In April we were blessed with a LOT of free silver maple - not the best burning wood but free is free. Mighty Mouse here apparently over reached her physical abilities in hefting around large rounds and paid for it with a pulled tendon in my forearm. I spent some weeks in PT and per Dr. orders layed off the firewood work for the summer.
Well, yesterday was the day to get those rounds worked up. Our normal method is as we split we fill up the yard trailer and immediately stack that same trailer load. Considering I had been out of commission all summer I had the itch to just split-split-split and let the wood drop on the driveway and then call in family help over the weekend to stack - playing the "Helping your parents earns you rewards elsewhere" card - this thought has never worked before but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what happened.
So, Thursday afternoon we started splitting and dropping the splits on the driveway. I hate handling wood twice when I only need to handle it once. Dropping on the driveway meant "someone" then had to pick it up to get wheels under it to deliver it to the stacking area.
"Nope - nodda - can't help this weekend Mom - got other things planned" is the answer I got when I called for 'volunteers'. Disappointed but not defeated I told hubby that we will just have to make sure we get the splits moved before the snow.
Imagine my surprise when I got a call-back minutes laters saying "Hey, our kids don't have school on Friday. Could you use their help?" Dumb question - answer was "Yes!" Two grand-daughters, ages 13 and 7, were delivered to our home at 7:15 am yesterday.
What a team! Kids got ALL the wood on the driveway moved to the stacks. After a short training the 13 yr. old was stacking like a pro. The 7-yr. old moved wood with a coaster wagon. The 13-yr old used our "Love Bug" and/or wheelbarrow while hubby & I continued splitting and filling the RubberMaid yard trailer.
End result: A stack 4' tall, 4' deep by 12' long = roughly 1-1/2 cord of wood. Yeah, I know pics or it didn't happen - camera has been MIA since Christmas. 
The 7-yr. old was easily distracted by riding a bike and playing on the neighbors swingset - but, hey, she did work a little.
The 13-yr. old worked like a trooper. She had such fun driving the "Love Bug" I kidded her she should be paying us. Of course she took the long way around the house to get to/from the stacks (to get more time running the "Love Bug") and she worked right along all day.
We took a lunch break and took the girls out to the Chinese buffet they both love and we paid the 13-yr. old $10 - she's saving up for a trip to Ireland when she graduates from high school.
Here's a picture of the "Love Bug" (that is the real model name of it!) when we first got it. We have since added a bin to hold wood on the shelf in the back of it.
![[Hearth.com] Firewood musings......](/talk/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi166.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fu117%2FShariB_2007%2FMTD_LUV.jpg&hash=842dc0d6f01699d9838b3a497920fe8f "[Hearth.com] Firewood musings......")
Well, yesterday was the day to get those rounds worked up. Our normal method is as we split we fill up the yard trailer and immediately stack that same trailer load. Considering I had been out of commission all summer I had the itch to just split-split-split and let the wood drop on the driveway and then call in family help over the weekend to stack - playing the "Helping your parents earns you rewards elsewhere" card - this thought has never worked before but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what happened.
So, Thursday afternoon we started splitting and dropping the splits on the driveway. I hate handling wood twice when I only need to handle it once. Dropping on the driveway meant "someone" then had to pick it up to get wheels under it to deliver it to the stacking area.
"Nope - nodda - can't help this weekend Mom - got other things planned" is the answer I got when I called for 'volunteers'. Disappointed but not defeated I told hubby that we will just have to make sure we get the splits moved before the snow.
Imagine my surprise when I got a call-back minutes laters saying "Hey, our kids don't have school on Friday. Could you use their help?" Dumb question - answer was "Yes!" Two grand-daughters, ages 13 and 7, were delivered to our home at 7:15 am yesterday.
What a team! Kids got ALL the wood on the driveway moved to the stacks. After a short training the 13 yr. old was stacking like a pro. The 7-yr. old moved wood with a coaster wagon. The 13-yr old used our "Love Bug" and/or wheelbarrow while hubby & I continued splitting and filling the RubberMaid yard trailer.
End result: A stack 4' tall, 4' deep by 12' long = roughly 1-1/2 cord of wood.
Yeah, I know pics or it didn't happen - camera has been MIA since Christmas. The 7-yr. old was easily distracted by riding a bike and playing on the neighbors swingset - but, hey, she did work a little.
The 13-yr. old worked like a trooper. She had such fun driving the "Love Bug" I kidded her she should be paying us.
Of course she took the long way around the house to get to/from the stacks (to get more time running the "Love Bug") and she worked right along all day.We took a lunch break and took the girls out to the Chinese buffet they both love and we paid the 13-yr. old $10 - she's saving up for a trip to Ireland when she graduates from high school.
Here's a picture of the "Love Bug" (that is the real model name of it!) when we first got it. We have since added a bin to hold wood on the shelf in the back of it.
