Wood is Good!

The 10th grade English textbook my school uses would would have you believe that Georgia is overrun with logging and deforesting companies.  Unfortunately, many of the homes in Georgia are still heated by wood and until central heating (and air conditioning) become the norm, people will still need wood to heat their homes and water.  Having slept most of the day Friday, I woke up Saturday well-rested and to the sound of a chain saw.  After a quick wash and change I head downstairs to see what's up.  In the garage is Genadi moving in huge logs that are being cut up.  Turns out this is our annual wood delivery and we'll spend the weekend cutting and organizing the wood which we'll use over the course of the year.  So far, the primary use has been to heat the hot water for our showers but during winter, we'll use much of it in the fireplace located in the family room.

I didn't measure the wood but by the photos you can see it takes up half of the garage.  Once the truck leaves, I help Nina and Geno clean up the sawdust.  We save everything and the sawdust can be used in place of oil to start fires.  After we bag the sawdust Gio starts to chop up the wood into the smaller logs that we'll use in the boiler and fireplace.  This turns into an event that I couldn't have imagined.  Over the course of two days, friends and neighbors stop by to help cut the wood.  I managed to get a few chops in but Rolandi didn't like that - he probably thought I'd cut my hand off.  :-)

By Sunday morning maybe a third of the wood is cut and we begin a long day of chopping and stacking.  By the end of the day we have about eighty percent of the wood cut which fills both walls of the garage.  The rest of the wood is moved outside where the swing is and will be cut up later as the wood in the garage is used up. 

One thing that continually impresses me about Georgia is neighbors help neighbors and there's always something going on in the neighborhood.  Like the movie "the Burbs," you can sit outside (or lean out the window) and watch all the activity around you and not get bored..  This weekend, not only were we chopping wood, but so was our neighbor across the street.  Two other neighbors were making wine, and on the end of the street they were using a car to haul concrete mix up the third story of the new building.

Stay warm!

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