In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Scrounging six cords a year plus

Discussion in 'The Wood Pile' started by Rowerwet, Mar 6, 2018.

  1. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    Almost the same time we got our new bikes, we suddenly became foster parents. It's been an adventure. 20201010_153511.jpg my sisters family was out for a visit, we ended up going for a family bike trip, that's a lot of bikes for all of us, and my wife walked with the youngest child in a jog stroller.
    20201017_170017.jpg 20201017_171753.jpg a visit to the park to enjoy the foliage
    20201017_174112.jpg enjoying a bike ride with my youngest
    Having the foster kids put a crimp on just going and doing stuff after work.
    The rules about who can watch who are way tougher, and it was like an act of Congress to get permission for my son to be able to watch the older one, who is the same age as our youngest.
    This has interrupted a number of the rides my son wanted to do, but he and the rest have taken it well and understood.
    20201009_175427.jpg flying through the woods on our new bikes
    20201007_134339.jpg flying down the trail on my new skates
    20201014_124613.jpg scenes from work
     
    OhioStihl, Ron T, fishingpol and 2 others like this.
  2. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20201105_200810.jpg teaching him how to work on his bike, I gave him some upgrades for his birthday, and let him install them
    20201106_155512.jpg another toddler meant needing a bike trailer again, got this one for free, just had to make a cover for it 20201107_125145.jpg got a tailgate pad rack so we could ride as a family.
    20201107_134015.jpg the older foster kid hasn't learned to ride without training wheels yet, still working on that, so I pull her on the tag a long, and my son tows the trailer
    20201113_150608.jpg the city donated the money for this patio roof to the nonprofit I'm on the board of, this part of the building is the cafe we have for anyone to eat free. The roofing steel is going on soon. 20201215_125250.jpg life flight of Maine is our sister company, we see them in here fairly often.
    20201129_192748.jpg enjoyed having all 4 kids for Thanksgiving
    Managed to finish my pool storage deck that week as well
    20201216_180503.jpg my dad missed out on some of the family rides this summer due to his health, we went in as a family for an Ebike for him for Christmas.
    My son and I made a video of the assembly
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2021
  3. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20201223_152933.jpg 2020 finally delivered enough snow to go cross country skiing, the week before Christmas...
    Which makes it the worst year in recent memory for snow.
    20201223_143630.jpg
    I tried skiing at the Georgetown Rowley state park, which is unique because it has a highway bridge over Rt 95 in the middle of it.
    This is the bridge just after Rt 133 and before the rest area going towards Boston

    20201218_114306.jpg my airplane in snow, a rare sight for the Boston area
    20201222_164022.jpg of course we went to the sledding hill almost every day

    20201218_130213.jpg making a real dent in the firewood for the year now. It's really nice having well built racks that can be refilled without needing to be rebuilt.
    20201221_155728.jpg had to catch this shot while out skiing at the local park beside Kenoza lake
    20201221_162318.jpg and this as well. The snow was as perfect as this picture
    20201220_151345.jpg Christmas caroling in the snow outside the nursing home down the street from us

    The day before New year's eve was memorable for different reasons. the Cafe for the homeless ended up with a heating system that wouldn't heat over 55. I'm the board member in charge of the facility, so I spent a number of hours dealing with that. In the middle of that my parents called and also had no heat.
    I got a repairman in for the cafe heat, and headed to my parents. My dad was struggling with explaining to the plumber over what his heating system is. It's literally a water heater that also does their baseboard heating.
    My own experience with heating my house in Maine with an outdoor pellet boiler I installed myself was very useful in describing what they needed. I left them some electric heaters for the night, and the plumber got their new water heater in on new year's eve.
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2021
  4. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20201227_154341.jpg all that snow ended in a pathetic rainstorm Christmas morning, so we didn't even get a white Christmas out of it, all that rain and snow made the river high, the bridge was throwing quite a wake.
    20201226_161516.jpg 20201226_161514.jpg 20201226_170355.jpg 20201226_165929.jpg 20201226_170453.jpg bare frozen ground is easier to split and stack on.
    Took on some of my backlogs and filled two more racks.
    I love having plenty and not feeling like it might not be ready to burn, or worried about running out.

