Got Wood?
Even though I told the Mister that headline writing was as important as the body of the blog, he insisted that I make a comment about his wood in the title. So there. I've done it.
To give you a little background about what led to this day, after cutting a lot of wood for the 2008/2009 winter, but didn't manage to get any cut at all for the 2009/2010 winter - must have been all that time we spent road trippin' and tanking, ya think?
So about the first part of January, we really start to run short of firewood. It was also about this time that we also noticed that the house was extremely smokey, and attributed it to the dampness of the wood (always keep your wood dry) from the wetness of the winter we've had. Since we had a house concert scheduled in mid February (Mason Douglas - what a concert!), and Up With People kids shortly afterwards, we decided to switch to gas heat, let the house air out, and call the chimney sweep.
As it turns out, that was a providential decision. The chimney sweep described our chimney as the worst he had ever seen. The decision to not have the chimney cleaned in the fall coupled with the wet wood we burned all winter nearly completely choked the chimney off with creosote build up. It seems there was only an air passage of about the size of a quarter. And to top it off, the increased pressure caused by the build up coupled with poor workmanship on the original installation caused the chimney to separate from the stove. No wonder the house was filling up with smoke!
We were lucky we didn't burn the house down or die from carbon monoxide poisoning! Anyway, though we still had some firewood left in the pile, it is certainly time to start replenishing our supply.
The local residents seem curious about our presence, but it doesn't stop the youngster from stopping for lunch.
Can't you just hear this conversation? "Don't talk to strangers!"
The wood were after today was some that we had piled during the summer of 2008. More local residents had put the wood piles to good use.
They weren't very happy at being disturbed on a cold damp spring morning, but it was so cold there wasn't much they could do about it! I have never had such an easy time catching lizards!
And here he is, the Mister and his wood. He is an expert with a chainsaw, but today was a simple day. No trees to drop, just some downed wood to cut into maneagable pieces.
Just so you don't think that all I was doing is running around snapping pictures, here is the fruit of my labor. A full pickup AND a full trailer.
My cousin's cows are mostly black whiteface (Hereford Angus mixed), along with a few straight Hereford or Angus, but this little guy seems to have managed to get some Holstein in his family tree. Did you ever have an itch that you just couldn't quite reach. Any questions about how I came to the determination that it's a little guy, not a little girl? I hope not.
The only bad thing about bring a whole load of wood out of the hills is that it all has to be split and stacked. Makin' little 'uns out of big 'uns.
The next day, we decided to take some help with us to bring another load down. We had it all cut the day before, but two days in a row was just a little too much. The girls had never been to the homesteading cabin before, so had to explore.
Some of them had to explore more than others. Later on as I took them on a tour of some of the outbuildings, we disturbed yet another local resident. This one not so friendly. No pictures, but no skunk, either. We made the trip without a gun! That will be the last time.
So today perhaps all I did was run around and shoot pictures.
We're far from done with what we need to get us through next winter, but it's a pretty good showing for a couple days work. The Mister has two large piles to split - I'm splitting myself for Kansas, so probably won't get to help.
To give you a little background about what led to this day, after cutting a lot of wood for the 2008/2009 winter, but didn't manage to get any cut at all for the 2009/2010 winter - must have been all that time we spent road trippin' and tanking, ya think?
So about the first part of January, we really start to run short of firewood. It was also about this time that we also noticed that the house was extremely smokey, and attributed it to the dampness of the wood (always keep your wood dry) from the wetness of the winter we've had. Since we had a house concert scheduled in mid February (Mason Douglas - what a concert!), and Up With People kids shortly afterwards, we decided to switch to gas heat, let the house air out, and call the chimney sweep.
As it turns out, that was a providential decision. The chimney sweep described our chimney as the worst he had ever seen. The decision to not have the chimney cleaned in the fall coupled with the wet wood we burned all winter nearly completely choked the chimney off with creosote build up. It seems there was only an air passage of about the size of a quarter. And to top it off, the increased pressure caused by the build up coupled with poor workmanship on the original installation caused the chimney to separate from the stove. No wonder the house was filling up with smoke!
We were lucky we didn't burn the house down or die from carbon monoxide poisoning! Anyway, though we still had some firewood left in the pile, it is certainly time to start replenishing our supply.
The local residents seem curious about our presence, but it doesn't stop the youngster from stopping for lunch.
Can't you just hear this conversation? "Don't talk to strangers!"
The wood were after today was some that we had piled during the summer of 2008. More local residents had put the wood piles to good use.
They weren't very happy at being disturbed on a cold damp spring morning, but it was so cold there wasn't much they could do about it! I have never had such an easy time catching lizards!
And here he is, the Mister and his wood. He is an expert with a chainsaw, but today was a simple day. No trees to drop, just some downed wood to cut into maneagable pieces.
Just so you don't think that all I was doing is running around snapping pictures, here is the fruit of my labor. A full pickup AND a full trailer.
My cousin's cows are mostly black whiteface (Hereford Angus mixed), along with a few straight Hereford or Angus, but this little guy seems to have managed to get some Holstein in his family tree. Did you ever have an itch that you just couldn't quite reach. Any questions about how I came to the determination that it's a little guy, not a little girl? I hope not.
The only bad thing about bring a whole load of wood out of the hills is that it all has to be split and stacked. Makin' little 'uns out of big 'uns.
The next day, we decided to take some help with us to bring another load down. We had it all cut the day before, but two days in a row was just a little too much. The girls had never been to the homesteading cabin before, so had to explore.
Some of them had to explore more than others. Later on as I took them on a tour of some of the outbuildings, we disturbed yet another local resident. This one not so friendly. No pictures, but no skunk, either. We made the trip without a gun! That will be the last time.
So today perhaps all I did was run around and shoot pictures.
We're far from done with what we need to get us through next winter, but it's a pretty good showing for a couple days work. The Mister has two large piles to split - I'm splitting myself for Kansas, so probably won't get to help.Thanks for stopping by. The coffee is always on.
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