I really enjoyed this article and thought I would share it with my fellow hoarders. Who thinks like this anyway!? Let's hear what you think. http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/holen/article/2007apr30.pdf
I have no sons but know my three daughters are already developing an appreciation for a good hoard. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
How is this John " Jack" Mackenzie not on this forum? The guy sums up just about every facet of my wood hoarding disorder
I enjoyed that read. I will contemplate it further as I decided how to get 18-20 inch red oak rounds from my neighbor's property to my trailer tomorrow!
I thought the same thing... Nice job of explaining the obsession. I noticed that right off too... The article was written almost 10 years ago, before FHC... I should let him know a club now exists! If I recall, your training a new future hoarder, just like his dad trained him.
Nice article and well written. I have to laugh at the words about stopping the splitting of firewood or finding another less strenuous hobby. I've gone through this with more than one doctor. They think I am crazy doing this hard labor. Yes, I am crazy enough so that I do take medication just so that I can go out and do some hard work with the wood. Today was no exception. I've been struggling a lot lately and at 5:00 am I had to get out of bed to take some pain medication and then crawl back in bed to lay on the heating pad. Then later in the morning I took more medication so that I could go finish the job I had started a few days ago. Well, dang it, I was able to go do some work rather than lay or sit around the house moaning and groaning because I hurt so bad. But I have told the doctors that I am not willing to just give up and if taking some pain medicine will allow me to live a little bit more normal life, or be able to do some things, then I am willing to give that sacrifice. They willingly give in to my wishes and they also know that I do not go too far with the medicine. I do know my limits and the limits of medicine. But to me it is a small price to pay to also be able to keep my senses somewhat normal. I need to excercise the body and the mind and I need time in the woods. Thank God I can still do it.
"Wood hoarders don't belong to any club, but we appreciate a dead or dying tree and size up amateur removal probabilities voyeuristically. Northern Hydraulics catalogues capture our gaze as we reminisce about logs so large they defied our meager homeowner splitters and remain in the "too big too split" pile. We ponder the value of our log piles, envy bigger hoards and consider the potential of actually selling or bartering our laborious hobby, NOT. If'n he'd likened the Northern Tool catalogue to a Playboy Magazine - we all only look at the pictures
I somehow missed this article the first time around. Great story! And yes... A natural compulsion , it is. We burned wood for 7 years while I lived at home. Saturdays in the fall were reserved for cutting wood. First on a farm where one of dad's coworkers had logged, then dad had log lengths delivered. (Of coarse, looking back I see why we had a couple flue fires and all that creosote build up in the chimney...Yikes!) And now, here I am, trying to save a few bucks and having fun doing it...at least while I can. Quote from article: "My father had a "thing" about wood, wood potential, wood accumulation and wood piles. On drives through the neighborhood he would comment on declining trees and the opportunities to add to his accumulation of timber. Vacant lots were uncharted territories." I drive a good bit for work (and play). Most of our jobs sites are in rural areas. Sometimes completely wooded. I find myself looking at trees wherever I go. Maybe it's a sickness, but I never stop looking for BTU's...
I don't sleep well if I haven't collected, or cut, split, or stacked some wood during the day. I'm just not tired out enough. I hope you can keep doing it, I know exactly how necessary it is.
Such a treat to be turned onto this thread, especially considering I am the author of that column about wood hoarding. In review I do see some errors and a bit of word-smithing I would do today, but all in all I was thrilled to see it again. And upon such a glorious forum...who knew that there was a site dedicated to wood hoarders! Thank you all for your kind words, your latest firewood hoarder club member, Hoarding In Minnesota
Wow, full circle! So nice to meet the author of such an enjoyable article. This is a friendly place, make yourself at home, and please share more of your wood hoarding experiences.
"And with mild embarrassment we look away when a non-hoarder purchases a net wrapped bundle of three logs from the gas station for five dollars" I live a mile from a lake with campgrounds where the city people come up and put on their LL Bean flannels once a year and pretend to be outdoors men for the weekend (most are jerks who think they own the place so I don't feel bad about making fun). There's a store across the street that my friends own and they kill it on these pine bundles. 5 bucks? Try 9! Whenever I see a guy roll up in dress shoes and a lumberjack flannel and buy one I smirk because I know he'll be back in a couple hours for another. Sorry it's a guilty pleasure.
