Did someone say... wood?!

Here in Northern New York, it gets cold in the winter. Darn cold. Unless you want your heating bill to be $500 a month, a wood burning stove, or pellet stove, comes in handy. Our house has a wood burning stove. Last winter we had wood that was left here by the previous owners because it was our first winter here. We used that up fast. This year I nagged (ahem... I mean, asked nicely) for us to be well prepared. =)

On our army post, Fort Drum, we can get firewood practically for free. A permit to cut up felled trees costs $10 for one week, and you can take up to three loads of wood. Thank goodness for A) the truck, B) the chainsaw, and C) a husband who never shies away from hard labor no matter how tired he is.

After a very long week at work, and 2 weeks solid of being outside and sleeping outside, he came home Thursday ready to get this wood gathering over with. He went out in the woods on post twice by himself, then implored the family to please help him today.

In the brisk 40 degree, rainy weather, we obliged. How can we not?!

We did gather 1 cord of wood total, which if we bought from someone locally would be approximately $100. A cord of wood is equivalent to three truck bed-fulls, or 4 ft high by 4 ft wide by 8 ft tall.

Hopefully this lasts us all winter and we stay nice and toasty warm. Because having to pay that heating bill without the extra luxury of using the wood burning stove is hard imagine.