Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Just for Fun

Because we're afraid we'll run out of work projects here on ye ol' homestead (ya, uh-huh, sure), my husband ordered another truckload of birch firewood which was delivered yesterday.

Make no mistake, we have had our two wood sheds chock full of firewood since early on this summer. We actually have a chunk of the eight foot maple logs still to cut up from the last load we had delivered, but we had no place to stack the cut and split wood so we've been ignoring it.

I think hubby wants to get ahead with about a twenty year supply of wood in case he decides to slow down a bit by then. That way he won't have to worry about not having enough firewood to keep us warm! (Just kidding. I think.)

It's fascinating to watch the load being transferred from semi to a pile in our back yard. This guy really knows what he's doing. It took less than 30 minutes to unload all of it. (That's thirteen cords of wood!)

Just another hard, hard working logger/trucker doin' his thing.

Wonder what's going through my husband's mind as he looks at this pile. He's probably thinking he sure is glad he has a strong wife to help him.

13 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

Suddenly I feel exhausted.

LindaCO said...

Holy Moly! Prepared you are.

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Wow! Now that is a 'delivery'! And one I will show the hubby!

Judy D in WA said...

My first thought: Oh my aching back!
That is indeed an impressive load of wood. It will be even more impressive when it is cut into chunks and stacked. Some days wood cutting is a fun job, other days, not so much. :)

Susan said...

Ai-yi-yi! That is one heckof a load of wood you got there, Mama Pea! You won't be cold until 2030 or so. I shudder to think of cutting and splitting all of that.

Erin said...

Great photos! Seriously though, how long does 13 cords of wood last for you? I read in Mother Earth News that the "average" home heats with 4 cords per season, and I'm thinking "what's average, California or Tennessee?" LOL

I Just Live Here said...

Im gonna laugh for a week .. thanks

Patty said...

Yep, you've got enough to warm you up 4 times over...cutting it, splitting it, stacking it and burning it! Looks like work. My kids would be boohooing loudly if they saw that at our house. They're working through our last ten cords with the splitter right now. Today when the hay delivery guy came, the kids were complaining that they should get an allowance for just doing nothing. It wasn't enough to be paid to help with the wood. The delivery guy said if they're paid to help with wood, that's a gift. :) Something their Dad says all the time.

Mama Pea said...

JJ - Naw, it will be good winter exercise!

Linda - Good, dry wood is better'n money in the bank!

Apple Pie Gal - The loaded semi truck does look kinda impressive, doesn't it?

Judy - I sure wouldn't want to do it on any of these hot, humid days we've had this summer.

Susan - We've got a system for the two of us and it actually goes pretty fast. I love a job where you can SEE the progress at the end of the day.

Erin - I don't know of anybody anywhere near here that can heat with wood and get by with only 4 cords of wood per season.

We are currently using close to 10 cords a season but we know that's inefficient and have definite plans to change that. We keep our attached (on the north side of house) garage heated all winter and are in the process of walling off about a third of it for hubby's workshop rather than having to use enough wood in the rather inefficient stove out there to heat the whole blasted space.

Also our main woodstove in the house has been installed with the pipe going straight up (we've had a space problem) but as soon as we can accomplish that part of the remodeling, it will be vented out the back and then up which will give us much more bang for our buck.

Also part of the house has been unfinished for several years and when those rooms are done, we'll be able to get by with less wood.

So we're just struggling along, cutting more wood than we want to, until we get more "set up." We hope to someday make it on 6 cords a year.

ManFort - You're welcome!

Patty - How else are the kiddlies gonna learn responsibility?? Good for you and D!

Unknown said...

My grandfather's version of the wood cutting idiom: "He who cuts his own wood warms himself twice. Three times, if he uses a chainsaw!"

Mama Pea said...

Alison - Sounds like your grandfather had some first-hand experience at the wood pile! :o)

Unknown said...

Oh yeah! My family had a summer cottage on Georgian Bay in Ontario. One of the tiny islands in the archipelago. No central heat, no indoor plumbing, etc. Water came up from the lake, waste water went into a septic tank. We had one of those toilets with the pedal at the bottom. You had to pour water into it before you could "flush" it. All our heat was from a Franklin stove in the main room, or the wood stove in the kitchen (although we did have a gas range for actual cooking). Yep - lots of experience cutting wood!

Mama Pea said...

Alison - Oh gosh, a Franklin stove is not the most efficient stove for heating either. I know that because we had one for years! And how many old-timers depended on the wood cook stove for heating that end of the house. We did. I had a kitchen counter/island thing forming kind of an L with our wood cook stove and I really, really appreciated that warmth on cold winter mornings.

When we graduated from an outhouse, we had one of those toilets you describe in the bathroom inside the house. They worked very well!