    I got my covid vaccine booster shot the beginning of January, the first shot I had aches and chills the next day, the second shot I got a sore throat, otherwise, no issues to report since then.
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2021
  5. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20210109_140327.jpg
    I had a bunch of logs not cut to splitting length yet, fire up the saw and made some chips
    20210109_145146.jpg 20210109_152715.jpg 20210109_151623.jpg
    These plastic shelves are holding up perfectly, I like them better than the plastic pallets I'm always trying to get. I see people throwing the shelves out all the time around here. I'll be laying them under all of my wooden pallets next. They take the weight just fine.
    20210109_165149.jpg 20210109_165200.jpg taking care of more backlogs
    20210112_161838.jpg 20210112_161828.jpg
    views from either end of the east Boston rail trail, it runs right past Logan airport
    20210112_170638.jpg this is constitution beach looking over Logan airport
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2021
  6. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20210113_161918.jpg 20210113_161901.jpg did some noodling to make the big rounds easier to split
    20210113_170742.jpg got two cart fills of noodles for starting fires
    20210113_170945.jpg almost filled the kindling bin with them
     
  7. The Wood Wolverine

    The Wood Wolverine

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    Great pics! The stacks are looking good.
     
  8. Woodwidow

    Woodwidow

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    wow quite the six months. thanks for catching us up. I was wondering what was happening over there.
     
  9. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    Foster kids. Even when they fit into the family pretty well, are a massive upheaval to everything. Especially a toddler when your youngest is turning 10. Going back to baby gate hurdles and diapers is a big switch. Things are looking up this year for all involved.
     
  10. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20210127_074012.jpg nothing like a little snow on the firewood racks
    20210127_074039.jpg 20210123_090940.jpg two empty racks from January, got my work cut out for me this year. 20210201_160523.jpg and another half cord down
    20210123_090927.jpg still enough of a backlog to keep me busy
    20210118_141353.jpg 20210118_150453.jpg
    Took advantage of a warm afternoon for a quick hike up bow hill quarry right near the Lynfield tunnel on Rt 1.
    This is where the stone for the customs house in Boston was cut, you can see Boston from the top of the hill
    20210125_151653.jpg
    Finally got the steel roofing installed over the patio at the nonprofit I'm the property manager for, it doesn't completely keep the snow off, but it definitely kept the amount underneath down.
    20210202_090138.jpg
    Clearing our first big snow in years, finally winter here again, 20210202_112414.jpg we also clear the doors and walks at the nonprofit. This storm was hard on the snowblowers, they both broke in the same day, but I was able to fix the smaller one. Ended up finishing with one of us using an electric snow shovel, which worked ok.
    My son has been big enough to help for a few years, but it's barely snowed in at least three years.
    20210203_160109.jpg cross country skiing at the Middlesex fells reservation
    20210203_155743.jpg
    20210203_161933.jpg bear hill tower 20210204_134555.jpg skiing Georgetown Rowley state park again, lots of young trees with the tops bent over and stuck in the snow. I had to keep pulling them out so I could get through the trails 20210204_123247.jpg I was the first person through most trails, and sometimes finding a trail in the snow is a big challenge since I've never been here in the summer yet.
    Sometimes I had deer tracks to follow, didn't manage to see any though
    My skis are back country ones, wider than regular cross country skis. They give the same flotation in deep snow as snow shoes. 20210204_170207.jpg another beautiful sunset at our favorite sledding hill 20210204_170035.jpg 20210204_170742.jpg a view from the top
     
  11. fishingpol

    fishingpol

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    Nice to see you and the family getting out for family activities this winter.:yes:
     
    T.Jeff Veal and Chazsbetterhalf like this.
  12. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    Rebuilt a firewood rack using some of my plastic pallets as the base, finally made a video of all my rack ideas as well

    All those empty racks need to be refilled as soon as I get through updating them, I only have a little over a year CSS due to elbow issues last year
     
  13. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20210416_100116.jpg April showers bring... snow?
    20210417_125121.jpg 20210417_125759.jpg 20210417_125116.jpg 20210417_125423.jpg 20210417_125119.jpg 20210417_125108.jpg 20210417_125129.jpg
    Being property Manager for the nonprofit I'm involved in interesting projects, this was an inspection of the new $40,000 roof with the owner of the roofing company.
    An interesting perspective on my city.
    20210418_124900.jpg
    Mrs Row and I brought home desert from the cheesecake factory, believe it or not, I don't like cheesecake, but their carrot cake is about the best.
     

