How a Fireplace Created An Odd Addiction

Sure, I’ve had a fireplace before – one of those silly gas-burning jobs.  You know the type; instant romance at the flick of a switch.  Total jive.  

Now, for the first time in my life, I live in a house that offers the rustic warmth and comfort of a proper wood-burning fireplace.  Actually, it’s not a fireplace per se, rather it is a wood burning insert, ours being the Vista, by Pacific Energy. 

I’ve come to quite enjoy stoking the fire - its blended aroma of fiery cedars, firs, and alders.  Pleasant as a crackling fire may be, I must admit the house does get a bit warm for my liking at times.  Oh well.

Kelly and Moo-Moo embrace a differing viewpoint, they instinctively seek a fire’s warmth and comforts as would a small child take the safety of its favorite blanket.

The problem with the wood-burning firebox is the need for firewood. 

Last year, Kelly and I bought and stacked a cord of wood – a first for us.  It turns out that a chord is quite a bit of wood, lots of wood in fact.  

Yet surprisingly insufficient for our proclivity.

The sight of a nearly empty wood bin can be a real morale buster and ominously, by early fall, there was no denying that we were running low on this precious fuel source.  The possibility of life into winter without wood launched Kelly and me into alarm, frantically seeking this precious energy source wherever we could.

Foolishly, we had no idea that wood prices fluctuate atop rising tides of seasonal ebbs and flow.  The rookies we were, our naiveté found us buying wood at peak prices last year, a mistake not again to be made.   Stubbornly, we found ourselves hell-bent on acquiring wood with less cost this winter.

  Awaiting patiently, our  current stock of firewood sits idle

Coincidentally, about this same time, a neighbor of ours had to fell a tree in order to accommodate an expanding fencing project.  This felled tree, quickly converted into rounds, bestowed an opportunity for Kelly and me to split the rounds ourselves.

As you might imagine, renting a gas powered 20-ton wood splitter proved to be an interesting project.  Who knew Kelly had such panache for squatting and splitting rounds for hours at a time.

 

Over the past few months, this chance encounter with a felled tree has quickly transformed into an obsession; my own quest to find the Holy Grail – free wood.

To that end, last week proved to be bittersweet. 

As part of a larger landscaping project, my immediate neighbor dropped six mature trees – three Douglas Firs and three Alders.  The firs were sold, but the alders were given to us, perhaps a good will gesture in exchange for the unsightly and barren views now upon us.

 Rounds which will likely sit for two years before splitting 

Regardless, I jumped at the opportunity to squeeze into my grasps, the two to three cords he was offering. 

Free is free.