It's about time for an update... The burning season is almost upon us - Night temps starting to go into the 40's. Any day now I'll have my first fire of the year. Lets see.... A: Had a pacemaker installed March 1st. It's install caused a rather severe DVT to form, from neck - into chest and down to wrist of my left arm - they figured this out end of March when my arm swelled up like a balloon - I was a guest of the local hospital for a few days for that. Between these two events I was out of wood gathering\processing commission until mid May. Doing fine now. B: My pickup truck was showing it's age - needed lots of work and insurance is not cheap. Since it was really only used for gathering wood I decided to take advantage of the surge in auto prices, and sold it - replaced it with a 5x8 trailer I pull behind my daily driver. C: With respect to firewood - I have enough wood split and stacked that all I do is replace what I burned the previous year - anywhere from 3.5 - 5 cords. Attached is a pic of my latest haul on the trailer - Ash - largest I've ever got - 25-28" in diameter - Frikking huge for me. Had a good ole time manhandling them into place on the splitter. Got this from a local town yard-waste dump site. They allow folks to cut & take wood (with chainsaws) - No idea how their insurance allows that but I'm not complaining. Also attached is what this haul looks like split and stacked - I did that today ~ 1.5 face cords - It's the front row in the shed - all came from this load. For the year I still need to get another cord of wood to replace what was burned last year - should not be an issue. D: Update about my stove - An Ideal Steel. Purchased in 2016 - Woodstock rebuilt it in fall 2019 due to the crack issue that's developed with these models. Yesterday I cleaned the stove, getting things ready for the new burning season - Bad news... Cracks are back... Same areas - lower right door frame area - ~ 1/2 inch long - not quite into the gasket area yet. I drilled the end of the crack in hopes it does not get longer. Also two smaller cracks at upper right door area. Attached are pics. I contacted Woodstock yesterday asking what my options are to fix\slow progression\etc. , they asked for pics, I sent them - they stated they'd get back to me shortly. Anyways - that what's been going on with me lately - hope all is well with everyone here. GPSFOOL
Glad to hear you’re feeling better after your medical challenges and complications! Good idea to capitalize on the insane market prices with the sale of the truck. Keep up the good work
Glad to hear that are back to normal and are now able to do all the physical work. And I agree with you on the size of those rounds. Never mind the splitter it would be work to get them in the trailer. Great job!
Thanks for the update Gpsfool and glad you are recovering from your health issues. Nice score on the ash and congrats on the sale of your pickup.
Sweet. That is a good find for ash. It won't be around much longer. Mine is all gone now. Glad you got the medial straightened out and Woodstock will get things right.
Sorry about the stove. The size of those ash rounds are just like the ones I had a few years back. Had to roll on and off trailer. They were a pain to handle, but worth it! Keep on hoarding!
Holy cow! Glad to hear you are on the up and up! DVT's are nothing to fret with! My wife had some in her lungs before.
Holy smokes, bro! You’ve been through the ringer lately. Glad your back on the war path. That’s some nice Ash!
Well you e had your share of 3’s. Must be time for your fortune to change. Glad it’s working out and you’re feeling better.
Short update - I've always been impressed with CS @Woodstock. I contacted them last week and they have offered to fix the stove again - ship it back now of after the season. My stove was one of the original ones they fixed; they've since come up with a better process, I suspected as much looking at pics of fixed stoves from a later time period. Now I have to choose when to send it back... Kudos to Woodstock!
