Easy firewood season just hit the nitrous!!!

[EXCALIBER]

Well I have plenty of wood for me to split and sell this year for my extra Xmas cash. I have enough cottonwood to burn for about 2-3 years so I was just going to cut when I wanted this year, and enjoy it. No hurry, no rushing, time to watch the birds etc. Ah...the lazy wood cutting year. Then Thursday night my friend from work was heading home like always in his Chevy Metro, and ka-boom!!! He smacks a 2000lb black angus cow doing 65 down the highway. Hit it dead center breaking the cows legs and throwing it on the car making the car basically a convertible. The car right behind him swerves to miss the cow now laying in the center of the highway, but hits it doing 65mph with the right two wheels rolling his Chevy HHR and sliding it down the highway coming to rest after who knows how many rolls back on its four wheels, of which the two drivers wheels are now flat, facing the opposite direction he was traveling. My other friend who rolled his car was able to get out of his car and try to help my first friend. After seeing what was left of the metro everyone assumed my friend in the metro to be dead, if not decapitated. Well they finally pried the drivers door open on the metro and were waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Then the highway patrol finally shows up and says that my friend in the HHR shouldn't be directing traffic because he is not wearing reflective. So my friend says well, you are not directing traffic so if that is what it takes I have reflective. He retrieved his RR vest out of his car and continued! lol Anyhow my friend in the Metro was complaining of a hurt neck so they strapped him to a board and drove him in the meat wagon to the hospital. Finally the next day at about 5pm they figured out that he was not going to need surgery for his neck, which had a broken C2 vertebra. Although now he must wear a neck brace for at least three months then have physical therapy for his neck after that. He will be off work 8 months to a year.

Now back to the firewood cutting part. He never plans ahead and I have harped, and harped, and harped to him about getting a year or two ahead with his wood just in case something happened till I was blue in the face. Just to be safe, plus his wood would be dry!! On deaf ears my pleas fell, so now, since they primarily heat with wood, and have a fairly non efficient stove, I have to kick myself in the butt. Time to go cut mounds of firewood for him and his wife to stay warm. Then split it, stack, it etc.. Oh and burning season starts here in about a month and a half. So I am hitting the emergency cut wood till you drop, split wood till you fall asleep nitrous button in hopes of getting some wood worked up for him before the snow fly's this year, and I expect an early winter. So if you are one of these famous "last minute misters" who says there is always time to cut wood do yourself, and your family a favor, and get a year or two ahead just in case! After all it's cutting wood, and you don't have to twist my arm too much to make me go do that!!! Time for battle, trees you stand warned! Steady be the action, quick be the cuts, and now I sit splitting wood till I'm blue in the nuts!!!

 

[zogger]

You left out the most important part! Who got all the angus meat????

got to think practical here......

I have my ratsun diesel because years ago I had a girlfriend who had one, much newer and nicer of course. What a nice strong little truck and absolutely unreal fantastic mileage...anywho, she lived down in south alabama, white tails all over. Not big ones, they don't get large down here, but flocks/herds/coveys of them, juust all over down any road outta town two blocks... She and her tough jap truck smacked into not just one deer, but 7!!! I am not joking, over a few year period she had 7 deer. She would call up one of her friends to come over cut it up, she got half the meat, her freezer was always packed..

So I tells meself, I ever find me a used datsun diesel I am buying it..eventually like a decade and half later I found one for cheap...no deer yet though...

anyway, sorry about your friends....I am..hmm..mixed emotions on you being the ant and him being the lazy grasshopper though.

I know when I busted my back, I wasn't heating with wood, but I had at least a six month supply of food, and that is what I mostly ate the first six months of recovering. My friends would ask why I had such a pile of food, why I stockpiled..I said, ya never know when you might need it, better to be ahead of the game just in case...

I have more food than that now....

 

[EXCALIBER]

Well I think the meat was mostly burger with no steaks left from what I understand. Blood shot burger. Not sure what you mean about the ant and grasshopper? He is not lazy just does not focus on need to have's like wood, food, ect. He is always too busy to go cut so he usually cuts his wood the same week he burns it, then has chimney problems. He is a good guy so I don't mind helping him out just wish I had more time as I have projects that I need to do as well before winter.

 

[BillNole]

Well I think the meat was mostly burger with no steaks left from what I understand. Blood shot burger. Not sure what you mean about the ant and grasshopper? He is not lazy just does not focus on need to have's like wood, food, ect. He is always too busy to go cut so he usually cuts his wood the same week he burns it, then has chimney problems. He is a good guy so I don't mind helping him out just wish I had more time as I have projects that I need to do as well before winter.

You sounds like a good friend and neighbor EX. I generally keep a couple of year's worth onhand, but last year wasn't able to restock and ran down to my last 1/2 cord before the end of heating season. This spring I got back up to 2 season's worth in pretty quick order and look forward to keeping the fires stoked.

Good on you for helping when it sounds to be needed. He should have been better prepared and perhaps will learn from this, but regardless, at least he has a friend he can count on when in need. I hope he appreciates it and learns!

