Two-plus cords down

Wednesday, 1:25 pm

Aug

20

2008

So, on Monday morning, my wood guy dumped three cords of wood in my driveway and it looked somewhat generous. Just by eyeballing it, I thought there was a bit more than last year. I also noted that this year the quality is a bit better and that’s saying something because this fellow sells some of the best wood around. I spent most of Monday looking at the huge pile taking up my entire driveway. Didn’t start stacking until yesterday.

It was a perfect day for it. The temps were in the low seventies and the humidity was down around 50%. And there were no mosquitoes.

The lad and I have a pretty good system. He fills the wheelbarrow to capacity and dumps the load at my feet by the woodpile. I stack and he delivers. And, as luck would have it, his girlfriend decided to come over and help. And she brought fresh coffee! Ooh, what a sweetheart! Between the three of us, we knocked off two-plus cords yesterday...in about four hours. We hustled right along. And observed that the wood was quite heavy. Most of it, this year, is oak and the splits are large. And wet. It’s nice seasoned wood, but it sat out in the summer rain, of which we’ve had an abundance. Let me tell you, large wet oak splits are heavy. Four hours was about as much as my back was willing to tolerate. I’m pleased that it tolerated that much. I got a tremendous amount of satisfaction gazing on my very large and neatly stacked woodpiles last evening. The lad left to spend the night at his Dad’s house and wood stacking will halt until Thursday. I’m giving my back a day of rest. In the meantime, there’s always grass to be mowed.

Becca said she’d be back on Thursday to help stack the rest and she’s bringing her brother with her. ‘Tween now and then, I need to figure out where to put the rest of the wood. My designated woodpile area (in the back of the house) is filled. I had not expected it to be filled with this much wood left over. According to my calculations and past experience, the three cords should have mostly fit. So, it’s pretty clear to me that my wood guy gave me some generously sized ‘cords’. There are probably two more 8’x6’ stacks worth to tuck somewhere around here.

You know, it was kind of interesting. I’ve noted in the past that my wood guy is remarkably good looking. And he’s always been really nice to me. Sort of shy and a little gruff, but really nice. And I always thought there was a bit of an attraction there. Nothing that I ever dwelt on for more than five minutes, but it was there. And then, this year, he turns up all dressed to the nines, gives me a rather larger than expected delivery of prime wood...then says, quietly, out of the blue, “So, will you think of me this winter?”

Uhh. Hm. “With every stick I burn,” I said solemnly. Well, maybe with a grin, too.

Sometimes I am very surprised by the things that come winging out of left field.

Anyhoo. My driveway should be all cleaned up and back to normal within a day or two. And, in between wood concerns, we’re also preparing the lad to go back to school. He leaves on Saturday and we are madly racing around getting his stuff together and a few purchases made. He’s also working right up until Friday. Busy week. This has been a really great summer and it disappeared awfully fast. I have a feeling this may be the last such summer.