I know this is cheating. Yesterday on Next-door, I found a bunch of free, split, seasoned Douglas Fir and Lodgepole. The couple that was giving it away is older and do not want to put in the work to burn wood anymore. They converted to a gas insert. This wood was in a huge wood shed. It has been kept totally dry and has been seasoned for about 3 years. It was dry until I decided to go get it in a snow storm There is still about one pickup truck load that I need to get. The couple was really nice. I gave them a little bit of money to help with their gas bills.
Ready to burn and almost free, cant get much better. Will you burn it right away or put into rotation. How close was it Cash?
Great score!! I'd probably offer to do work for them as well for payment. If bringing wood in to burn was too much work, there's probably other work they can't do around the place.
I will burn a little bit of it, but most of it will be stacked systematically and burned next winter. It was about 15 minutes from me in Bailey. I had to basically force them to take a few bucks for it. They said I was doing them a favor by getting it out of their shed. With the load I still have to go get, I'd guess it's around 2 cord.
I actually told them to keep my number if they need any help in the future. I did move a bunch of scrap lumber and metal into a trailer for them. Like I told Brad, they told me I was doing them a favor by clearing out the wood shed for them.
I had a few easy scrounges, but not even close to that easy. Nice trailer Cash Larue looks like you can get around a cord on it?
Nice score! I may have something similar coming later on this year. At the post office this morning, I ran into the older woman from whose property I scored a huge red oak last summer that was taken down during power line easement clearing. I saw that the tree crew, for some reason, never went back and cleaned up the mess (undesirable pieces that didn't get chipped). I told her that after the snow melts, I would go over and clean up the mess for her. She then brought up that she has a lot of split firewood in her basement that she estimates some may have been there for fifteen years. Her husband passed away several years ago and she said she only burns maybe a couple times a year, so she is thinking of getting rid of all the wood in the basement for safety reasons. She said if she does decide to get rid of it, she would let me know first. Now I have no idea what type of wood it is, nor the condition or actual quantity, however 15-year-old splits would definitely be some dry firewood!
Good for you Cash! A score like that every once in a while is a fine thing. Count it as a bonus for your First Responder Service!
Nice score for sure Cash Larue ! I'll bet there's a bit of a more secure feeling on their end knowing they have someone to call if something goes sideways for them.
Very nice Cash. Congrats on your score. Sounds like some nice people who appreciated your efforts on removing the wood for them. Win Win.
Yeah. It's a trip living up here. On one hand, it's incredible. It's beautiful and an adventure every day. I can walk out my door and over the hill and see a hundred head of elk - or walk down to the stream below my house and catch brown and brook trout for dinner. On the other hand... It's hard. Not nearly as hard as Cold Trigger Finger and Rope have it. But it can be hard. The difference between us is the altitude. The altitude here just weighs people down after a while. Some good friends/neighbors of ours just moved to Washington State, because the male half was really struggling with his COPD up here. He got to the point where he couldn't even leave his house anymore. As people age up here, it gets harder. We had multiple 3+ foot snow storms last winter. We got 10" of snow yesterday. I am CONSTANTLY pulling people out of the snow. I'm always cutting and splitting wood. I mow a 2 acre field 2 times a week in the summer. I live a never ending fire mitigation project. I'm constantly trying to outsmart the bears. The deer and elk eat everything that I try to grow. We have an enclosed garden that could contain Hannibal Lecter. And our growing season is less than 3 months. We still get snow in mid June and hard frost in mid August. There are times in the winter when I leave at 3 am to get to work at 7 am. Anyone who has ever driven I-70 or HWY 285 through the mountains in the winter knows what a challenge it is (or google Colorado high mountain passes). Going home from the fire station to my house is almost a 4 thousand foot climb. It's really stressful in the winter getting to and from work. If you slide over that guard rail in my first picture, it's about a 300 foot drop to a stream below - and that's just in my neighborhood. Sliding off the road is not just an inconvenience here. I'd like to think that we will be here forever, but who knows. Sometimes the body makes that decision for you. I'm always happy to help my older neighbors. And believe me, help I do. I just hope that karma helps me out in the future.
