Lumberjacks

Living in the country is so much fun!!! We heat our house with the wood burning stove that is in the basement. We have not had to turn on our furnace at all this winter. That's not exactly true. We did use the furnace during October but after we got the $469.00 power bill we decided the stove was the way to go. Buying fire wood is not economical either. In fact it costs more to buy firewood then it does to run the furnace. Luckily last year our wonderful neighbors gave us a large load of wood to get us started. It kept us warm for almost 2 months. But now the real adventure begins. The only way to really save money on heating is to cut down wood ourselves.

Daniel went out and bought a chainsaw (scary, huh?). I didn't really think about the danger of it all until Daniel was describing these chaps he could buy that are made from a special fabric that will jam the teeth of the saw. A friend gave us a tip on a place that has tons of downed trees that we could cut for free. The owner of the land is clearing it for some reason. There are probably 50 or more acres out there with tons of trees.

On New Years Eve and then again on New Years Day Daniel, Kira, and I went out and sloshed around in the mud for 3 or 4 hours and cut wood. It felt so good to be doing something that we knew would benefit our whole family. You know that old adage "Burning wood warms you twice" well that is true enough. Actually as Daniel pointed out it's more like it warms you 4 or 5 times. Once for cutting, once for loading, once for splitting, once for re stacking, and finally for burning.

Of course this wood won't be ready to burn until next winter, but that doesn't diminish the happiness I feel each time I look at it. It feels so good to look in our shed and see all the wood piling up. Daniel and I both love feeling self reliant. We still haven't cut enough wood to last through all of next winter yet but we plan on making several more trips. Daniel wants to wait until it drys out a little bit (actually I think it's fun playing in the mud. I love the sound it makes as it tries to steal your shoes.)

Here are a few pictures.