Thursday 14 August 2014

Hard Graft...

The rewards will come later!

Yesterday, DB and I took delivery of our winter logs, 2 cubic metres of them:
We borrowed the wheelbarrow off our neighbours. As a thank you, they get rewarded with some logs for their own fire. He often gives us kindling when we run low as does another neighbour, who can always lay his hands on a pallet or two!

It took us longer this year to shift them, around 3 and a bit hours. Another year older doesn't help but luckily, although sunny, there was a nice cooling wind. Part of the problem with this load was the width of some of the logs, probably just under half of them. Length wise they are fine but too fat. As I load them into the wheelbarrow, any I deem too fat get chucked into another pile. Shifting them all this way took about and hour and a half.

I wheel them up the drive, round the hedge, down another path and dump them as near to DB as possible for his to fill our 2 1/2 log stores. We still have about 3 - 4 wheelbarrow loads left from last year. All stores are now full of logs, kindling and cones. The paper is kept in the conservatory.

After a break for lunch, we began to shift the oversized logs into the garage. I used the wheelbarrow, DB utilised one of the wheelie bins. Last year we decided to invest in a heavy duty, mid range log splitter, as DB was finding it increasingly difficult to split the logs by hand, probably a hundred or slightly more each year!

He fed the logs in, the machine split them, I picked up from the pile and wheeled them around to the log stores for him to fill up once the splitting was finished. It cleaves through the logs like a hot knife through butter. It can be dangerous as I bore witness when one log split apart with a tremendous crack and shot about 6' across the garage, good job I had chosen to stand behind it.

Finally we were finished, a hot bath did nothing to alleviate the ache and pains and a sorry night was had by me. DB doesn't seem bad, indeed he is currently on his hands and knees, re-painting the bedroom skirting boards ready for the carpet on Monday!

My neighbours have gotten used to my odd ways but they saw a new one the other day when I asked them, if they minded me rummaging through their bottle and jar recycling box for things I like the look of!

Once over the shock, I was told to help myself, so yesterday I did and came home with these two lovely jars:
DB didn't say a word, he just removed the label, washed and dried them! Ah, ain't love just grand:)




6 comments:

  1. Hahaha! I love the strong silent chaps who just get on with it - mine does too! As you say, all that expended energy will reap rewards in the future- in fact I could have done with some this afternoon, it went very cold! And you certainly have the best kind of neighbours too!

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    1. We are lucky with our neighbours. At one time we knew them all, now it is about 2/3rds.

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  2. I'm glad you rescued the jars - they're very pretty. The jam that comes in them is so expensive that I would keep the jars and use them just so that I felt like I was getting my money's worth!

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    1. I don't think I have ever tasted the jam in them but they will come in handy! Shall have to keep a lookout for more in future.

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  3. What a lovely find! Somebody gave me some of that posh jam once and I use it for a pretty storage jar now. :)

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