M was at a conference and took today and tomorrow off to unwind. Using some of her suggestions (getting her dad's wheelbarrow and working together), we set to at about 11 am. We broke for about 40 minutes for lunch and worked until 5pm.
We broke the task into two section: I filled the wheelbarrow and hauled it into the house and dumped it, M stacked the wood into the ranks. I occasionally also helped her with ranking the wood, but she (very importantly) also managed the projected and reminded me to break often and drink lots of water (went through 4 bottles of water).
This is the result outside:
Figure 1: The pile of wood outside
And inside:
And inside:
Figure 2: Nearly 4 ranks of wood inside
So, in aboutt 5.5 hours of stacking wood into ranks, we got more done than I got done on my own in 4 days of work (at about 3-4 hours per day). We didn't clean up or get the last little bit of kindling/starter wood inside because my back locked up and my arthritic hands and feet were aching by this time. I was just done/finished.
However, we are short on our wood. The fourth rank is not as high as the others, and it should be, plus we should have another quarter rank of wood in front of that (see Figure 2). So there is a bit more stacking to go.
So, in aboutt 5.5 hours of stacking wood into ranks, we got more done than I got done on my own in 4 days of work (at about 3-4 hours per day). We didn't clean up or get the last little bit of kindling/starter wood inside because my back locked up and my arthritic hands and feet were aching by this time. I was just done/finished.
However, we are short on our wood. The fourth rank is not as high as the others, and it should be, plus we should have another quarter rank of wood in front of that (see Figure 2). So there is a bit more stacking to go.
Not only is this one ugly job, but the bad news is you'll have to do it again next year! Yuck.
ReplyDeleteYeah, ouch. Having lived in Southern California since age 4, I'm finding this an extremely foreign and disturbing exercise you're having to go through.
ReplyDeleteAre gas heaters just too impractically expensive to run through the winter?
Gas really isn't that prevalent here. We are only just starting to have natural gas lines being run through our area.
ReplyDeleteElectric baseboard heat, oil, wood are the most common forms of heating. Oil is of course very expensive right now. Natural gas hasn't been as price competitive as we'd hoped.
If we were to use the electric baseboard heat all winter, it would cost approx $300/month for our electric bill, and we wouldn't feel as warm. Those 4 ranks of wood cost us just over $500 and will last the winter.
Wood is messy, heavy, and dirty, but you're never cold. Given the fact that I am always cold and John is pretty much the same living here, it's our best option.
I grew up doing this every year, though it was my older brother who usually did the ranking. We never had a basement door and had to throw it down a ramp and through a small basement window. Ah, good times! I'm used to this and the effort is well worth it.