Smoking & Burning
Boy, I’m a little slow on the git go this morning. Every week for the last couple weeks I’ve been almost wide awake at 4:30-5 in the morning and can’t go back to sleep. I guess on a work week that isn’t TERRIBLE but on a weekend, man that’s no fun! This morning was no different, but I’m still not fully awake even though I’ve been semi-up since 5:15.
Anyway that has nothing to do with anything. Just thought I’d share; thought you might like to know my crazy sleeping patterns :).
The last couple of weekends we’ve spent splitting wood and bringing it up to the house. We burn wood at our house. I love fire places. The warmth, the crackle, the calm, serine feeling you get. Plus, I’m not going to lie, it helps with the electricity bill in the winter. Can’t beat that!
A couple weekends ago our Wood rack looked like this…
Don’t worry. We weren’t out of wood. Just out of wood on the wood rack. We had this pile that fell over this summer after we stacked it all nice and neatly…
The thing is, all the leaves blew in this fall and we weren’t really sure how much wood was actually there… which creates a slight problem. So we got to cutting wood, in a hurry!
But the problem with big logs….
They might not fit in the fire place…. So that makes it hard to burn them. So after we chopped them up in the right length of pieces, they were going to meet their fate with the log splitter.
We went and borrowed a log splitter so we didn’t have to chop them the old fashioned way with the axe. Boy wouldn’t that be a lot of work! I think I might go back to our electric heater :).
Sorry, sometimes I’m a little lazy.
Enter, one of our best friends. I should name him, Chuck maybe?
He is motorized. Yeah he burns that expensive gasoline, but he makes our lives so much easier!
So the first thing you do is roll the honkin logs over to “Chuck”
You get them into position. This case you put a flat side down and slide them against the red upright beam. Make sure you move your hands from the top! That could be dangerous and bloody and just flat out hurt! Holding the outside (usually the side closest to you if you position yourself right in front) is best! But it needs a stabilizing hand.
Then you pull down on the lever. This is what moves the axe.
And look. It splits the big honkin log in 2 pieces.
Clear down to the base. How easy was that. We need a Staples button here stat!
Then you keep positioning the log until you get smaller, more manageable pieces such as this one.
And then throw them in a pile out of your way. Now trust me, all of this is still labor intensive b/c you are sitting or kneeling on the ground and using a lot of upper body to throw these logs around. But it’s so much easier and FASTER than swinging an axe with all your force! And much safer too. Is Safer a word or is it more safe? Well anyway, it’s that 🙂
Then someone (ie usually me) gets to load up the truck. Now don’t be fooled, Hubs helps with this too and I help with the splitting, but I don’t run a chainsaw even though I can. Why do I need to if he will 🙂
And then you take the truck to the house and load up the Wood rack.
Now this was just the first day. We have much more now, plus I actually restacked what was in that pile (pic up top). See, I can be a good wife some days :). And sometimes I might not even be lazy… haha… Although you might mark that on your calendars that I wasn’t lazy. That way if you need to go back and double check you can find it!
We cut and sold firewood one or two years. It's some of the hardest work I've ever done. It definitely warms you twice–get it?
Our new place has a cast iron wood burning stove. It gives off SO much heat but it's not very large so it needs really small logs. The ones they sell at the grocery store don't even fit. We don't own an axe, so I just bought the small birch logs from Home Depot. We'll save the larger ones for the fire pit this summer. LOL
The only heat I have is wood. nothing else. And this am I can't get it going. It's gone from 69 in here to 64! I should really get of the pc and work on it.
I am lazy about that , and not safe with an axe or chainsaw(so I tell my hubby) my log splitter has a name too! I call him Martin! lol
I am not a fan of fireplaces or furnaces. I think I'm afraid they'll burn down my house.
“Chuck” scares me. He would probably cut me in half. I cut myself with a knife every time I try to cut veggies so I'm pretty sure I should NEVER use that machine! HA!
Thanks for linking up with us!! (And you're a good wife for helping out so much)
Great photos and story! 🙂
I'd LOVE to have a fireplace. I know they are a lot of work but I definitely think the warmth and comfort they bring to a home is totally worth it!!!
That log splitter would be my best friend, too. My dad would always do the cutting and splitting and us kids got to be expert stackers. 🙂 Now the hubby and I have a pellet stove, so no wood is needed – just 40 pound bags of pellets to carry into the house. More often than not it's me doing that! 🙂
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My sleep patterns have been super off too! I totally feel you about the weekends. Waking up early during the week, not the end of the world. But my weekends are for sleeping in!
That is A LOT of hard work, but well worth it. I love the fire place, and it brings back memories of my grand parents house. Now I have to substitute the fireplace with a fire pit when we go camping.
Nothing beats wood heat.