A true tale from yesterday. Part 1 The Back Story So as I am sitting surfing the web one late evening, I see a free firewood ad like I assume many of you also watch for. Not much info but the picture shows a pretty good pile of maple. I messaged back and forth(to somebody’s wife) and asked how much was there and did I need to bring a trailer or just the pickup. Bring a trailer she says. I told her that it would take me a little bit of time to load as I work alone and I am getting slower every year. There will be guys there to load it for you she says. Whoa! So next morning I hook up my 7x14 dump trailer and off I go. About an hour from my house but it’s FREE WOOD! And you guys know that siren call. I don’t put my loading winch and back arch on the trailer as it’s cut up and it’s going to be loaded. Or chainsaw(s). I did load the log ox and log rite pickaroon and some tongs though. On to part 2. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Part 2 Meet the neighbor. Pull up to the suburban house with wood and brush laying everywhere, a dump trailer full of brush and a big ol maple tree still standing that looks like it’s been limbed by a beaver. No workers in site and it’s near noon. As I open the dump trailer gates, a man coming running over from across the street with the proverbial “Can I help you?” Uh oh... I explained the situation and he says that he had already spoken for and been given all the wood. In return, he had loaned them his dump trailer to load the brush in and loaned them a chainsaw as theirs wasn’t very good. I don’t take offense, understand and get ready to leave empty handed though I do decide to call the guy with a “What the hell?” call. And on to the rest of the story... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Part 3 Loading the trailer I get the treecutter on the phone with neighbor guy there and ask what’s up and he says that he meant I could have some also. No worries, not a big deal so I start closing up. Neighbor guys says wait. You drove over all the way. Let’s load this trees worth on you and I’ll take that trees worth. That’s fair! So I start loading, Neighbor guy pitches in to my surprise and tells me to wait for the crew to show. I’m not going to believe this. The good wood is cut every which way, every length imaginable, piled under brush and just a PITA. But I(we) get it loaded by hand, (I am really missing my winch/arch setup and chainsaws) every bit of it is too large for tongs and pickaroons. A couple of pieces are 16-20 ft long and about 10” across. Green and damm heavy so we wait till the “crew” is going to show. On to the end of the story. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last one I promise Part 4 Here comes tree cutter showing up in a Yellow Cab! Neighbor Guy is laughing and saying I told you you wouldn’t believe it! Treecutter Guy talks a bit and says he paid one of his crew in advance after yesterday’s work and the guy called in sick. Another guy shows up, gets chainsaw from within garage and gets in car and leaves. Treecutter guy is alone. So. Enough of this chit show. I ask Neighbor guy to help me load that last large log. (I know, I know but it’s free maple!) and it’s hanging over the tailgate and tree cutter guy asks do you want me to cut that off for you? That would be nice... So he went into garage and came out with this. I said never mind. Shook neighbor guy’s hand and watched in the rear view mirror as TreeCutter guy started cutting on the maple with that corded little saws all from Lowe’s . Moral of my story. Don’t believe anyone and take EVERYTHING in my arsenal to EVERY scrounge. I did get a over heaping load on the trailer but my old muscles and back are telling me to lay off that stuff! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is one of those instances where we'd all love to see the video footage. Sounds like a total chit show! At least ya got something.
