Maybe it has been all the comments about snow covered landscapes or near freezing temperatures, but on the first day of my last week on holiday, what did my dear wife arrange for me to do today? Why, accept delivery and then stack 3 cubic meters (about 106 cubic feet) of firewood!
To add insult to injury, this was arranged some time ago, and in the intervening couple of weeks, she also arranged for her, my daughter and son, and sons girlfriend, to do a day trip to see our niece, who is holidaying with her family at Lake Taupo!
So I was left to it, on my lonesome, to sort out this rather large pile of logs once they were dumped on our drive around 1200 today
As it turns out, the young guy who delivered the wood reckoned it was closer to 3.5m3. It certainly felt like it and it took me about two and a half hours and around thirty wheel barrow loads to move it around the side of our house to stack it all in the wood box!
Summer is the time to prepare for winter. Here in the Northwest, the mountain passes have been closed for days and supplies are not making it across the state. Our broken supply chain is in even more disarray!
ReplyDeleteWow, sounds like you are having quite a challenging time there Jon!
DeleteThat does sound challenging and not something we really have to worry about here, other than in a few rural parts of the country.
DeleteBest to be prepared
ReplyDeleteAs the Boy Scouts say Scotty!
DeleteWe apparently live in a smoke free zone here, as I found out when our neighbour told me he'd received a hefty fine for using his fireplace some years ago. This hasn't stopped some people having log burners installed at home. Whilst nice they emit more pollution than a diesel car!
ReplyDeleteYes we were discussing that just yesterday at our neighbours place (where he volunteered the services of his wife to assist me...as he said "She will just be sitting in the house doing nothing" despite having two kids under five....but I digress!) If we built the house today, at the very least we would have to instal some ultra modern, pollution reducing model of wood burner...fortunately, we built the house seventeen years ago and the new rules aren't retrospective !
DeleteYour spouse lending neighbor sounds like a 'prince.'
ReplyDeleteYou must now make plans for you to escape for ten hours (4 people times 2.5 hours) from onerous chores. A list of possible activities comes to mind readily if you need assistance in planning. :-)
Lol yes he is a top bloke Joe. He is often to be seen cutting the grass edges with a motorised edge trimmer, whilst his petite blonde wife is walking up and down the grass, pushing the lawn mower in front of her!
DeleteWow! Your wife sounds like a master strategist, Keith! We know who the general is at your fortress.
ReplyDeleteHaha, is that a variation on the old saying that my wife wears the triusers(pants) Dean? It's probably accurate.
DeleteYour wife chose all the good family duties and left you with the rubbish! At least you got the house to yourself after you were done, right? :)
ReplyDeleteIndeed I did - and they didnt get back till about 9pm, so it was a pretty good day - I even considered a solo game on the dining room table (I have only ever done so a couple of times previously when house is empty) but the moment passed!
DeleteI remember getting a load of gravel for the garden delivered like that… I had (wrongly) assumed that it would come in bags/sacks… I didn’t have a wheelbarrow 😬…
ReplyDeleteFortunately my local hardware store did…
All the best. Aly
That actually made me laugh out loud Aly! My wheel barrow is ancient - I had to remove the wheel on Sunday and take it to the petrol station to fill with air, as I have previous experience of trying to shift a heavy load eg wood with a very under inflated tyre!
DeleteGood break for physical exercise between painting sessions :) I guess your wife cares you have balance of different activities.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very nice interpretation Dmitry - she was thinking of my health and well being! To be fair, she has previously stacked the wood herself, when it has arrived when I am at work, and it was not planned that she would be away yesterday, that was only arranged a few days ago :)
DeleteI made the mistake of mentioning to my wife the week before Christmas that one of the kids had 3 cubic metres of mulch left over after an over-delivery. She and her husband were just going to put a notice on a local website for anyone to come and help themselves, but as soon as I heard the words escaping my lips I knew what would happen with it. I counted over 350 shovel-loads at each end.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, that sounds exactly like the kind of error I would make too Lawrence!
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