It's All Gonna Burn, You Know!

I love my ratcheting straps. One of the greatest inventions ever made. Oh my! I love them. I cannot say enough good things about them. I carry them wherever I go. I look for opportunities to tie things down. If you don't have a set, you should get some. There are few things more satisfying than tying something securely to the top of your car with a good ratcheting strap. Really.
I have just found a good supply of free pallets. A local building supply company says if I just drive around down back, I can pick up as many as I want. Then of course, I get to strap them to the top of my car with my ratcheting straps. Note I also have 4 pallets INSIDE my car. These will be used to keep my wood out of the mud so it can dry. Later, I will get some more to break up and use as kindling.

My wood is now in two piles. The near pile is what's left of the original 3 cord, three row pile. Further back you can make out the double stack on pallets, about 2/3 of the entire pile. To the left you see the completed floor of my new woodshed, built entirely of scrap. The only cost has been the cement blocks for the foundation ($1.00 each) and the nails. Nails are suprisingly expensive, and when you actually use them to build something, a box really doesn't go that far.

I have started splitting the wood. Wow. What fun. Big Maul. Fat chunk. Great swing. Big thunk. Nice crack. Do it again. And again. And again. Good honest sweaty fun. Small start. Long ways to go. Gotta fill this whole thing up stacked at least 5 feet high.

This is the stuff I got out of the mud. Spent a whole Saturday afternoon just moving it from the swamp pile to it's new home. I figure I probably picked up and moved 6 or 7 whole trees. When's the last time you've picked up a few trees and moved them across your yard. A little stiff the next day, but good to know that this will all be keeping me warm this winter.

A Life Dominated by Cellulose

Thanks to the tornado, I now have wood. Boy, do I ever have wood. And more to come. Wood to burn and on the side, wood to build.

Here is my nascent woodpile. This is about 1.5 cord. I estimate I need about 4 times this -- at a minimum -- to heat the house this winter. You can see the beginnings of my splitting efforts piled on the left. I have learned the splitting wood with a 16 lb. triangular splitting maul is about as much fun as I have ever had.

Note that the maul came to us for free when my wife picked it up from someone's trash on a whim -- 2 years ago. Had no use for it then. Now? Best thing ever!

As a result of the work on my house's sill and new deck I had some spare 2X6's laying around. This is going to form the base of my new woodshed. I figure it will hold about 4 cord.

For the last 3 months, with fuel prices as they have been, we have been considering buying a woodstove. But with what? Not a lot of spare cash floating around. Then it struck me. Wait! We already have a wood stove. It's right next to the oil furnace. It was enclosed by a previous owner who also didn't use it, and I had forgotten about it. I'll need to tear out the wall that they put in when the "finished" the basement, but it's all hooked up to a seperate chimney flue and it's ready to go. Again, who knew? Now? Best thing ever!

I've already written about Good News/Bad News. Here is the new deck, replacing the old one crushed by the snow that plunged off my roof in March. Should be done in a few days. If the tornado had struck us, I believe the new deck would have anchored our house down to prevent it from being blown away. It is built like a freakin' tank. I love it.

And of course, all that firewood is being provided for us thanks to a disastrous tornado that struck last week. Good can come from evil. I am sad for the people whose houses were damaged. I am especially sad for the family of the lady who was killed in the storm. I am grateful for the wood that will heat my family this winter, and for the love of good friends that is helping me harvest it.

Jehovah Jireh. YHWH Provides.

More on the storm yet to come.