What am I doing?

I don't know how many of you are home from work, catching up on things or still working like my wife and I. My wife is a nurse working 7 days a week during this very trying time for alot of people. I thankfully am still working also. In a way I wish I was not working so I can catch up on stuff at home. That's where my question arises.... 4 years ago I only scrounged wood for camp fires. When I bought my house and installed a woodstove is when I may have, or wife and son thinks, I lost control. I am a hoarder by genetics. My parents were bad, not with firewood unfortunately. So anyway, in the past 3 years I have aquired a couple piles of pallets, a couple piles of scrap lumber, and other miscellaneous "junk". But as a hoarder says, it's all going to get used sooner or later. The back part of my property is starting to disgust me. I have a pile of rounds that needs either splitting or trimming that I am slowly eating away at, but the alure of free wood always gets me. Last Saturday I was arguing with myself then with my son on whether to work on wood I already have, or go get some more of that sweet ash. Of course I picked go get more ash. Where I am going with this rambling is, do or did you guys ever feel overwhelmed with what you took on by choosing to burn or sell wood? I know I put alot of extra work on myself by taking stuff that is cut too long, but when you come across 4 cords of locust right on the curb, how can you leave it, right? Or any other good score. It just feels like right now I can never get ahead. Sometimes I seriously think, what did I get myself into? What could I be doing instead? Is all of this really saving me money? Did I spend too much on equipment to do this? Maybe I am thinking this to avoid thinking about other things going on. Well, thanks for reading and letting me vent a little. Don't get me wrong, I am not jumping off the hoarding train anytime soon, at least not until I can't physically do it anymore, hopefully not for at least another 30 years, but like I said just feeling like maybe I am losing track or doing something wrong.
To answer a few questions that might come up.... Right now I have 5 cords ready to go for 2020/2021 season, and 2 cords for 21/22 season. I figured I need 3 to 5 cords a year based on past 3 years of burning.
I have about 3 cords needing to be split and/or trimmed, plus 8 nice size dead ash trees that need to be dropped, so maybe 6 cords total waiting on processing.
I think I have my process pretty well setup for my property..... Pile of rounds in back corner, pull from there to split, and trim if needed, (pic below of rack I use to cut a bunch at one time), Then I toss into my ATV trailer to stack in various areas on my property. That's where it will stay until brought into my indoor woodbin. I have bins made from pallets to toss all the cutoffs ( lil chunkies) into, then I fill up 3 totes every time I refill the regular woodbin up. I will burn almost a cord of those a season.
Ok, sorry, tired and bored at work, and daydreaming about firewood, so I will end my rambling. Stay safe Y'all.

 

I understand, and i bet others will too. When i used to sell a lot of wood, i would lay in bed at night and worry about how much wood i had that was dry enough to sell, how i needed to split more or cut more, who was going to be calling soon wanting more wood, and any storms that were coming. Looking back it was/is a silly thing to worry about, but its just the way i am, and i had people who depended on me to stay warm.

I think with wood, you have to be able to run all those directions at once..split what you have on hand so it can be drying quicker, but be ready to change directions and grab that free locust or ash at a moments notice when it becomes available. Sounds like you have a system that works for you, and are already ahead on how much you need for the coming season and beyond. How old is your son, does he/can he help with the wood chores? That can be some good together time with him, while teaching about work and preparedness. And with your wife having limited time off rihht now, perhaps you should try to be there for that time, and do the wood missions while she is at work (if schedules and other responsibilities allow).

Don't know what your wood availability is, if you have to hunt and scrounge hard amongst a bunch of other wood ppl... But if you count on scrounges a lot, you have to get it while it's available. And at the rate we're going, no one really knows where we'll be and what society will be like...you may need to grab all the wood you can...

 

I'd say most of us have asked ourselves those same questions at some point in our hoarding and burning, I know I certainly have. I enjoy running the equipment, being outdoors, getting the exercise and saving money so I'll continue with my "disease". Keep on Pricey106.

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Make supporting your wife, in whatever ways needed, your number ONE priority. If you have any time left over, do whatever wood work you feel like, guilt-free. People come first.

 

What she said

 

Sounds like you enjoy acquiring free wood a smidge more than the work it brings. I think many of us have the same affliction. There’s just a great feeling driving away with a score.
If I were to dig deep in my psyche I’d say it’s as close to being a thief as one can be without breaking the law. A little adrenaline rush from that. Snagging something up for free you know someone somewhere would value also. You just got there first and found the vault open
Of course there’s the saintly side of helping someone clean up their property. They don’t want the wood, want it gone, and your helping them do that without paying.
Both the angel and devil on your shoulders are getting their fix at the same time.

