Tuesday we had the hurricane Isaias rements here in New England. Some rain but mostly high winds. Multiple trees and branches were downed and power was lost to many area residents. I was chomping at the bit to take a ride around and see if any good scrounges could be had all week. Finally on Friday I had the day of, so me and the wife took a ride around and I located a couple good prospects. About 3 miles form my house I located a huge Ash tree that had fallen across the road and into someones driveway making it unusable. I loaded up my saws and equipment and drove over to check it out. No vehicles in the driveway but 3-4 guys working across the street. I walked over and asked the first guy about the wood. Do you mind if I cut the wood up? He points to another guy, who I then ask the same question. He says sure, just leave the wood on this side of the road for me. Ok, no problem!!! I park the truck and trailer and start loading up. The main trunk that had blocked the road was bucked up already by I assume the DPW. This was a huge tree. Id say in all honesty it was a 2.5-3 cord tree. Within 25 minutes I had rolled the large rounds onto the trailer and threw some smaller pieces and odds and ends in between. Pretty excited about a good score, I went home and unloaded. This was around 4:30-5:00pm Friday. Saturday morning I decide to get another load bright and early before the sun and heat come out. Not as quick as the previous day, because I had to cut all the wood I loaded. Still, within about 50 minutes I had another full trailer load. Pretty good score so far. I'd say about 1.25 cords between the two loads.
Sunday morning I decide to do the same thing I did Saturday. I drive over, buck up a big log and am just about ready to start loading the trialer When... a car pulls up and a woman gets out. I turn off the saw, and take off my ear phones. She says, Who are you? Confused, I said I'm here cutting wood, that the older gentleman across the street said I could cut and have. Well this is my house, and my brother in law wanted the wood!!! What happened to all the wood the DPW cut? Do you live around here? I don't know, I just got here. My trailer is empty. I'm not from this area. Don't leave, let me call my brother in law. I look to my son and say "Load up the tools, we're leaving" As she's on the phone, Don't leave, don't leave. I'm not leaving, I'm putting my tools in my truck. She couldn't get a hold of the brother in law, so then she tries calling her brother who also didn't answer. I apologize again, and say Sorry for the mix up, I genuinely thought he was the owner, and I was doing him a favor as tree companies charge a lot of money to do tree work, especially in this heat! Your brother in law can have the wood. No worries Well, why don't you leave your number, so if he doesn't get it I can call you. Thanks for the offer, but I'm all set. Bye I just wasn't getting good vibes from this lady. She asked me for my name, number, address. I declined to give any of that info. I could just see the wheels turning. Some crazy offer would have been proposed. If you cut all the wood and chip the brush, and hive my brother in law half the wood, you can keep the rest. I wanted out of dodge before any of that was even said. You'd think the woman would know if her brother in law is actually gonna cut it. It sat for three full days before I wen there on Friday. I doubt he'll be cutting it in the 90 degree heat we're expected to have the next few days. I bet if I drive by in a couple weeks, the wood will still be there. Maybe then I'll stop if I see her, and ask if the brother in law is still getting the wood. To the best I can figure, the tree was originally across the street, owned by the older gentleman. He said I could have it, not accounting for the fact that it was now laying on the neighbors driveway across the street. It was an interesting weekend.
Here's the leaves. I originally thought it was Poplar, until I took a closer look and realized it was Ash. This is the log I cut and was ready to take on my third load. Oh well. This picture was taken about 2-3 minutes before she pulled up. My chaps weren't on, because my son didn't have any and he was wearing mine. I was letting him run the small saw a little. I'd say I could have easily filled my trailer 2 more times, maybe even a partial 5th trailer load. This one log next to me would have filled my trailer half way. Sad thing is I would have thrown the brush to the sides of the driveway and maybe even of blown the chips away with my backpack blower so they could get in the driveway. A lot of work in 85 degree weather for free. As the wise Dennis always says, its not cord wood, until its bucked, split, seasoned and delivered to your door. Everyone seems to think the $250 a cord applies whether its delivered to your door pre split and seasoned or in a 36" diameter tree laying in your yard. A large tree laying there isn't worth anything hardly to most people. Hence why tree companies don't do the removal for just the wood, and instead charge thousands of dollars. Oh well...
