December 5, 2004

• Tickety-Boo, except….
  
  Everything seems to be humming right along.  That noisy hard drive
  is still noisy, but not excruciatingly so.   We have been
  able to maintain an indoor temp around 50°F, even though the outdoor
  temp dipped to -15°F overnight.  That’s MINUS fifteen. 
  Sixty-five degrees difference between in and out is pretty good for our
  little woodstove.  If there was a wind blowing, it wouldn’t be
  able to keep that up.

  I must be in the flow.  I can’t really burn any of that wood
  that’s on order until it get here, but having two separate sellers tell
  me they will be here today with wood for me is fairly
  confidence-building.

  Mark’s trouble with his truck yesterday worked in my favor, I
  think.  I had been talking to so many wood sellers that I had
  forgotten who I’d told what.  I sometimes forget to mention that I
  need short lengths to fit my stove.  I had apparently forgotten to
  tell Mark that I wanted only birch.  He called Yesterday afternoon
  after his truck was repaired to tell me that there was “another lady”
  who had a bunch of wood that was already cut to my length, that he
  could go take a look at, and if it was okay he’d load it up and bring
  it to me last night.

  Then he said it was “birch and spruce mixed” but there might be a
  little poplar mixed in.  Was that okay?  I said, aghast,
  “birch and spruce mixed?!?”  He said yeah, and we didn’t even
  mention the poplar again, that damned fireproof, useless wood that’s
  worse than no wood at all.  We talked for a while about “birch and
  spruce.”  He said if the lady’s mix was more than half spruce,
  he’d add some more birch.  Still aghast, almost speechless, I
  said, “half and half?!?”

  He went on talking while I regained my wits and my voice, and finally I
  conveyed the idea that I wanted all birch, no spruce, no poplar. 
  He didn’t put up any argument or suggest any higher price or anything
  of that sort, so I suppose it was just a test to see if I was stupid
  enough to pay $170 a cord for poplar that won’t hardly burn and spruce
  that’s likely to end up burning my house down with its combination of
  high creosote and fast-flaring fires with lots of sparks. 

  I managed NOT to ask any of the questions that popped into my mind, such as, “Are you INSANE?” or “Do you really
  have customers in town who will pay you $150 a cord for half
  spruce?”  Speechlessness does have its rewards, in human relations
  terms, sometimes.  Since I wasn’t willing to accept the “other
  lady’s” mix, he said he wouldn’t be able to get my wood to me until
  sometime today.

  I must be in the flow, bigtime.  When I made that deal with Mark
  for two cords at $170 a cord, I had $350.00 cash that had been tucked
  away in a drawer for firewood purchases ever since the deal with old
  George (who is undoubtedly younger than I) went south.  Getting my
  firewood without having to make a trip to the ATM twenty miles up the
  highway was GOOD.  Having ten dollars left over was even
  better. 

  Then I got the callback from Lou.  His price for a truckload (cord
  and a third, he says, all birch — most assuredly “green” at that
  price, not dry and seasoned) was $130 at this distance and in the
  lengths I specified.  He specified cash, as they all do, so I was
  looking, maybe, at a trip up to the ATM after all.  I got out my
  wallet and counted my cash:  $121.  Add to that the ten left
  over from Mark’s deal, and I’ve got a dollar left for myself. 

  This particular bit of Valley trailer trash is feeling pretty good
  right now, considering that all my firewood is either just unfulfilled
  promises or little fiddly bits that are just about gone.  Marian
  ordered pics of me surrounded by wood, but even after it gets here
  that’s not gonna happen.  I will neither stand in the way while
  those guys unload on and around me, nor will I burrow into the middle
  of the heap they leave.   You might see a pic of Doug beside
  the new woodpile, or Koji, or maybe even me, but I won’t be surrounding
  the wood and it won’t surround me.  If you’ll settle for an
  illusion, maybe I can peer over the top of the pile.

  And to clarify the seasonal shifts for hotvette101,  I live in the
  northern hemisphere.  In December, this end of the earth’s axis is
  tilted away from the sun.  Antarctica and Australia are having
  long days right now, and relative warmth.  In summer, here in the
  north, we have long days and relative warmth from the sun toward which
  our end of the axis is then tilted.  Right now, the sun rises
  around 9 AM and sets around 3:30 PM, at this latitude (62°N).  And
  we are just a little over two weeks from the Winter Solstice, my
  personal High Holy Day, best day of the whole damned year, when the sun
  starts back in our direction and days begin getting longer again. 
  Yay for daylight!
  

  • 2:29 pm
  • 7 Comments