I worked the boys today. had them pick up pine cones and sticks so I could mow the leaves.  Then had the move some wood splits over to the stack and take in a full load of dried wood to last thru tomorrow night.  These are normal chores for them but today I took them bowling afterwards as a reward.  Work hard during the day light and when it gets dark, relax.  My 9 year old math obcessed.  While stacking wood he found out a cord is 128 cubic feet.  Then the questions started.  How much wood do we have. How much have we stacked this year...how much have we burned.  After figuring that out he wanted something more challenging. so we started figuring out how much our wood has cost us.  figuring 4 cords of wood a year for the last three years and 3 cords that I have cut already for next year.  Calculate the little poulan chainsaw, various mauls, sledgehammers and axes along with a second hand 30 ton spliter and gas for the saw, splitter and my pickup and we have paid out just about $70 per cord.  Not too bad.
It gets cheaper as time goes by.  Of course you have to figure the balance between the manual labor and the health and family time benits.

DAVIDV,
Must be nice to have your boys interested at helping with your wood. I have 2 kids, a 17 yr old boy and a 14 yr old girl, and its like pulling teeth to get them to help with anything around here. They did seem a little more helpful when they were younger.

As far as cost of wood. I dont have access to some woods to cut my own, so I bought 3 cords of hardwood from a pallet company cost was $105 per cord. Pretty good deal since all I had to do was pick it up and it was all ready to burn square chunks. As long as that price holds I wont be using the chainsaw much.

Then we had to have a tree service take down a big red oak and smaller white oak in my yard this summer due to a storm . It cost $800 to have them cut down and into into 16” rounds. After splitting all by hand with (little help from kids) I ended up with 3 more cords. $267 per cord! It makes me feel better about the tree service when I add up all 6 cords at $1115 and divide by 6 cords, equals $185 per cord. Not bad since I have seen people posting here paying over $200 per cord. This wood should be enough for 2 seasons.

Todd - 27 November 2005 10:41 AM

DAVIDV,
Must be nice to have your boys interested at helping with your wood. I have 2 kids, a 17 yr old boy and a 14 yr old girl, and its like pulling teeth to get them to help with anything around here. They did seem a little more helpful when they were younger.

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Can’t say he’s interested in helping....just the math of it.  The 6 year old is a natural helper.  Always has been. 9 year old is a slacker as much as you let him be.  I don’t let him.  15 year old Daughter enjoys stacking wood but want’s to do it alone while listening to her mp3 player.  She has tried learn to split wood with the axe and maul but seeing a skinny little cheerleader try to split a14 inch oak round is a good time.  She tries. I try not to eat up all their time with chores.  We eat up all their time with emphasis on school work and extra curricular activities ( I hate how much of my time has to go into this but the less idle time they have the less likely they are to do the stupid things I did.)

Speaking of idle time. I need to get off my butt and go get a load of wood and then make the long drive to get my splitter(loaned it out to a friend of mine).

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Your right Frank,

There are too many lazy kids in America! I think its all the video games and TV. When my kids get too lazy and act like they don’t have to contribute around here I take it all away and give them a list of chores. They usually clean up their act after that. It’s just hard to get them to do chores without being told. No initiative!

I have some neighbor’s with 2 kids in their late 20’s with no jobs, still living at home, and all they do is party. Ma and Pa even bought them new cars. I never see them doing anything around the house. They are spoiled rotten and will never want to leave.

I think my daughter is coming around to the energy conservation way of life. I have heard her yelling at her brother about leaving the lights on a few times and she’s getting pretty good at working the stove. Even my son surprised me at the family thanksgiving feast when we were talking about home heating. He spoke up and said “the best heat is wood heat”! There is still hope.

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Yeah, its scary how much college is now days. My son is looking at the Navy. They offer up to $50,000 for college for a 4 year hitch. Plus they can earn credits while they serve.

Guess I better start cutting my own firewood and hold off on an insert til my son figures out what he wants to do.