That's the chance you take when getting wood without first getting permission from the rightful owner. Too bad. Be aware she may have taken your license number. And in the end that woow would probably have sat there for a long, long time as she did not want it. Then she got dollar bills dancing in her mind.
From what I can see the wood wasn't even on private property. If DPW cut it up it looks like fair game.
I'm starting to wonder why even bother with scrounging. A lot of work for a little wood that often turns into something like this. I'd be better off ordering split and seasoned wood and sitting at home drinking a cold drink in the shade. I really don't care if she took down my license plate. There was no wood on my trailer. Whats she gonna tell the police that I did wrong? They wouldn't even investigate a petty complaint like that and she can't run the plate as a civilian. I did attempt to get permission, and thought I had. Answer me this though, the tree was the neighbors across the street. It fell across the road which neither one owns, and was tossed on her side of the road by the DPW. Who owns the wood? If your neighbors tree fell on your roof, would you repair the damage or talk to the neighbor about working out insurance details? This wasn't a clear cut scrounge.
Alright...it just got more interesting. I looked on the GIS maps and the property is in a trust. The person who lived there passed away, and all her kids live in other nearby towns. The next door property (not where tree originated) is where my next door neighbor grew up. He said no one lives at the house. Hence why it took so long for the daughter to see me there. There was a wheelchair ramp, so I assume the living father moved in with one of the kids. I assume one of the 50 cars that slowed down, called her and notified her I was there.
Looking back at old google map images, here is the tree which I'm pointing at. You can see the driveway across the way. From the other direction. Now the tree is to the left of the pencil.
At least you got some of the wood, so not all was lost. Best to leave it go IMO, even if the wood is still there. Sounds like trouble. Next the lady will be asking for a DNA test of the rounds you took and submit them to the Maury Povich show.
Not all hope is lost yet. I'm in talks with my next door neighbor (we're friends), who I just found out grew up next door to this house. I asked if he knows the family who lives/lived there. He does. I'm going to try to work an angle where I can go back and at least get the wood I sliced up. Maybe hes friendly with the woman who claimed to live there. She has to be a daughter or daughter in law. He can casually mention I'm a good guy and for her to let me have the wood. If so, this will by far be the most interesting scrounge I've ever got.
Lol, no. By googling the 2 daughters and daughter in law, I do know which woman I spoke with though. Good old linkedin. Scary what you can find out in 5 minutes online. Her name, age, address, work place, number. Bwhahahaha
I agree with Backwoods Savage, let her stew. You've done nothing wrong. At least you got what you could from that location for the time being. Who knows, the chapter might not be closed on that score and maybe sometime in the fall you could go back for more. I wouldn't give up on scrounging altogether either, sometimes permission is easily granted and it's cut and dry, sometimes it's cut and FLY!
Technically (and I've been through this with a neighbor) if a tree on my property falls and lands mostly on my neighbor's property, the part of the tree that is on the neighbor's property becomes his property. Supposedly Act of God rules. He can't tresspass on my property to snag the rest of it, he can only rightfully have the portion that fell over/onto his property. Doesn't matter if it is a highly valuable black walnut tree or a cottonwood. In my case the neighbor's tree fell on my property and he wanted it. Told him to go for it and he could leave the branches if he wanted but he took those too. It was eastern white pine and he's been slowly burning it in a fire pit a couple times a year. We had some property line issues when they first moved in. He's OK, his wife is <easily triggered>. <can't think of the right word> Sounds like this lady just wanted to exercise her right to ownership instead of just appreciating that you were cleaning it up for her. Maybe these relatives she was calling had wood stoves and she wanted to give them first dibs on it, but she could have just said so. Sounds like she was just being an a-hole or maybe her social skills aren't so finely tuned. You'll meet all sorts scrounging that's for sure.