Summer of 2018 I had just finished building my log trailer. Had never gotten a piece of wood anywhere except my own property. Within days of finishing that trailer I saw a story in the local paper where the town had dropped 80-90 oak trees. Drove down that road and they were all laying there in one piece. No power lines, no houses, so they dropped them whole. A more perfect situation could not be asked for. A few scroungers were working it already. I went to town on it. Tree warden was thrilled. He came by at least twice a day to whip me on. It’s his budget that I was helping out.

I still haven’t had a chance to process all those logs. Whittling away a little at a time but there’s always something to come up. Yard trees, land clearing/cleaning. Moral of the story is I had to stop scrounging for awhile. No sense bringing more home until I get these logs worked up. There’s still a some thrill to be had bucking, splitting and stacking wood you stole
When I get them done I should be about five years ahead on three houses. Not bad considering my past history.

 

I've been there quite a few times, brother. Had logs piled for 2 yrs. Finally got caught up enough this year to wade through that pile. I kicked myself for letting it get so bad, had a lot of culls or throw it away. We burn and sell a good bit for our area, sold probably 15 cords this year. Starting over now. You are getting ahead some, still not on the full 3 yr plan yet. Grab it when you can, process on your slack times, but as Midwinter said, make sure to be there for your wife, since she is working 7 days a week. Just take one day at a time. Main thing, stay safe and healthy.

 

I feel the same way lots of times. My mother was a bad hoarder. Her house 3' deep with "stuff". When she went to the nursing home four years ago, i had to throw most of it away without her knowing and sell the house. She has demetia and is 94. She would disown me if she knew. Her stuff was precious to her. My brother would do occasional estate clean outs and bring truck loads of it there.
The thrill is on the score as jo191145 said. Good rush for me in most cases.
I do get overwhelmed especially with my main PA at my landlords. Got in trouble of sorts for bringing in too much wood. It got cluttered real fast. Now it goes to my friends who burns and i keep it neat for the most part.

 

This

 

If it caused you to lose your job, wife, family, house then its a problem. Hoard on and be safe

 

I have enough wood already lined up for this year to keep three of us busy non stop. I have a 30 acre site that was select cut, we can have all the oak and hickory tops, some are up to 18” diameter, most are 12”. Another place I cut has 5 32”-44” diameter oaks that blew over this winter that are ours plus at the same place are 2 24” cherry. I still drive around looking for opportunities. I can sympathize. Must say that I go into winter with 15 cords of split wood and another 4-5 cords of rounds stacked and ready to start splitting in the spring. I make sure that I adhere to those numbers so that nothing builds up.

 

For sure. Luckily I am an essential. We all are but atm machines gotta stay in service.

 

My son is almost 15. He does help me alot. He can out lift me at the end of the day due to his football training and lifting program, which is currently shut down. I would let him run the splitter and other equipment by himself, which he wants to, but Mom says no, and I agree because I would rather be there to catch if something were to go wrong, and to make sure it is done my way.... I work nights, so I sleep days....very limited time during the week.
Yes, in my area, it is you better get the wood before someone else does.... I watched too many scores go into another truck.

 

I'm on nights now, myself. I try to work in the mornings a bit when I get off, sleep after lunch, but everyone is different. He is a good age to help you, glad he does. It's better for him to have adult supervision, if he mashed his hand with the splitter...you would really beat yourself up...
Just do what you can, when you can.

 

Some mornings I do try to get something done, but sometimes I am so tired I feel unsafe using a chainsaw or splitter. Just take a split second for something to go wrong when your mind ain't all there. I have to try and manage my time better. Most of the days I sleep from 9 to 3, then get stuff done until around dinner at 7, which I usually cook, so that kills alot of my afternoon. Guess I gotta fire up the Crock-Pot more often. Thanks for the advice and stories guys. Hope y'all are safe and well.

 

We are well down here so far. Have a safe trip home.

 

My son has been running a log splitter a little before his 6th birthday. My wife couldn’t believe I let him and she wouldn’t let him run it if I wasn’t home. I worked side by side with him on it a bunch before I turned him loose. The breaking point for me was when I was cutting logs on a damp raw March day and he was all bundled up and gave me this hugely disappointing look when I told him he couldn’t split. Seeing him look at me I finally said if you can start the machine and show me how to run it safely, you can split. Darn it didn’t that boy know what to do! He is now 8 and has a successful firewood stand in front of our house. Maybe have him run it while both you watch him and your wife will become more comfortable.

 

When my boys were that age, I didn't have a splitter other than a maul. I let them use it unsupervised provided they stacked the wood they split. They seemed to enjoy the workout and it is easy to teach them how to swing a maul.

 

He does run it with me. Alot of times he will keep splitting if I am cutting or running a cartload to a rack. He know chainsaw safety and basic usage, but that will take another year before I turn my back on him with it. He sure can swing the monster maul though....He was enjoying it yesterday with some ash. That was his workout for the day, about half a cord split by hand with the monster maul. Probably because I bet him 20 bucks. I should have known better. He is more frugal with money than I am, and has no problem swinging with his size.