Another busy weekend came and went. What with working friday night and again tonight (Sunday), my weekend is truncated in both ends. That wouldn’t be so bad but one has to look after house and home and visit the in-laws on the one day where I thought I might get a day off. OK, visiting the in-laws isn’t bad by any means. My mother in law is a great cook and father in law is a real cool guy for an eighty year old. The hard part was the house and home thing.
We burn wood. Our house is heated by a wood stove. This means you have to ensure a healthy supply of the necessary fuel. We usually burn oak, as it is, pound for pound, the best fuel one can get for the money. The problem is the sheer weight of oak. It is heavy.
Normally we can get by on the average winter on two and a half pallets of the stuff. That’s about five cubic metres of rough cut wood. The pallets are standard european size, two metres tall and are well packed. It takes about an hour to empty a pallet and transport the contents to what I call the woodshed. I drafted my good lady wife into the affair as time was of the essence. Enjoying the autumn sunshine, I emptied the pallets and filled my wheelbarrow and did all the heavy transportation from the roadside outside of our humble home to the shed, where she stacked it neatly in six rows of about 1½ metre high. All two tons of it. Tough little lady, my wife. She stuck at it like a trojan and did a real good job. Three hours work and we were finished. Now all I have to do is reduce the actual pallets to firewood, but that will have to wait. Nothing goes to waste though. Buying firewood on wooden pallets means you have all the kindling you will need for the coming winter. All the lifting and carrying has done me in for the day and I have to work tonight. I have to get a few hours shut-eye before then.
The comforting thought is that I won’t have to do that job again for another year and winter can come along any time it likes now. We will be warm.
Which cheers the cockles of my heart, and that makes it all worthwhile.
I hope my dear lady agrees with me!
The Exile Files 