I probably did saw a few logs last night. Glad we weren't having to cook that pig. Yep, I was tired last night....
Had a little time this morning while dinner was getting finished, so went up to wood yard and cleaned up a couple piles of chunks and shorties... finished filling up our plastic pallet bin.
Hey T.Jeff Veal I like that simple system you have for lashing together pallets making quick bins for shorties (aka uglies)! I'll keep that in mind. I had a great Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and I simultaneously cooked two turkeys in the homemade pizza oven. Almost thought I was going to have to scrap that plan due to the crazy winds we had here, but the oven did it's job. It also freed up the kitchen oven so my wife and daughter could make all the sides and bake the pies. That mix of short oaks you have there in that bin would make great cook wood! You should be glad I don't live next door to you... You'd always be wondering why you're never able to completely fill that bin.
If you lived next door, you might wonder why the outside oven was always hot... I would have a sign up "will provide wood for food"...lol... Did you see the pictures as I was building the bin earlier in this thread? Kinda shows it better...had to come up with some storage ideas...we have about 25-55gal drums full of nuggets/shorties... I am going to improve that design a bit, gonna add 4 short pieces of 2x4 when the fork openings are on the top. Once full, I can screw the metal panels down and leave it for a year or more. I did one section yesterday, didn't have the wood or saw to finish it.
Haha, it's a deal! No I missed the earlier thread pallet assembly, but I just went back and checked it out. I like your new roof idea. I was wondering myself how you might cover them. I figured probably just tarp them after filling to a heaping mound, but your idea is better if you have the metal panels. I keep trying to get my hands on some free metal panels, no luck yet.
The metal we have is leftovers from a couple roofs we have done, and when we went to pick up to panels for those jobs, the company has over runs or out of spec pieces, I can get those for $1/ft or less...
Had a busy few days since Monday... Started that morning with our friend/ neighbor, Mike, he helped us cut up 2 big piles of limb wood. the beginning of the first new stack got 2 1/2 stacks about 4 1/2' x 6' done. Still have a little more to sort and cut. this is a red bud tree we had to cut. Seemed heavy, hope it will burn good. Got through with this about lunchtime, loaded up and delivered this load... Got back and a friend that bought 1/2 cord rack stopped by and loaded about half his wood on his truck Then the exciting part began. Had a boom truck brought by, took down a HUGE oak limb over the new wood shed area (what a limb thread) and a standing dead pine that was next to mom's electric service drop. As y'all can see that finished Monday. Tuesday, Mike came back and helped us clean up the oak and pine trees when we get it all CSS (oak) I'll let you know how much was in that limb. Wednesday morning, another good friend and repeat customer came got more oak and hickory cooking wood. I was ready to come back to work so I could rest...lol...
So will you take the whole oak down eventually? From the size of that limb, you would be right in taking it down bit by bit, as you can process it. Great pics, and I'm sooo envious of all that bare, unsnow-covered ground! Miz Carol getting some cutting time, is she comfortable with it now?
The rest probably needs to come down, but the main trunk isn't very good and I know it has some fence wire and junk in it. She is getting better, work in progress. It wasn't very warm Monday to us anyway, 40-50° and breezy. It was 26° Tuesday morning.
Good afternoon everybody. Hope everything is going well. Went out to get the bird feeder to refill it and the stump I stand on is covered in ice. They will have to wait till Chaz is home and can get it down for me. No change in weather. Bye everyone.
Nice having friends in high places huh? ...haha! That huge oak in the picture with the measuring stick looks like its going to be a beast to split...Maybe I'm just looking through the eyes of a hand splitter though. Great documentation as always, and remember always have 3 eggs for breakfast if you're going to keep working like this.
I'll tell my hunny to up the egg count at breakfast...... We have split one of the rounds off the big log, it's heavy for sure, glad we have the metal platform to slide it under the splitter. Once it's quartered, seems to split easy. I might sharpen up the maul and give it a try...maybe... The guy that owns the truck goes to church with us, always willing to help the community if he can.
Thats one thing we are missing here for sure, a sense of community... and many Roman Catholic churches here are at risk of consolidating or closing down completely. Ever see an 1800s Gothic Italianate church turned into condo units? It's very sad. Our churches have transformed from places of worship to become places to hold weddings baptisms and funerals. Though I have great neighbors I cant say we know each other in any meaningful way. Most times it doesn't occur to us to invest in getting to know anyone new moving to the block because people can be here today and gone tomorrow and many are transient renters. What happens is sometimes one neighbor winds up staying for quite some years and you kick yourself for not getting to know them better. I'm a dinosaur living in this town since 1993 when I moved away from my family in Long Island to get an art teaching job in the Bronx. At that time my wife was already working in Jersey City and so moving here made sense for commuting. Everyone here in this New York Metro area is basically a slave to the rat race and people lose their corporate jobs regularly or get transferred. Any extra time is precious and limited which we reserve for family, thank goodness there is still time for that!! It's nice to hear there are people like you guys living in this country with a communal relationship to their neighbors and a spiritual connection to God. Here it's just a "hello and good bye" at one of the myriad of Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks which is nice, but not the same. Retirement for me in a few years and I'm hoping to get out of this area while moving somewhere close enough to keep in touch with family...not going to be easy, maybe Pennsylvania? I see Penn Hills Resort has closed some years ago and is in total abandonment and decay, maybe I'll move there? haha! Well it is/was "For Lovers Only" Hey Jeff you're making me think it's time to change my avatar. I keep thinking about doing it, but which picture will sum me up completely?? decisions decisions Anyway, I've been enjoying your little gallery lately
Haha good one... and that's really a perfect summation! You are quite astute Brad, and yes traffic is my nemesis.
missed a lot of this thread. Great looking work sir with the bucket truck. You always did wanna get up in the world!
