It is the poorest wood I know and just now worth messing with. It stinks to high heaven when cutting it and is usually about the wettest wood you can find. But when it dries, there just is not much to it. No, I'd definitely pass on willow.
Mine youngest is 15, if he can't figure out when to wear pants, well, I failed somewhere along the line. All kidding aside, he's about to put away the shorts.
I had Mum to smarten me up. I see parents today in winter with kids not wearing coats and in shorts, tees, etc. If that had been me and my Mum, I would not have left the house dress so stupidly because Mum would not have allowed it. New study has shown that the cold virus actually does thrive better in lower temps in the nasal passageways, so getting chilled in winter can lead to colds just like Mum use to tell me.
Well, around here to a lot of folks this isn't cold yet, once real cold and "winter" get here we'll all be bundled up. You just can't function when it's subzero and with the wind the chill index is 30 or 40 below
You are talking about my wife! Even in January, it's a bit over 100 yards to the mailbox. Shorts she wears but a Carhartt jacket and hood on top. Go figure.
Hemlock is some good stuff for a soft wood. The only thing is it stacks difficultly because it usually has some ugly grain where the limbs grow. I do have poplar on the porch right now, about 5 days worth. Must have gotten it in a delivery I bought a few months ago.
First time the car breaks down in winter and they got shorts on. I've never really been the shorts type. We have to wear pants and long sleeves year round at work anyways so I'm kinda used to it.
You know why I wear a jacket when it is cold? Because when I was a kid I didn't wear one and eventually went out and froze my butt off one too many times and learned a lesson. One of my kids went to school today in shorts, and it is 40 degrees with a 25 mph wind. He will eventually figure it out, and being cold won't kill him, at least not today. Come to think of it, that is the same reason I don't cut willow for firewood. It will burn, but it is the same amount of work as other woods for half the BTUs. Tulip Poplar, on the other hand is decent firewood and a beautiful tree.
We had a day last winter when it was 0 degrees. That is extremely cold for here. I had the flu- fevers, the whole deal. Felt like hell. Anyway, I had to take my son to school so I sucked it up. I started the truck early, got it warmed up. I put on boots, a coat, gloves, warm hat even though it was a 10 minute drive in town. Truck broke down a mile from home. I didn't bring my cell phone. I had to walk home and it was at the limit of what I could do as sick as I was. It is foolish to take the weather lightly.
When the temperature gets to the life threatening range I make the kids carry winter gear with them. I used to live in Alaska and every winter you'd hear about someone who almost froze to death walking a mile from their broken-down car to the nearest warm building.
Always amazed me that the first day in the spring it hits 45° everybody is running around in t-shirts, but when it hits 45° in the fall they are all bundled up. Gary
