Firewood Firewood

Time for another firewood update, don't you think? It's been a while.

We have five racks to fill with split wood. Last summer, Warren, Peggy, and Isaac worked for a week to get them all filled. (I forget how many we started with.) By the beginning of March, I guess, we had only burned about 2.5 of them. I was thinking that was great; with the five racks full we had about two winters' worth of wood.

Then winter lingered through March...and then April...

So now it's nearly the end of April and we are still burning wood. Not every day, and mostly in the evenings, but still, we are using wood. And I'm think we're going to get close to finishing this rack and that would make it 3.5 for the winter. And that means much more to fill this summer...

Isaac gave us a big start when he was here in March by filling more than one rack. Now I have been out there a few times a week trying to do my part. It goes a lot slower when you can't commit six hours a day to it. Surprise surprise.

We also had a setback when the latest pile fell over. Troy and I spent part of an evening re-stacking it. I felt like I was digging out after an earthquake. (Not to make light of such tragedies.) We continue to discuss the best way of stacking, the common pitfalls and whether we're just really bad at it or whether there's more to it than you might first guess.

This morning I split another couple wheelbarrow loads. I was hoping to finish all the big trunk pieces Troy had tractored over to the splitter (because then the balls in his court again!) but big heavy rain drops sent me running inside. Thankfully the rain arrived just as I was about to start another load so all I had to do was run and put the tarp back over the pile I was working on. That was a battle in the rain and strong winds.

Two things always amaze me when I get caught in some rain:

1. Everything seems like an emergency in the rain. We want to finish whatever we're doing fast (or better yet, drop it to be rescued later) and run for shelter. People just don't like to get wet.

2. It's amazing how much wearing a ball cap helps. If your eyes are protected, the rest of you doesn't feel as threatened.

Tell me it's not true.