Firewood...Better than Gold in the Vault!

.

I'm not near the wood hoarder as you, but I did ask for (and received) a log splitter for Christmas one year.

Don't have a wood stove or fireplace in the house, but I do have one in the studio.

.

If the studio had indoor plumbing, it would be perfect. But then I would have to heat it all winter instead of just when I have clients booked. With the log walls, that would get crazy expensive!

So, I call it "rustic" and "original" and keep the outhouse ready.

Despite spending great amounts of our summer weekends putting up wood, a splitter is the one thing Hub just doesn't seem interested in owning.

HIs way of thinking is you have to bend over, pick up a piece, set it in the splitter, stand there, watch it split, then bend over again and pick up the pieces. Now he just sets a whole series of rounds up in a row or cluster, then with his trusty axe just goes whack, whack, whack and done, done, done. Same physical output in his mind.

However, as age advances on us and our bodies do not have the stamina or strength like they used to, in my mind it's time to consider changes. This year I took the bull by the horns and while I did not buy a splitter, I did order a huge load of cut and split, DRY firewood. Some people think a plasma screen or new I-phone is an indulgence. Oh no. We feel naughty and like we're living the high life if we buy firewood. How lazy of us! And this is split so that I can actually handle it. No Big Ugly Wood. Woot woot!

Uno, is he cutting wood LIKE A BOSS?

I am betting he is German. Such efficiency!

Well. Hmmm. That is sort of how Hub does it. But not with the chain/bungee set up. However, you have to be burning in a pretty small appliance to split your wood that small. A piece that size, Hub would have split into two and then the problem of how to wrestle it into the furnace door sometime later would have been MY problem.

Furthermore, was that wood hand picked out of a beauty contest? Straight grain, no knots, no curve. Wood like that practically splits itself. We frequently come across some pretty challenging Ugly wood! The kind where you whack it with all your might and it just rearranges your teeth, but doesn't even dent the wood.

Also, his technique of that straight arm up and down chop will very quickly lead to a raging case of tendonitis! There is a swing and PULL technique of lifting the axe that does not strain the muscle in the forearm. I have learned this the hard way splitting kindling. Suffered for my stupidity. And finally, being a firewood snob, the size of that axe was total overkill for the diameter and lack of challenge presented by the pretty little block of wood. Only dummies repeatedly heft a greater weight than the wood requires. Mind you, he was not chopping at ground level, so the shorter the drop of the axe, the greater the weight required, or the greater personal heft it requires to get through the block, more so than if it was sitting at ground level.

So it's kind of what Hub does and kind of not.

Yeah, I think the youtube description said he was German.

Hah! And I just guessed at that. Ve haf vays of splitting ze vood you know!

Authentic, you need to know that Uno covets big ugly wood (did I get that right?). She is publicly scorning that pretty piece of wood but she secretly desires logs like that!

I think we all desire a pretty piece of wood. *straight face*

authenticfarm wrote:I think we all desire a pretty piece of wood. *straight face*

Naughty, naughty, naughty........

or should that be

knotty, knotty, knotty.....

Splintery.

Oh, Authentic! (face palm)  

You shoulda heard the mileage I got out of the time we got stuck on the highway because a trucker lost his load of wood. *snicker*

.

Higgins, you are so right! We are limited beings with limited usages and one time we'll try and do something only to discover that, oops, we're all out of that. I thought I was the only person who felt this way, but I am happy to see that I am in good company.

For example, often Hub comes home from work expecting food. Food! And I have had to explain, more than once, remember all those times before when you came home from work and there was food? Remember how reliable and dependable I was at providing food? Well guess what, I USED UP ALL MY FOOD USAGES. I'm all out. Over. Done. No more food.

To all our younger members who may just be starting out their lives as married women who are expected to make food, pace yourselves. It would be wise to cook only once a week, that way you won't use up your life's allotment of cooking energy. Many of us could probably cook a meal once a week well into our old age. But those of us who go overboard and get all Susie Homemaker pay for it in the long run. My life is a cautionary tale. Because now...I'm all out of cooking. It's so sad.

Of course, when one door closes, another opens. Instead of cooking, I seem able to do quilting. It's a trade-off. Not perfect buy hey, you take what you get. And Higgins, I employ a sewing machine to aid in my quilting. A nod to your sage advice to make your life easier when you can. If I could find a machine to get the groceries, bring them home, put them away, get them out again to make the meal, make the meal, serve the meal, clean up after the meal, repeat eternally, I'd get one!

.

You brought up and interesting point about bodies wearing out. I am at that stage now. Used to be VERY strong for a woman. Work hard all day, lift heavy things, something to prove, never give up. I am totally over all that. Treat me like a girl!

I was at the vet with a horse. We were talking about things to use as an alternative to bute. Also talking about how many of these things are much more beneficial to use before the activity, not after. And he said "You know, like when you take Advil BEFORE you go out and do something you were good at when you were 18." Very good advice!

No wood getting for use this year! Details soon......

I like machines. I even have a machine that stirs my jam for me when I am canning, so I don't get spattered and burnt.

I think instead of a maid or cook, I would like a gardener.

I tell my husband quite often I would like a house wife. She can be married to the house, no problem. Do all the cleaning, a little of the cooking and all the laundry.
I have to say I get some interesting looks when I make this comment out in public!
I am good with the outside stuff.  

coopslave wrote:I tell my husband quite often I would like a house wife.  She can be married to the house, no problem.  Do all the cleaning, a little of the cooking and all the laundry.
I have to say I get some interesting looks when I make this comment out in public!
I am good with the outside stuff.   

Have you considered polygamy?

I kinda get the whole sister wives thing, but I don't quite like to SHARE that much. Just want somebody to do all the yucky work!  
I sucks liking a clean house but hating doing the house work!!!!

Geeze, started out as wood and oh my, how about those piles of wood. Been there, done that, so many years ago. Don't know if I ever want to stack and pack and split wood again. Back in the day, I could swing that mall and split wood like there was nary a tomorrow. But, nope, nada, ain't ever doin' that again. My body would never in a million years handle it. But boy, I sure do recall that warmth that warms from the inside out or guess really, inside in, from the beautiful fire. I do miss fire, I do miss the incredible scent of stacked wood, and burning scent, reminds me still, in my mind's eye, of my Grandmother, who only had wood for heat and to cook with in her black wood cook stove. Wood is good. Now Uno, I so remember all the times you speak about how you never feed poor Husband, maybe once a week he gets to eat food, if you are not quilting   . would ya just feed that poor dude!! Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.