I had a nephew who is about 20 years younger than me go to the mountains with me for firewood. His comment over and over was I did not know you were going to work my butt off. Well I gave him all the wood that we cut but he never volunteered to go up with me again. That was about 4 years ago. He wanted the wood but was not willing to work for it. Oh well.
Not interested in giving a handout, but I’ve had some really nice neighbors and they’d been super nice to me so I told them you’re more than welcome to have some wood. Again the half and half on this tells me how far has the kindness gone.
Let me see a copy of your last 4 years of tax returns to see if you qualify as a 'needy' individual or family.
In my experience the real people in need don’t ask. I got an army buddy, who a couple years back. Brought to my attention, that a mother and kids were low on wood. The son that normally took care of it had been deployed. Good Drywood this time of year in this area is 400 a cord. I don’t own a truck, but the guardsmen did. Buddy, Hendo, made sure it was delivered and stacked while mom and kids were at church.
I stated before...i'd ratber give up a pay check than give up my firewood....way way too much work. As far as even givin wood away for a good cause.....i'd have to know you very very well. I knew a good amount of some older people when i did service work n i felt for them...acted like they didnt have two nickels to rub together.....i did free repairs on there appliances....then i found out...when they passed....they left hundreds of thousands of dollars to the spca....church....or other organizations.... NO MORE!
This whole thread, and everyone's responses are giving me pause for thought. I was a young man when my father died. Come to think he was a young man too. he was 55 when he died of a sudden and aggressive cancer, and I turned 28 the week before he passed. He was a good man and I think he'd have been well liked by anyone who's reading this- he was a man who faced life simply, but was not a simple man. His most lasting advice I can hear ringing in my ears, and the most shareable of it was "harden not your heart". I'm reminded of that in a variety of ways regularly. And so I think I'm going to change my tune a bit, and keep my attitude a bit less judgey. I'm able bodied and have quite a bit of drive to me. I was thinking I'd build my wood shed this summer to accommodate 6 cord b/c that would likely give me the 3 year supply. I think I'll build it for 8 cord and just keep an extra 2 cord ready to go. The whole set an extra plate at the table notion.
Great idea, there are those who truly need help, and then as stated, some just want to burn for looks. We cut a good bit, we (us and mom) burn, we sell some and give some away to those less fortunate. GOD has always given us more than we gave away.
We were given this trailer load of oak. The guy and his wife helped load it. Another guy had given us 10-12 blow downs, sure we had to take equipment to get it home (10 miles). He told us about a single lady with cancer, could we cut her a little. Sure can. We got a half load of logs for her. A great friend and neighbor helped me on a Tuesday get it sorted and bucked to her length, staged in 2 piles for the splitters We got a few friends from our mission team at church to come Wednesday. We had a splitting party. Less than 2 1/2 hrs we had her fixed up for the winter. 7x12 dump trailer. She wasn't home then, but she called later, completely overwhelmed. As I said, GOD will supply our needs.
Thank ya all for the replies...a lot of insight here and a lot of perspective. Glad to be in such fine company.
I have always been willing to give some wood to folks that need it. When friends want some for fire pits or ambiance fires I just tell them a donation to the fuel, oil, and Advil fund is all I ask. Most of them have bought wood in the past as are totally happy to ‘buy’ from me with a good donation to said ‘fund’
Since that wood is plenty dry, you’re hardly worried about running out of supply either. Wonderful stacks and welcome !
Welcome to the club. Lots of great folks here sharing knowledge and humor. I think you will like it here.
"But you have so much, you can spare some right?" "I don't want THAT wood, can't I have some nice stuff from the stacks?" "But you didn't pay for this, why would I pay you ?"
I had a neighbor I used to be really friendly with. He asked a handful of times about getting some wood for his fire pit. I would usually give him some of my firepit wood; or my good stuff. He would ask for a little wood and then say “ I’ll be right over with my gorilla cart wagon”. I always found it a little insulting that he never asked if I wanted to come over and enjoy his fires, maybe share a beer with me. We had several mutual friends who would comment on the balls this guy must have had. He eventually stopped asking. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Welcome to my world! I can't tell you just how many times over the years that Eric VW has caught and corrected my posts!
