have made a monster out of me. The pic is what I have scrounged since the beginning of August, along with 2 cords that I have stacked on the patio by the basement door. She is starting to throw up the red light on getting more wood, but I have several more opportunities. I could probably get 20 cords before winter if I wanted to. Just don't know where I will be storing all this wood. Trying to figure out where to build a woodshed come spring.
My wife says you guys
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red oak
Minister of Fire
My wife says something similar. She says I'm addicted. I have to remind her that there are plenty of addictions I could have that would be worse!
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
I keep my wood a farther away than I need to just to keep the peace. Maybe a privacy fence would help. A nicely stacked wood pile looks good to me though and I bet she won't be complaining about wood piles with a warm house.
And they $$$$'s saved is beyond comparison. Comes in handy when it's time for a mega Walmart run 
Your wives can come talk to me, if they'd like
Your wives can come talk to me, if they'd like
I would get as much as I could store. You'll probably use more than you think, and it would be nice to get ahead a season so you know your wood is seasoned. If its less than seasoned it will burn, but expect to burn more. You'll have to keep us updated on the new furnace. Looking at the size of the yard, theres plenty of room even if the wife doesn't agree. We stack along the wood line to keep wood directly out of the yard. This pic was around 7 cords. I have added since then.
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Rbfish
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Wow Fabsroman!
You put me to shame, I thought I was doing good with about two cords scrounged since mid-August. Still quite a bit more on the ground to cleanup after Irene.
You put me to shame, I thought I was doing good with about two cords scrounged since mid-August. Still quite a bit more on the ground to cleanup after Irene.
The first season we burned I spent pretty much every weekend in the barn processing wood. The wife was a little upset at first and asked if this was going to be an every weekend thing. I explained that in order for an EPA stove to function properly, we needed to be at least a year ahead, preferably two on the wood supply. She's also realized that after riding a desk/doing network administration 50 hours a week that working in the barn has great theraputic value for me as well. And, finally, (and perhaps most importantly)...SHE LIKES BEING WARM.
jatoxico
Minister of Fire
My wife has mentioned a couple times that "we have enough". Pfftt! I ignored her, and went on getting it ready and still do.
She thinks I work too hard or something, and I agree with that, but after all is said and done, we're warm in the winter. As warm as we like.
$400/yr. instead of at least $200/month is a pretty good reason to keep getting and processing wood.
YMMV
She thinks I work too hard or something, and I agree with that, but after all is said and done, we're warm in the winter. As warm as we like.
$400/yr. instead of at least $200/month is a pretty good reason to keep getting and processing wood.
YMMV
I had the same problem with my wife too, she though 4 cords was a lot of wood but we burn that in a year and I told her I want to get 3 years ahead. My wife doesnt mind me being outside splitting and staching wood, keeps me out of her hair
I had friends and relatives over for my sons B-day party today. I had to hear about "all that wood" about 100 times. After the third time explaining that 4-5 cords are dry for this year, and the rest is for next year and beyond - it really gets old. People really do think that we have a screw loose. Personally, I think paying $4+ a gallon for oil all winter long is C-R-A-Z-Y !!
Rbfish said:
Annapolis is a little harder of a place to scrounge than West Friendship. Western Howard County is full of farms and people with trees in their yards. Annapolis, not so much. Knock on wood, the scounging has actually been pretty easy. I have a big white oak waiting for me in Silver Spring that was a result of Irene. I was supposed to cut that today, but my baby sitter crapped out on me. I am going to try to get to it on Tuesday and Wednesday. Oddly, even though we were without power for 2 days here because of Irene, there weren't many downed trees.
I am guessing that once everything is said and done, I will have about 10 cords. If that isn't enough for two years or more, I am going to quit and resort to natural gas. If I cut up everything that is available to me, I could have about 20 cords, but I think I would need to see an orthopaedist for my back. Got the furnace at the end of July and the news saws at the same time. August was so hot that I hardly even wanted to get out there. Now, the weather is turning nice for cutting wood.
jatoxico said:
I've already made racks for 4.5 cords of the stuff, but have only stacked 2 cords in them so far. It is actually a little less than 4.5 cords because I am cutting the logs at 22". Each rack is 8'x6'x18", but I am stacking them 20" to 22" deep. I'll have to take some pics of the racks.
She isn't complaining quite that much about how the wood pile looks, but that it is taking up parking space. I actually feel the same way, and will end up stacking it up nice and pretty real soon so that we can get a little of the driveway back. The plan for the spring is to put in a wood shed that will hold about 10 cords and to have it face south so it will get the majority of the sunlight and wind. I'm just trying to figure out where in the yard to put it. I have a good idea, but I am not 100% sold on it yet.
wood-fan-atic said:I had friends and relatives over for my sons B-day party today. I had to hear about "all that wood" about 100 times. After the third time explaining that 4-5 cords are dry for this year, and the rest is for next year and beyond - it really gets old. People really do think that we have a screw loose. Personally, I think paying $4+ a gallon for oil all winter long is C-R-A-Z-Y !!
A couple neighbors were walking by tonight with their kids at the top of the street and I heard the husband tell his wife "Man, that guy has a lot of firewood". I almost started laughing and almost shouted out "Thank you". My mom and sisters think I am nuts. My dad keeps saying, "As long as the wood is available, keep cutting it and we will find some place to put it." My dad understands this stuff to a degree. It is better to have too much firewood versus coming up short in January.
The hardest part about getting started with this is getting a system in place and getting far enough ahead to let the wood season well into the future. Replacing the wood we use each year will probably be child's play after this year and once the infrastructure like the racks, wood shed, tools, saws, splitter, trailer, tractor, etc. are all in place, this will be even easier on a yearly basis. I keep telling myself that I am working this hard this year to make everything a lot easier for next winter.
fabsroman said:wood-fan-atic said:I had friends and relatives over for my sons B-day party today. I had to hear about "all that wood" about 100 times. After the third time explaining that 4-5 cords are dry for this year, and the rest is for next year and beyond - it really gets old. People really do think that we have a screw loose. Personally, I think paying $4+ a gallon for oil all winter long is C-R-A-Z-Y !!
A couple neighbors were walking by tonight with their kids at the top of the street and I heard the husband tell his wife "Man, that guy has a lot of firewood". I almost started laughing and almost shouted out "Thank you". My mom and sisters think I am nuts. My dad keeps saying, "As long as the wood is available, keep cutting it and we will find some place to put it." My dad understands this stuff to a degree. It is better to have too much firewood versus coming up short in January.
The hardest part about getting started with this is getting a system in place and getting far enough ahead to let the wood season well into the future. Replacing the wood we use each year will probably be child's play after this year and once the infrastructure like the racks, wood shed, tools, saws, splitter, trailer, tractor, etc. are all in place, this will be even easier on a yearly basis. I keep telling myself that I am working this hard this year to make everything a lot easier for next winter.
Exactly! Cheers!
CTYank said:
I think the lost parking place and unstacked piles could be the issue. My wife encourages me to go scrounge wood even though we are 2 yrs. ahead. It's all neatly stacked, can only be seen from the back door and looks really neat and organized from the street.
X2 on the little helper.
fabsroman said:
20 cord? My wife thinks something is wrong with me if we don't have about 20 cord stacked in the spring! When I look at our wood piles, it is like looking at the register on our checking or savings account or the CD's. The only thing is, the wood piles pay much more dividend than the bank pays.
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