I'm in a quandary. My acquisitive self, coupled with that part of my self that likes to eat foods not found in the Four Basic Groups (Flour, Oatmeal, Beans, and Rice) is at war with my natural (IE, lazy) self.
This has to do with a cord of wood, and the lady who wants me to cut one for her. The standard definition of a cord of wood is wood cut to stove lengths, split as needed, and tightly stacked into a volume four feet by four feet by eight feet. When the wood begins the process on the trees, that's a lot of work. I PROBABLY cut that much wood this past winter (it's been a very mild winter) but for sure not all at once. In fact I've only done it twice in my life, all in one job, and it HURT. I'm rapidly headed toward "old fart."
Acquisitive Me says "A couple of hundred bucks, maybe! Shiny!"
Natural (lazy) Me says "Four feet. By four feet. By eight feet. You know how much hauling, cutting and splitting that's gonna take? You remember how badly your back hurt last time?"
Oy. I've got to tell her something. I don' wanna.
And yet: I just finished a more sedentary set of gigs - harder than cutting wood, really, but more sedentary - and almost all the money went to pay off a debt. I'm out from under that debt, which is good, but still broke. Which is not good.
So I should tell her I'll supply the cord of stovewood.
I don' wanna.
Brave New World
26 minutes ago
4 comments:
Your ongoing tales of life in the boonies and on the economic edge are fascinating, humorous, frightening, and inspiring.
I think, though, that overall I'm simply jealous :-)
I live in a pine forest. It was platted many years ago and out of 1000 lots perhaps 50 of them have homes. I have 3 cords of wood just outside my backdoor and under cover. I have about 5 cords of wood in the backyard against the fence under tarps. Most of that I cut this summer from dead trees and trees my nieghbor wanted cut. I have in excess of 100 trees standing live on my property that represents between 10-20 cords if I choose to cut it. I heat one room with the woodstove and I use about 2 1/2 - 3 cords a winter. I have cooked food in/on the wood stove and I'm going to try bread soon. I am 68 and have health problems but I find that if I pace myself I can cut split and stack the wood with no problems. Wheelbarrowing it from one place to another is more difficult for me but I can do it. I suspect I have an advantage you don't have, that I have so much wood around me I don't have to go far to find it. But I love wood heat and I enjoy the physical labor of harvesting the wood.
And all that freaking juniper is not only sparse, but about 10 times harder to cut and stack than pine. Or even oak.
Sure it was not a Face Cord?
Where there is only one row of 16 inch instead.
Even here in the U.P. a face cord is going for between $60 and $80 and that is if you pick it up, not delivered.
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