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  14. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20210423_204412.jpg 20210423_204416.jpg family game night, and of course an airplane nut like me has Aviation monopoly
    20210421_175211.jpg 20210421_194644.jpg scored a load of pallet liners, perfect for setting pallet firewood racks on
    20210501_134609.jpg 20210501_134621.jpg interesting hexagonal 1 room schoolhouse I spotted while visiting my daughter at college in PA
    20210424_145559.jpg family bike ride on the rail trail in Toppsfield
    20210424_153520.jpg had to jump over and ride the edge of the Salem water canal, it draws water from the Ipswich river, pretty cool to ride close enough to talk to the people in kayaks
    20210424_120928.jpg first load of firewood for the year
    20210503_185311.jpg hit a good score in an easy spot, first load of maple home
    20210503_190020.jpg putting the pallet liners to use already
    20210503_190604.jpg
    20210503_202529.jpg second load of the day
    Plenty more to go
     
  15. NortheastAl

    NortheastAl

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    Owwww, Carrot cake, yeah!
     
  16. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    47906C26-ECFE-426B-98E9-2B22E83B3EC1.jpeg 0145DA58-A62F-44B8-B5AE-7DF52A47BE88.jpeg
    a bronze sculpture of the nubble light showing which direction it is from the summit

    84810579-CBE0-4245-8991-B9F742FF92C0.jpeg
    The lodge at the top, my sister had her wedding reception in the top floor, now it’s a science center
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    Managed to climb from the bottom to the top on some serious trails, there was downhill skiing here until the mid 80s
    8897778F-570D-480C-B0AF-75DD8BF55649.jpeg
    The view from the summit of first hill looking towards the top of the mountain
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    mt Washington in the background
    7BEFA1E9-C088-4142-92FA-301BC83F87A9.jpeg
    nubble light, and York beach 33F88836-88B6-45B9-84EB-4DDA76F45213.jpeg If you think CAD is an expensive habit, stay away from kayaks and bikes!
    I haven’t even had my last mountain bike for a whole year yet and I already upgraded.
    This is a three year old bike that was used about three times on rail trails.
    It’s a 29 inch wheel bike and it really rolls over obstacles that would trip up my old bike with 26” wheels.
    I had to try it out so I hit the trails around Mt Agamenticus in York, ME.
    Last year at this time I owned 1 bike...
     
  17. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    7245159A-D03D-40A1-87C0-E93D02F46DD3.jpeg 38AB68F9-51DF-4BCF-919E-31620D7A312C.jpeg I added a dash/back up camera to my truck, mounted the rear camera right above the bumper, it’s really handy to see the trailer ball slide under the coupler on the trailer.
    9C9E9589-A43E-4910-BAD2-190DF3A2B69F.jpeg Unloading the third load of maple from my nice scrounge
    20210504_180953.jpg fourth load about to head out
    I've discovered that my truck is very capable, even if ot has the 4 cylinder engine, this 2.5 liter engine seems to have way more power than my old 2.5 liter Ranger ever did.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2021
  18. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    from our first family bike ride of the year a month ago, the ice in the rock cuts on the Windham rail trail is always interesting

    first paddle of the year right here in town. Just beat the rain at the end. First drops fell as we pulled away for home 20210410_190331.jpg family fleet is a little smaller now that our oldest is off at college
     
  19. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    8154B018-D967-4506-B7C0-0827EFDA4572.jpeg I just love the perspective from the top of the tail of my airplane. I only need to get up there once or twice a year, which is good because it is about 2 stories high.
     
  20. Rowerwet

    Rowerwet

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    20210506_162543.jpg fifth load unloading
    20210506_171623.jpg the whole pile is gone, I was even surprised at how fast it went
    20210506_173311.jpg sixth load was a little oversized, my friend with the small stoves lives right along the way so we dropped a bunch of short stuff at his house. 20210506_200818.jpg my backlog is pretty full now, time to start splitting