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Excalibur, with only a month and a half left to go before they fire up the stove, there's no way anything will even be remotely seasoned enough to toss in. Your friend is at the point where he's going to have to buy split & seasoned from a firewood seller if he wants a nice hot fire this year. The wood you're cutting up now for him will be next years. Next I would tell your buddy after this is all over he better get his ass out there and help out next time. I'm with Zogger on this one. I know he's a good friend and all, and from what you're saying he doesn't sound lazy, but Christ, firewood cutting is one thing you cannot have a laxidaisy attitude about. Whenever an offer comes up for a tree job, or I get a nice roadside scrounge, I'm all over it. Because you just never know.....

 

[CWME]

Good on you for helping him out excaliber:msp_thumbup:

The true measure of a friend is being there no matter what trouble lies ahead. Show a "friend" a shovel and you won't see most of them again until the work is done.

 

[zogger]

Well I think the meat was mostly burger with no steaks left from what I understand. Blood shot burger. Not sure what you mean about the ant and grasshopper? He is not lazy just does not focus on need to have's like wood, food, ect. He is always too busy to go cut so he usually cuts his wood the same week he burns it, then has chimney problems. He is a good guy so I don't mind helping him out just wish I had more time as I have projects that I need to do as well before winter.

Well, that's cool you are helping him and all. When it comes to projects, just generally speaking, life necessities shouled come first before any other projects.

If he is constantly burning green wood...eventually gonna maybe burn his house down and then have a whole lot of other "projects" to deal with.

Plus, burning green wood for heat, he is gonna be cutting twice as much as he really needs. Whereas if he can eventually get two years ahead or better, that is just an economic and practicality better deal. It will take him less time and expense and effort to get ahead over what he has been doing now. Just hope he learns something from this, that's all.

 

[CWME]

Zogger, outside of our AS community most folks don't think about wood until it starts getting cold in the fall. Most have the "turn the dial on the wall" syndrome. I have friends that burn wood and they think I am nuts to have 3 years of wood ready to go. They haven't started cutting for this year yet.

I keep ahead as best I can in case I can't cut. I have some bad knees and at some point I will be down and out for a while. My Wife would be hard pressed to get the wood in the house let alone cut and split it. But like I said, we AS folks are a different bread altogether.

 

[zogger]

Zogger, outside of our AS community most folks don't think about wood until it starts getting cold in the fall. Most have the "turn the dial on the wall" syndrome. I have friends that burn wood and they think I am nuts to have 3 years of wood ready to go. They haven't started cutting for this year yet.

I keep ahead as best I can in case I can't cut. I have some bad knees and at some point I will be down and out for a while. My Wife would be hard pressed to get the wood in the house let alone cut and split it. But like I said, we AS folks are a different bread altogether.

Well, hopefully the prepper mindset will get to more and more people.

Mid 20th century on lifestyle changes to easy living really screwed up normal human concerns I think, people's priorities. For millenia before that, a well stocked pantry, good wood stash, etc were a common feature of households and everyone thought that way, this was just common sense and normal, now this is considered "odd" or "whacko extremist" or "potential terrorist" even. No lie, this is being touted in some statist areas as being a potential terrorist if you stockpile food and fuel, etc, and are prepared to deal with emergency situations, even self defense.

nuts.

There is piece of paper insurance for this or that, then REAL "insurance".

 

[flashhole]

Good buddy rep sent!

 

[EXCALIBER]

Yeah where we live if the tree I cut is already dead it might be ready in a month. It's so dam dry here when I cut my sogging wet cottonwood I cut it into chunks, let sit a month or two(easier to work with then), then split. I usually am around 11% moisture on my harbor freight meter. Of course the place we live they call the sand hills, nothing but a buffalo grass covered desert. I also had the thought of splitting my dry wood that is in rounds and giving it to him, then getting me more wood for next year. We will see what happens.

 

[zogger]

Yeah where we live if the tree I cut is already dead it might be ready in a month. It's so dam dry here when I cut my sogging wet cottonwood I cut it into chunks, let sit a month or two(easier to work with then), then split. I usually am around 11% moisture on my harbor freight meter. Of course the place we live they call the sand hills, nothing but a buffalo grass covered desert. I also had the thought of splitting my dry wood that is in rounds and giving it to him, then getting me more wood for next year. We will see what happens.

Good luck and better skill man! Either way, another good excuse to go out and deuce around!

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Yeah where we live if the tree I cut is already dead it might be ready in a month. It's so dam dry here when I cut my sogging wet cottonwood I cut it into chunks, let sit a month or two(easier to work with then), then split. I usually am around 11% moisture on my harbor freight meter. Of course the place we live they call the sand hills, nothing but a buffalo grass covered desert. I also had the thought of splitting my dry wood that is in rounds and giving it to him, then getting me more wood for next year. We will see what happens.

That sounds like it would be beneficial to your buddy. With whatever decision you plan on going with it seems like you'll get plenty of trigger time :msp_thumbsup: