I just finished stacking my cord of firewood. I have been limited to doing a little on each nice day we’ve had this summer- all 3 of them!
Seriously, the rain just won’t quit. My pile of wood was delivered in April after I found the cheapest price in the paper and paid $170 to a nice guy who told me it would be a “mix” after I asked what kind he had. Also, it is green wood, not seasoned, but I figured I’d have the hot, sunny summer to help dry it out. HA!
So he dumped it at the side of the house in the most shady area of the yard and it has been sitting there getting moldy and full of snails because I only got part of it moved before the rainy month of June arrived. I’m living in a rental, and the wood has to be moved down a hill and stacked near the basement door. Then I will lug it into the basement where my wood stove will be hooked up. After living through a long winter power outage right after I moved in here, I needed to think about finding an alternative heat source.
I finished moving it this past week and it’s a load off my back! In more ways than one.
I’ve read that a cord of wood is officially 4 feet wide, 4 feet high, and 8 feet long. It seems that I have at least a cord. In fact it’s a lot more than I expected. The one drawback to the wood I bought is that some of the pieces are huge! They probably should be split. I might have to learn how to do that and see if I can manage. There is no man in my life who will do it for me.
Oh, I do have one other little problem. I don’t have a wood stove yet. *Update: I bought a used wood stove. Read my story “How to Buy a Used Wood Stove“.
More sites of interest to those of you who burn firewood:
woodheat.org
Power Outages in Winter
When I first wrote this post, I was new to blogging and pretty new to life in New Hampshire. I love the state, but living alone with a child and no man to help out was tough. I had to do all the things a husband would have done. From snowplowing the driveway and shoveling out the mailbox to buying and stacking firewood for winter, everything was on me.
For the most part I did okay. It helped to keep me in good shape as long as I didn’t overdo it. I was not young at this point, but having firewood was important. This place was my second rental after losing my home due to my ex-husband’s failed business venture. Right after I moved in here, we had an ice storm and were without power, or heat, for 7 days. I never had a chance to prepare, but it was a cruel lesson that made me take action. The temperature inside my place was in the 40’s. I slept in my winter coat, inside a sleeping bag!
The following winter we lost power for a few days again, but thankfully I had my woodstove by then, and plenty of wood to burn.
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