Well, I was not whining, nor was I claiming we are drooling, incapacitated people..... quite yet. But still, our peak years are behind us and so as the physical ability deteriorates, the same task (such as stacking wood) becomes more of a burden and 'larger' all the time. We all have to admit, at one point or another, that we are no longer at the peak of our abilities and in fact, they are slipping away. Of course we are happy to still be looking at the sod from the right side of course. As to the happy, I do not know. As to humor, I hope I never give that up. Going into the O.R. for wrist surgery, the last thing I told the anesthesiologist was 'Hey, if needed, use PLENTY of electrolyte, do not be cheap with the stuff: I do not want to wake up with chest burns (from the defibrillator). And that was after telling jokes in pre- op long enough so a small crowd gathered. So with any luck at all, I will be able to gasp out a funny or two, no matter what. If I cannot have three 'yucks' per day, I aint' gettin' up outta' bed! If there is an Open House at Woodstock this year, and we can find a reasonably quiet corner, I may be able to tell 'The Cat Joke'.... which is a real crowd pleaser. BTW: Andrea finished up that last Holz Haus today and I must say, this is the best one she has done yet. She took my prodding (Easy Boys! I have been prodding her for years!) and put some splits in sideways at the outer ring to increase the angle of the splits set toward the middle and I think this one will hold up. So now we are at 8 cord, four more to go and we are ON THE THREE YEAR PLAN! I am looking for something to build the next two on, rather than having them sit on the ground, even if it is plastic covered. Maybe P.T. 4 X 4' s with some P.T. plywood on top, with the whole azz'y at a slight angle so any standing water drains off. Not sure ye but I do not want them to be built directly on the ground. Brian
Brian, when I talked to Tom a month ago he was gung ho for an open house this year. After all, something happens this year that is worth an open house just like the year he had a mortgage burning party. Okay, let's celebrate. I just hope it is not so late in the year and will encourage him so.
'The Cat Joke' can only be told in the right conditions; a small group of people (15- 25 works well), Andrea must be with me, and it can only be done in person. It also helps a lot if there is alcohol around. It <might> work at the open house at Woodstock, depending on the group and how quiet a corner we end up in. The funny part of 'The Cat Joke' is not the joke but the effect it has on some people. Brian
31 July 2018: Another two cord delivered last Sat. and stacked on Sunday. So now we are up to five holz hous's, each are 2 cord so that is 10 cord. Two more cord are on the way this coming weekend, which will bring us up to 12 cord on- hand, or about three years worth. We normally burn around 4 cord / year, although that may go down a bit once the house has some insulation in it. The two cord on the extreme left are two years old but all the rest was delivered this year. I am buying it as "seasoned" firewood, and it is definitely not 100% green but it is also not really seasoned (fully seasoned) either. I think I can get by with burning two cord of that stuff this winter, especially if I mix it in with the older wood and burn it together. The wood is cracked pretty well and has that hollow 'ring' to it rather than a thud when it is knocked together but again, it is certainly not down to under 20% water content yet. Still, I think it is close enough to burn well and an Ideal Steel does behave very well with less- than- perfect wood due to the heavy firebox insulation and the central location of the cat. above the firebox. And I have a new cat. in the stove with less than two months use on it so I believe it will go OK this year. Next year should be fine and the year after should be perfect; again, the three- year plan.
Brian altes haus! Stacking looks good, your wife did a hell of a good job! Glad to hear theres is progress on the wrist too. And i saw pictures of your house on another thread: Looks stunning!
Thanks for the kind words. And yes, Andrea is getting better and faster at building those things- about 3 or 4 hours when they go along fast. The last one took a bit longer but it is more carefully built too; she is paying more attention to the outer ring angle as well as making them more 'round' and symmetrical. One nice thing about making them, at least in the size we have there, is that each one is exactly two cords so it becomes really easy to see how much wood was used. Of course the same can be done with windrow stacking.... if one pays attention and knows where the row(s) started but we be simple folk and all that heavy math and cipherin' is just too tough. But when we look at a holz haus, and it is gone, we know we burned two cord. Which reminds me, I have to clean the chimney this summer. We will see how much debris falls out of that thing. I just got another 'Soot Eater' kit to get enough extensions to reach the top of the new chimney; I started out buying extension rods but four rods was around $45, and the complete kit (six rods, the actual rotary 'whip' and the tools) was $55 with free shipping so I went that way instead. Besides, the nylon strings are consumable and sooner or later I will need new ones..... OFFTOPIC: I am thinking about buying a Husqvarna articulated riding tractor. It seems they are very common in Europe, and the same machine is sold under the Dolmar brand- are you familiar with these? The problem is that they have not caught on in the US at all and I am afraid they will simply stop supplying them, and once that happens, spare parts will dry up shortly. The machine is too expensive to be 'disposable'. But I do love the front- mounted implements (mower, snowblower, snow blade, power sweeper brush, etc.) and think they are a lot more practical than our typical 'belly' mounted mowing deck tractors. Brian
Around here people use em for their lawn..if its football pitch size. I would wait until its clear if theres anymore tariffs or if they can agree on no tariffs. You might be lucky if theres no tariffs as shipping from europe is cheap compared the other way around. So you dont have to worry anyhow about spare parts, you could write the folks from husky an email and adress your concerns incase you purchase their product. Mibes do some research find out their Kinderkrankheiten and buy some spare parts in advance. Lange rede, kurzer Sinn - ich kanns dir nicht wirklich sagen.
Looking good Brian, you definately have the 3 year plan underway. I better get splitting and stacking before you surpass my stacks.
STILL OFFTOPIC: The models we get here, the R220 and the R322T are actually made here in the US. The European models are very similar but different- one is a 316 and the other is 4XX (cannot remember the exact number). So no tariffs or penalties. My concern is that they will just stop making them altogether in the US and parts from the European models will not all interchange, and shipping will be fantastic in price on those that are available. That said, I really like the idea. So I am torn between good sense (buying a John Deere that I know I can service forever) or the machine I like that may become a relic. Brian
Yeah, but the heart wants what the heart wants...... You know, there are girls you bring home to meet Mom, and girls you do not. But that does not mean you do not want to hang around with the 'not Mom' girls. That Husky is slick! Sure it may be a financial disaster but that does not reduce its slickness. But in the end, I will probably buy the Deere. <sigh> "Mom" will like it better. And besides, maybe I can do a little cutting, welding and fabricating and put the deck in front of the tractor, which would basically give me the slickness of the Husky but the usability of a Deere. Brian
Interesting mowers, but from what I saw, the R220 is already discontinued. Not sure that I'd trust going that route.
I played with them. I have two so far. What I like is that you have a place to put the uglies in the center. One of them has lowered in height significantly. I anticipate one of them will get me through most of a season, but This will be the first year.
