a fireplace, and live in east central Florida…
}:-]
You’re killin’ me! It’s feeling like winter RIGHT NOW and it’s still September.
And on your way off my lawn, pick up the pieces of wood that are in your way and toss them on the stack, please. Thank you.
I used to heat with wood and may be moving to an abode where I may be able to again heat with wood. OTOH, I’m gettin’ old and stuff starts to hurt. Sigh. Some kinda solar heat is starting to look more attractive. Good luck, AC.
Late summer hurricanes are my friend. Everything cut and stacked, fully ready for the cold. I also recently happened into 3 medium dump truck loads of large limbs that an arborist dumped in my yard to save him the cost of hauling away from a job. It mocks me, but I have no where to stack it until I start burning some of the ready pile.
The question of how many more years I can do this comes up from time to time.