Digging Thru The Snow

Good luck. We got swamped just as much as you did (actually, you might've gotten more).

I've just assumed that next year's stack is buried, and I'll see it in spring. No point trying to add to it now and risk destroying the tarp.

Good luck Soupy - hope it's not too bad! Southern NH fared pretty well - I don't think I had much more than 10 inches, but the wind was howling and packed it pretty dense - I supposed a few more inches if it had been calm. Was a good chance to try out the new plow for the ATV. Did a nice job, but next time, I think I'll do a plow about 1/2 way through the storm to make it work a little less. Anywho - back on topic! I have a barn on my property, within about 50 feet of the house. Has a horse stable, but we have no horse - so, now it's the wood stable. I packed in about 4 1/4 cord, stacking 6' high. I could have fit at least 5.5 cord, but had about a 1/2 cord of additional uglies and was hoping that I'd have enough for the first season at that point. I'm about 3 weeks from being 1/2 way through the wood. So.....I'm guessing I'll run out - but I have a lot of well seasoned wood under tarped - just not looking forward to digging out some wood. I'll have a better feel for wood consumption after this year, so I'll know how much to add to the stable. I did have fun with the stove in the shoulder season, and burned A LOT more wood than necessary - next year I'm going to try to be more efficient with wood use and see what I can get away with. My current method of getting wood is to bring in 2 weeks worth of wood into a storage room off my garage (with direct access to house, but stays very cold) - I choose the nicest day and it takes about an hour or so of wheelbarrow trips and stacking - I'm not rushing. Not too bad. I love that the wood is always dry. Cheers!

I gave up on tarps long time ago. And I don't stack my wood any more either. When I plit I just throw it in a big pile. That way it creates its on roof so snow and rain only penetrates the upper layer. Next I got an airline baggage cart and put it next to the door of my walkout basement. It holds a little over a cord dry out of the elements and that is enough to get me through the really bad weather. I restock it anyday the weather is good.

The day before it snowed I cut up a bunch of pallets and brought them inside in the basement.
I always like to keep a good supply on hand.
Now I do have a fully stocked wood shed in the back yard, but it is nice to know I can just run downstairs and grab some dry wood anytime, no matter how bad the weather is outside. :lol:

Even with the bug worries, it's these time where I'm glad I can go out to the garage, sans jacket, messing with tarps, etc, and bring in a load of wood.

My stack has a 4 foot snow drift tight up against it. Glad I recently picked up a load, left it in my pick up and parked it in the garage. Hope it lasts til some of ithe snow melts or I'm in for a lot of shoveling.

WES999 said:

The day before it snowed I cut up a bunch of pallets and brought them inside in the basement.
I always like to keep a good supply on hand.
Now I do have a fully stocked wood shed in the back yard, but it is nice to know I can just run downstairs and grab some dry wood anytime, no matter how bad the weather is outside. :lol:

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WES999, just something I'll pass on about pallet wood. How true this is I don't know. Woodstove shop owner I got some stove pipe from had some pallets sitting around in nice shape. I asked if anyone takes all the pallets that were stacked up. He said no, help yourself, just don't burn them in your wood stove. I asked why's that. He said they are sprayed with a chemical that keeps the wood from rotting , and when burned can cause your stove to over fire . Who knows? Fact or fiction?

Thing is, if it melts some and then freezes. It might be better to clean it off now.

i have one of my wood shed close to back door so just have to shovel a little way.

Take heart fellas. A big warm-up is coming. We are forecast to be in the 40's Friday and Saturday. No real cold behind this but back around the freezing point for highs. Not looking forward to the rain and possibly freezing rain though...

Freezing rain is the worst. I hate to see a bunch of pink on a radar map.

Hey Soupy, I also live in CT. Can't remember the last time the wind blew that hard for so long. I got lucky with my wood stacks. Sunday morning when the flurries were starting I was stacking a cord of wood that had been delivered last week. I ran out of space on the three firewood racks that I tarp up and had to start a stack on the ground. Also, didn't have any extra tarps. After the storm, I go outside and there was no snow on the uncovered stack. The wind just blew it off during the storm. The stack was just in the right place. On the other side of the coin, I had a 1 1/2 foot drift against my front door.

New Fire Guy said:

Can't remember the last time the wind blew that hard for so long. I got lucky with my wood stacks.

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Yep. I made the possibly poor decision of making a 7x12 single row stack between 2 trees. As I finished I realized the ginormousity of the thing and realized that for sure it wouldn't stand up to those winds..

Thankfully it's still upright, and only a dusting of snow on it thanks to the winds.

Good to see all the CT folk here! Right before the storm I loaded up my little wood area, it's about 6' long and holds 2 rows 4' high. I have a covered spot on my deck that made a good spot to put wood. I recently put a new slider in my kitchen so this one never gets used. I just cover the stack and get the wood from behind through the slider. I cover the front and lock it down with 4x4's. This photo was taken a 1/2 before the snow started flying. I agree the wind was insane!

Backwoods Savage said:

Take heart fellas. A big warm-up is coming. We are forecast to be in the 40's Friday and Saturday. No real cold behind this but back around the freezing point for highs. Not looking forward to the rain and possibly freezing rain though...

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But I like the cold and the snow!

velvetfoot said:

Freezing rain is the worst. I hate to see a bunch of pink on a radar map.

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Agreed . . . I hate freezing rain . . . and well rain in the Winter in general . . . come late Spring I am OK with the rain . . . but never freezing rain. Only time I have had issues with leaks in my roof or losing power for days involving freezing rain.

Weather like we had the other day is why I built my woodshed . . . all nice and dry and no snow to move.

wkpoor said:

I gave up on tarps long time ago. And I don't stack my wood any more either. When I plit I just throw it in a big pile. That way it creates its on roof so snow and rain only penetrates the upper layer. Next I got an airline baggage cart and put it next to the door of my walkout basement. It holds a little over a cord dry out of the elements and that is enough to get me through the really bad weather. I restock it anyday the weather is good.

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Love the baggage cart idea. Is it on wheels? Would be nice to hook up to a tractor/atv to tow over to the pile and then bring back to the house. Wheel barrow is the method since the lawn tractor went into storage. Good exercise, but sometimes a guy just wants to be lazy.