The Arrival of Our Wood

Wow, if you can believe it, we actually got our firewood. I couldn't believe it finally happened. I've never bought such large quantities of wood in such an unfinished state, and tackling it will be yet another step in my quest to be a real man. Now all I need to do is grow a beard and eat pancakes for breakfast. Whole wheat ones, of course.

I got a call early in the AM yesterday from Andy, who was coming through with the wood. Being the neurotic nutcase that I am, I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever get the stuff because the roads to our house are in pretty bad shape and I wasn't sure if a huge truck could get here, much less make it down our driveway. I have to confess to being in awe of those truck drivers, they are fearless and take those things into places I wouldn't even walk to. They are that adept and confident in their abilities, but I guess that comes with experience.

Either way, I had to drive over near Britton's Lumber to show the guys how to get to our house, which was a little strange, but I think it's standard M.O., not that I would know. I did worry that he'd have trouble with our driveway, which is a bit narrow and muddy, but the guy didn't blink and eye and just drove right in, no problem. You should have seen where the truck was at the sight where they loaded the wood, it was like threading a needle. I asked the driver (for the record, his name was Lance Simons, and he did a stand-up job) to load the wood in a space near the wildflower patch. Actually, it's right on top of the wildflower patch, and though we'll miss the flowers, we had to put the stuff somewhere. My biggest concern was sparing Marty's daughter's tree, and I asked Lance if he could spare it's life, and he said no problem. I marked it with red surveyor's tape to be sure.

Then the fun began. N quickly got dressed and joined me outside to watch, and it's pretty cool. I have to confess, I thought Lance was very conscientious about how he loaded the wood, more so than I thought he had to be. Then again, it ties in with the New England hard work and honest day's work ethic. You do a good job and take pride in what you do, not necessarily just to make money. Sure, money's important, but so is doing the job right. My point is, I wouldn't have known one way or another if he'd just dumped the wood on the ground and left. Instead, he took measures to preserve the integrity of the wood, and again, this could be standard M.O. for loggers, but it impressed me, nonetheless.

Now I figured they'd come with a dump truck and just leave the wood in a pile, but they actually use a large hydraulic arm to lift the logs out of the truck and onto the ground. Before he got too crazy, he fabricated a makeshift pallet out of a few logs to protect the wood from the ground. For those of you unfamiliar with using firewood (I just learned this a couple of years ago, the hard way!), you can't leave it in contact with the ground or it will rot. There were even a few times where the wood slid off the pallet and Lance stopped to pick them up and put them back. Somehow this just impressed me.

After all was said and done, he took off and we got to stand around and admire the pile. It's a lot of wood, and now I've got to cut the stuff up and then split it. They say wood warms you twice, once when you stack it, once when you burn it, but I've found, at least with me, it warms you at least four times, maybe more.

Either way, thanks to Andy and Lance. We got our wood, one less thing to worry about, and now I can focus on tuning up our lawnmower, fixing the house, and getting the garden ready for Spring. Oh, and most importantly, being a real man for my wife and kids.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.