I'll stack this (photo below) neatly, I really will. But not tonight. I took my work boots off and am not going to put them back on tonight, not no how not no way! I'm in my comfy slippers and am going to stay that way.
I've also got some cutting to do, but not nearly as much as I would have if my sister hadn't done two things : 1) she got my chain saw going for me (it hates me); and 2) she got out her own chain saw and we got all of the above cut to length before I even brought it home. The stack in the below photo will get neatened up and added to what I've already got of about that size ... then one of these days - when I'm not wiped out from breaking, cutting, dragging and/or carrying, loading, and unloading - I'll get ambitious and cut them all down to length. Most of this is going to be perfect for my cooking fires! Ah, better make that three things. The other is that while I was in one section of the shelter belts she took her chain saw to another section and had three piles cut to length while I wasn't looking!
There's lots and lots left out there, more than I'll need this year for sure, so tonight I'm going to sleep like a log (no pun intended but there you have it) and head back out tomorrow. I left some cut to length out among the trees; I'll remember to take along my toboggan tomorrow for hauling. It's a lot easier than carrying out an armload at a time, believe you me, especially if you're back in the trees a ways.
If I can manage to get an earlier start tomorrow I should be able to get two loads instead of only one - plus I learned something tonight when I was unloading. Lengths of four or five feet work a lot better for unloading and stacking. The cut to length ones seem to take forever to unload when I'm tired already. There are just too darned many of them! I ended up loading them into a big plastic tote and carrying them down that way. Throwing the longer ones down the basement steps is easier and quicker. I can cut the longer ones down to size any time - for now the thing is to just get them home.
Oh, in case you're not familiar with my unloading methods ...
There's a side door of my house that opens right into the basement landing; I back my little pickup to the doorway, let down the tailgate, and throw the wood down the basement steps, trying to shoot it as far as I can into the basement.
Inevitably it starts piling up at the foot of the steps and next thing you know it's most of the way up the steps.
Then of course I have to try to clear it off the steps, working my way down as I go.
It sounds like extra work, but it's actually not nearly as time and energy consuming as carrying it all down one little load at a time. Frankly, by the time I'm unloading, I'm flat out of both time and energy. If need be, that wood can sit on the darned steps until I recover enough to tend to it.
At any rate, I'm off to a good start this year with my firewood gathering. I had some of my own tree trimming branches from last year, about a load's worth; then a friend took me gathering a couple of weekends ago, another load; and today's load is only the first of (hopefully) probably a dozen or so more, God willing and weather permitting.
*contented sigh*
I'm going to want to do the stacking of today's haul first thing tomorrow before I go out for more. If I'm smart (which I might or might not be depending on the day) I'll also go ahead and cut all the long pieces down to size.
I can do that any time, this is true ... but my basement is unheated and it can get almighty cold down there when it's forty below outside. A quick trip down to replenish the supply for a day's use is one thing - spending more than a few minutes down there is a whole different ballgame. So this year I'm going to try to spare myself as much winter work as possible and see how much I can get cut to size and stacked ahead of time.
Great.
It's midnight and I've just talked myself into putting my work boots back on and going down to stack that wood.
Sometimes I forget that I'm a little old gramma lady, you know that?
Geez.
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