Manly Men Prepare for Winter

The old white farm house is heated by TWO hungry woodstoves. This requires us to have about six or seven full cords of wood ready to burn. It is NO fun to run out. We had that happen two years ago. Burning fresh cut wood is painful. First, it is too wet too burn and then it doesn't seem to yield much heat. This year we aim to be prepared. Mr. Boots is the project director. He has the biggest muscles and is able to move the big unsplit pieces over to the splitter that we borrowed.

Michelle put some time in on the splitter as well. We all know that wood heats you twice. The day you cut and split it and the day you burn it. It was a comfortable day for splitting. Not too hot and a little breeze. Note all the big logs in the background. We didn't just split 'girly' wood. (That's wood that is less than two feet in diameter). They split Manly logs!

Thomas also preferred the splitting to the stacking. He likes working in solitude.

Mr. Boots and T-Bob did the majority of the wood moving and stacking. The wood has to be transported to the other side of the yard. The boys delighted in seeing how full they could make it and still be able to move it. Mr. Boots is a lot stronger this year. It came close to being a 'fool's load' a couple times. ( Do you know what that is?)

This is the woodpile about 2/3 through the process of stacking. The little white play house is where we store our kindling. IT was stacked to the full height all the way to the back of the little house. It is now covered and drying. We are fortunate that we still had about two cords left from last winter. That wood is dry and ready to burn. The wood we have for this year has been cut for awhile and should be seasoned by the time we need it. Another big job done.

~Mom