Year of the Monkey, possible score will know more tomorrow.

Evening hoarders. Well, maybe it's good morning back in the States. Driving to work this morning, I noticed a house that had a pile of tree trimmings:stacke: in their yard and figured I would scope it out on the way home. Well I saw an older Japanese lady in the front yard on my way home so I stopped in. I was in my uniform so I think that threw her off coupled with me being a foreigner. I wish I could take a picture of these folks and the expressions on their faces. I excused my self and asked if she was the owner of the wood pile which she was, but she was very perplexed at my being there talking to her.

In my best Japanese I explained that I lived about 15 minutes away, own a maki (wood) stove and had noticed the wood pile on my way to work that morning. It was then I think the light started to come on and she knew what I was there for. Once over the initial shock of me walking up to her out of the blue she explained to me that it was a Yuzu (citrus) tree that her husband had cut down because the Saru were eating all the fruit and making a mess. I said saru, you mean Monkeys!? she said Hai, yes MONKEYS!

She has to run it by her husband who was out, but told me to check back tomorrow after work. I only have the capacity to store a chord at my house and have room now for about a third of that which this scrounge would top me off. Will let y'all know how it turns out and post pics if I get it and possibly any monkeys I may see.

 

A possible wood score because of monkeys? I'm going to tell the wife this story and leave the Japan part out til the end. Oh, she will look at me in a strange way. Great story so far, and a good laugh to start the day. Good luck with this one.

Getting strange looks from folks when asking for wood is just part of being a hoarder.

 

Keep us posted, we'll be hanging around waiting....pun intended

 

Tell your family/friends back in Texas for a good laugh!!

I think this is a first for all of us.

 

Dang, squirrels and raccoons are bad enough I'm glad I don't have any monkeys around

 

You can always eat the squirrels and raccoons but don't know about the monkeys

 

Yes, monkey on a stick from the street vendors is pretty good!

 

Subic Bay! Monkey meat!

 

I think we're all wood monkeys of some sort on FHC.

Citrus wood? I'd guess it would burn very hot, no?

 

My wife cooks some up at most gatherings. Gets gobbled up as soon as it comes off the grill.

 

I dropped by the lady's house on the way home from work this afternoon and got the big thumbs up and grin so I had at it. Turns out that the wood is chestnut and not the Yuzu I thought i heard her say. Got two loads in the back of my Subaru before dark. Around 4 o'clock I could hear some movement up on the hill behind me and then I saw them, Monkeys! I tried to get pics, but i spooked them so no luck. They can get aggressive too so didn't hang around much after they showed up. Must have been 15 or so them running down the hill and into the bamboo some even had baby monkeys on their back. I did manage to snap a pick of a pheasant that
I came across.

After I got home i checked up on the Chestnut and it seems that it may not be the greatest firewood after all. Low heat output and some smoke, does any one have any experience with Chestnut? Here are the pics.

 

Eric thanks for the info. Bird is a pheasant. Yes definitely a memorable experience!

 

I only wish i could have snapped a pic of the monkeys. I had only seen a few before in 17 years i have lived here. Thanks for the commercial! I have not watched US TV with commercials in a long time. I get AFN TV which is a military satellite but we they do not show real commercials. Instead of commercials we gt public service announcements. My wife and I were just joking about something like this and me being a hoarder. I am sure she will get a chuckle out of this one too.

 

Interesting score you have going there. Might be a strange question to ask but do you know what kind of monkeys they are? I only ask because I helped trap some when I lived in Florida and since they were so smart I find them to be interesting critters.

 

Bret, they are macaque monkeys like this example. Like the snow monkeys you may have heard of that are in the hot springs here.

 

Thanks for sharing I really enjoy learning how fellow hoarders do it in other parts of the world. Now what you need to do is train some monkeys to go around and pester people into cutting down trees and you should have a nice supply growing in no time. By the way do you have any pics of your woodstove?