Saturday, March 15, 2008

wood pile envy


This morning I had business in a near by town and so stopped by the local Agway to pick up California Natural for the dogs. What was sitting right smack in front of the store but neatly packaged and crated partial cords of wood. The sturdy wood crated contained a 1/3 of a cord according the contents label on the plastic wrap. Yes, that's right - PLASTIC WRAP. Comes with its own storage unit. I am amazed. And it is pricey! Buy a full cord and the buyer has paid dearly - more than 225 gallons #2 heating oil! Not being one who allows reality to stand in the way of my fantasies, I thought it would be wonderful to be that wealthy. I imagined asking "how much to deliver three of those crates of seasoned wood?" I also entertained the idea of a big fork lift heist and taking the crate home. I have neither access or ability - but it was fun imaging myself bumping down the highway with wood on the front of the lift! I think a fox must have the same satisfaction and angst when high tailing out of the barn yard with a unlucky chicken in its mouth! Gentle Reader, rest assured I did not resort to a life of crime. I went into fetch the dog kibble, PAID for it and took myself home. There are some rather annoying environmental issues here. Will deal with it another day...right now, I'm trying to find a place to put three imaginary plastic wrapped crates of wood!

3 comments:

Mike said...

Thanks for posting in my blog.

I've a very good online friend who lives near Lee and I'm sure she'd rather have the heating oil than the wood!

Some folks around here have fireplaces, but they have to buy their wood or travel to New Mexico to cut their own. Oh, they can burn elm (it stinks!) or the native cottonwood, but I bet a cord of that would burn up in a night.

WR said...

Oil is so easy. If only it were not so expensive. Right now I've got seasoned wet wood and it is very smokey. It is a huge effort to heat with wood and horrid for the air but far less expensive. I sympathize with your firend in Lee!

How cold does it get that people are willing to drive to another state to get wood? Birch like the cottonwood you emntioned burn too fast as well. Apple has a wonderful scent. I didn't even know that cottonwood was on the list of woods used for heat. No elm around here - Dutch Elm Disease took them all decades ago.

Thanks for dropping by!

Mike said...

I don't think people really use fireplaces around here for "heat", but rather have a fire for aesthetic purposes.

It's not so far to New Mexico, or even Oklahoma, from here.

Loads of mesquite around here, but it takes a lot of effort and trees to produce even one cord of wood from that particular species.