And that stockpile sure is nice when that knee (or whatever) surgery comes up, ya don't hafta run out and cut green to burn right off the truck.
I'll elaborate on that, even though I don't have to.
I had quite a large pile of wood cut and thrown into a ready-to-split pile in my backyard. Then I blew out my left knee by merely standing from a squatting position. I know, I know, shame on me for not doing it while I was splitting and stacking wood so it would dry.
Once I recovered and got back to work, it wasn't 6 weeks before I was off again. Not much a guy can do when the docs tell ya you have cancer and require surgery. I guess I could've told him to pound sand and wait a few weeks so I can satisfy others' needs for me to split and stack some wood so it's nice and dry this winter. Don't feel bad though, it wasn't cancer after all, but I needed the surgery regardless.
And I don't have to cut green and burn it right off the truck. I helped a guy this last weekend and he gave me a share for helping him out. I was lazy I know (see I admitted it!) and threw it on the ground in front of the owb instead of stacking it nicely before burning it.
I take my responsibilities seriously. Government job? Far from it. I work in a manufacturing plant 40-60 hours a week, own my house and cars and am putting our oldest through college and the youngest is leaving for college in August. I make enough money to pay my bills but not enough to buy a splitter. Everything by hand. I STILL find time to cut more wood than just enough to last one winter. If I go down and can't cut then guess what I have plenty on hand to carry me through. No I don't have my own woodlot. I scavenge and trade skills for wood rights. I was born with common sense. A priceless commodity these days.
I get bent out of shape because of the people who burn carelessly and cause enough smoke so that my right to burn are being affected by the EPA. A man who shucks his responsibilities has no foundation.
Just another validation to my point why you should never run out of wood.
You still haven't defended the position of running out of firewood. Just saying.....
Again, I applaud you, sir. I too, work 40-60 hours a week, and make enough money to pay my bills. Don't have kids, am only 3 years into a mortgage, and am still paying on a car, but I see your point. Well done, I won't argue any point you made there. Sounds like you were born not only with common sense, but also with a superior complex that makes you feel the need to dictate how others should burn wood. As Joe Dirt would say, "Hey man, that's cool."
Running out of firewood? Pretty sure, no I'm very sure I never stated anywhere that I have ran out of firewood so I'm resorting to burning green wood. Just to prove a point, I had to get out of my recliner after a long day at work, and go out and snap a few pics for you since I'm assuming you're a picture kinda person.
Here's all the wood I have left that is stacked. Most, if not all of it is green. Again, by green I'm saying it's been stacked and drying less than 6 months.
Here's the before picture of my pile before the winter craziness set it. I actually filled the left side of it up as well. I think you can understand that this year is somewhat of a freak winter. Lots of folks ran out of wood. I sure as heck wouldn't go around calling them lazy and telling them they should quit burning wood and let the LP folks stick it to them. You see, it's not my business of telling people how to live their lives.
Also, I added some green wood (<6 month drying time) to the firebox when I got home from work, which was about an hour ago. It was firing when I went out so I snapped a picture of just how awful the smoke was pouring out of it. Terrible I know...
Oh, and just so you can see how lazy of a person I was this year, here's a load of wood I haven't gotten around to cut, split, and stack yet because I didn't have the time to do so this year (reflecting back upon my 2+ months of down time)...