My wife calls me crazy and thinks I spend way to much time "doing firewood". She says I have a firewood fetish.
I've been eyeing some dead standing for awhile. One big Oak finally fell. It was on water district land initially, but fell onto their fence and onto the highway's easement. It sat there for weeks while I slowed down every single day to stare and drool at it.
One day I couldn't take any more of it, so grabbed the saw and truck and started poaching. Two trips and a good cord worth. I was praying I wouldn't get caught, as I really didn't know the rules as to whose it was. I told God I'd give it to my neighbor if He kept me out of trouble. While sawing away, a truck stopped in front of me. :censored: A friend stopped and said "I hope you got a permit for that, 'cause they'll arrest you a**!" I called it quits, leaving more than 2/3 of it behind.
That was the most perfectly dry, light, and wonderfully solid Oak I have ever seen, and I don't think my neighbor even heard me say God was responsible for it when I dropped off two truckloads of split wood in his driveway. He looked this this.:jawdrop: It was great.
I still drive by that wonderful tree every single day and drool and may someday try to find out about properly acquiring it.