A serendipitous encounter
By Fleur
@Fleura (34927)
United Kingdom
December 16, 2020 12:32pm CST
Every morning one of us walks with the girls as far as the main road. Yesterday morning I said I would go, and combine it with a trip to the post office with a parcel I wanted to send to a friend.
As it turned out that was a fortuitous decision, because after visiting the post office (where there was only one person ahead of me) I turned back towards home along a different road. And on the way I passed a house with the remains of a large tree in a pile in front of it. And as it happened the tree surgeons were just getting ready to clear it away.
I greeted them and mentioned that I was eyeing up the potential firewood, and they said ‘Take as much as you want’ so I asked if I could come back later with transport, and they said ‘Well if you want the whole load, we can drop it off for you, it’ll save us a longer trip’ (a round trip of about 20 miles was the original plan for disposal, whereas our house was only about a quarter of a mile away).
So about ten minutes after I got home, before I had even made coffee, the main man arrived in his tipper truck and emptied the lot out for us. That’ll be our heating for 2022. Glad I went out instead of my partner!
All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2020.
9 people like this
9 responses
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
16 Dec 20
Yes we are supposed to season it for two years. A lot of this winter's wood came from large branches of an old apple tree I was given back in 2018 - and back then I jokingly referred to it as my 'post-Brexit fuel store'. Little did I guess things would drag on so long : (
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
18 Dec 20
Well done you, that was good luck!!
1 person likes this
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
18 Dec 20
@Fleura Yes I can imagine it does.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (174208)
• United States
16 Dec 20
Wow! That was lucky!
Now you just have to worry about splitting it and stacking it. That's the part I always hated about burning wood for heat... It doesn't cost as much as gas heat, but it will definitely give you a workout getting it ready to be used!
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (174208)
• United States
16 Dec 20
@Fleura We had a wood burning stove when I was growing up. Divided among a tribe of kids, the work isn't bad... but when you are doing all the work yourself, it sucks!
When Pretty and I had to move from the house we'd rented for 22 years last fall, one house we considered was great, except it had a wood burning stove for heat. There was just no way I wanted to start cutting, splitting and hauling wood at my age. (I'm 57 now.) So, while we really liked the house, we kept looking.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
17 Dec 20
@DaddyEvil That's a shame. I'm only 4 years behind you ; )
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@Fleura (34927)
• United Kingdom
16 Dec 20
Oh I think that's the best bit - splitting logs is so satisfying and so much better than housework! Last spring I was teaching the girls (mainly Big One) how to use an axe, she loved it too! And my partner is also on a fitness drive where he has a rota of different exercises, so on the days when he is due to carry heavy weights around he can move the logs instead of wasting effort just carrying weights up and down the garden (and wearing out the grass lol!)
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
17 Dec 20
what a wonderful find fer certain 'n most kind 'f that fella to've brought such to yer home. if'n ya inquired 'round here, they'd do such fer a hefty fee.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
18 Dec 20
@Fleura greed sets'n out here. they've 'lready charged such to the homeowner 'n see no need not to milk the job fer more. i'm glad such 'twas not the case there.
1 person likes this
