found a "BONANZA" today. A buddy is cutting timber,, and is in an area with a TON of standing dead oak. Told me to come and get all I wanted. As long as I dont get calleed back to work,, its going to be warm this winter. Better buy another chain for the saw.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), September 22, 2001

Answers

Stan,

Glad to hear of your good fortune. It would be nice if everyone could get a good supply of wood like you have.

In the area where I used to live. We had a storm some years ago that downed many trees. They are still there rotting on the ground because no one went and got them. I just wondered why. Is it because less people are burning wood because of lower oil/gas prices? Is it because people are getting lazy? Is it because the landowners won't allow anyone else on their property? (This I can understand because of everyone suing everyone else for anything imaginable.)Was it because there were just too many trees to clean up? Was it because people are getting tired of burning wood? Is it because not as many people burn wood as I think? Is it because many towns have ordinances against burning wood? Is there some other reason I haven't considered? This has always puzzled me. The trees are still there, but probably mostly waste now, having been on the ground for some years. Seems like such a waste to me. Not to mention an eyesore to say the least.

I guess this is just one of those questions in life that really may not have an answer.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), September 22, 2001.

Where we used to live, sections of cut downed trees were left on the side of the road and folks could come and pick up the chunks. And they did--saved the government money. Wish more common sense were used....

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), September 22, 2001.

Stan: A warning regarding standing dead oak. If your spot is in the midwest and the trees are in the red oak family (northern red, pin, shingle, black) please check or have someone check if it is oak wilt causing the die-off. If you store red oak firewood that's been killed by oak wilt, the fungal pads can ripen next spring in the wood and be spread to your yard trees if you have red oaks, neighbors trees, etc. Bark beetles and squirrels are attracted to the sweet smelling fungal pads and they'll carry it from tree to tree.

-- Susan (smtroxel@socket.net), September 22, 2001.

I sell wood stoves and it appears it will be a banner year. It's nice selling something I can believe in. We were so proud that we got this years wood all cut,hauled , and stacked. Even built a great woodshed. So what do we do but up and sell the place. Now we get to move it all up the hill about 15 miles. I'm all for having the wood heat us several times over with all the labor involved but this is getting ridiculous. I really enjoy using a chainsaw but my favorite part of getting firewood is the splitting. Ever notice, after a time and you get in the groove of it all, you kind of become one with the wood. Finding the grain and just the right amount of force seem to come automatically. Aaaaahhhhh life is great in the country.

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), September 22, 2001.

If anyone is in SE Georgia, we have lots of hardwood we'd love for someone to remove. When we cleared an acre for our farm, I couldn't give the wood away--even advertised in the paper! We wound up burying it as it was too expensive to haul/dump. Took the precaution of putting the burial sites in areas where we won't have future buildings due to decomposition and sink areas. It sure upset me to have to bury it.

-- Marsha (CaprisMaa@aol.com), September 23, 2001.

Got the chainsaw singing today. Will do the same tomorrow. My harvest is mainly post oak with some mesquite and a little hackberry. The smaller mesquite limbs do real well in the smoker/grill. Smoked a turkey today.

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), September 24, 2001.