Sawmill bonanza.

Life was good Saturday morning. Got to the mill early and took advantage of the bounty of oak and ash available.

The front wheel isn't stuck, just normal sit rep out there in that pigged up lot. In 4x4 she climbs out and over.

Got over half a load in one spot, picked through a lot of nuisance wood ~ poplar, soft maple and the like at first. Took a break and hiked over to the other end for recon. Found a mother lode of big honkin' oak slabs. Drove over and loaded all the pickup could carry. Had to leave much of it behind, sadly.

This is gravy firewooding, my friends. All ya need is a truck, a pair of gloves and a hookaroon. Well, that and a strong back. The bull work is already done for you. Most slabs need to be split and a few are too long. Nothing that a saw and splitter or ax can't manage.

A couple hours and I was done. If I had help it could prob'ly be wrapped in less time. If. If a frog had wings...

Ran a few errands after leaving... I love to show off my scrounges. Picked up some provisions, salad fixings and steaks and a case of lager then headed for home and hearth.

With the beer chillin' in the Frigidaire and provisions safely in the SheWolf's competent hands, the other half of the workday began ~ unloading, splitting (when needed) and stacking. Turned out to be more wood than I'd anticipated. Filled the stack up to where the existing wood resides. Figure four more loads ought to be a wrap.

English BoB said:

Did you have to pay for the load ?

bob

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Yup, $20.00 for a 6-foot pickup bed.

heavy hammer said:

Awesome, at least tell us that it not just right down the road from your house. Does it even take much splitting to make it stove size ready?

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Wish I could... The mill is a couple minutes drive down the road. The bigger slabs, can get 5 or 6 stove-size splits from them. This trip was a fluke, have never seen this many large oak slabs out there before. Most times I gotta pick through tons of the stuff to find enough oak and ash to make a load.

Got another load Saturday, another oak bonanza. Not much ash available this time around but there were plenty of big honkin' oak slabs to be had. Got a bunch of little stuff, too... good for starting fires. It was all in one spot on the piles.

Figure two or three more loads ought to wrap it for the season. I need to get the saw out and lop off these long ones.

Best running trucks I've ever owned. My first was an '84 S-10 2.8 that was about half worn out when I got it. Hauled firewood, trailers, furniture, sound equipment. A decade later I'd pretty much finished wearing it out. Put over 200k on it, a clutch and other assorted sundries before finally trading up for a '93 Astro cargo van in '01. Ran the heck out of that 'til a year ago. 275k on the odometer and it was still kicking.

Yep... I like my bowties.

Was a Ford man for many years... the S-10 kinda fell into my lap. The wife's nephew was under pressure to pay off some debt and offered it to me for a sweet price. The durability got me hooked and I've been with GM ever since.

I remember when we were kids growing up. Our father wouldn't own anything but GM. Said he'd tried 'em all over the years. New, used, indifferent. He worked part time for a local GM dealership and liked his Chevys and Olds.

He drove home a new Olds 442 one evening, handed me the keys and said here, take it for a drive. I was around 16 or so, had a 60-ish Ford sedan with the 200 straight six. You remember those, basic frumpy old lady cars on the Andy Griffith Show. Good for driving to school and back, barely enough power to pull a string out of a cat's arse.

Had never driven a muscle car before. I started that 442, put in reverse, stepped on the gas and smoked the tires right there in the driveway.

Pop was standing on the stoop, bent over laughing. I put it in park, shut off the ignition and said there ain't no way I'm taking this thing out on the road.