Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

.....
 
How often do you have to clean that chimney? I thought those catalytic stoves burned enough cleaner than standard stoves to to really reduce the  buildup issue.  Just seems you've only burned a little more than I have (just short of a cord = me) Just got me wondering  now.

@nebraska, sorry, I meant to address your question before and it slipped my mind (not much room in there).  The cause was clearly my poor burning habits. During the winter months, with a nice supply of wood I burn for heat and keep the stove at relatively good working temps. Yes, it might be choked down overnight to hold the fire, but in the morning it gets stoked back up to bring the shop temp up. When that happens I hear the creosote just tinkling down the chimney. Those combustors require that the stove hit a certain temp before they kick in and the catalyst goes to work , and you can tell when it does, because it starts to glow red and a LOT of heat starts to come off that section of the stove (650° or more). My 'issue' was burning it low all the time because it was warm outside and I just needed a steady dry heat. The combustor never got to working temp and a lot of junk went up the chimney and cooled off. Now, I have a stick I use to give the chimney a whack once or twice a day which knocks that stuff down like icicles. On a conventional stove design it would all fall back into the stove. But this stove has a full smoke shelf and the junk falls on that and piles up (does not burn off). The pile gets higher and restricts the outflow. I can tell because when I open the door smoke rolls out continuously, also it can never really pull a good enough draft to make a good fire. So that means I have to let it burn out and at least pull the bottom chimney section out and clean out the pile inside the top of the stove. During a steady burn season this almost never happens. So I had cleaned the chimney in the late spring, just because and I noticed one of the 45's was getting whimpy and failed when I tried to put it back together. I ordered two and replaced one, knowing the other would go next time. This time as I was replacing the second one I saw the pin holes in the lateral 4' section so had to get one of those also. These issues are one of the reasons I am contemplating the purchase of an indoor wood furnace with a bigger firebox so I don't have to choke it down so much at night, but of course I will use more wood. That (firewood), for this year anyway, is an issue. Not enough hours in the day or gallons in my tank. I may augment with oil this year. I never fired up the oil burner all last year, not once. Now I am thinking a few bucks in that tank might save me a lot of work in firewood.
_________________________________________
Well, I have been bouncing around on a bunch of things the last couple of days. I ran the mill for a little bit yesterday, did something dumb in the process and will likely do my penance on that thread in a little while. I burned up some pretty ugly logs that just needed to be gone from the pile, lots of sweep and knots, etc. But I managed to pull some boards that are saleable on existing orders and some that will go into the shop roof. It could have been worse. We had BIG wind overnight and it was still windy enough this morning and I decided not to go run the mill in a whirlwind of sawdust. So I stayed home and worked a little more on that property evaluation report (37 pages now), stacking another half cord of wood and I did a quick check of the neighbors property's for downed trees. My neighbor across the road where I did all the TSI work was in fine shape, nothing to report. But the other neighbor got clobbered with a single tree.


 
 
Simple tree removal, but.... Her house is fed power by a set of primaries. This tree is being held up by what's left of those primaries. She has three poles coming down from the road to her house, on the last pole is a step down transformer for the house feed. That pole and equipment is fine thankfully, but the tree put enough stress on the lines to snap them into brillo pads. The middle pole in the string took the heat. This is 6' off the top of a 65' pole.


 
The cable and phone lines are intact. We could move the whole thing a little further down on the pole, but code requires a 65' pole for primaries. I called her to let her know what I had found. She already knew of course and had called Bill in the morning and he was working on it. So I called Bill and we coordinated. He was trying to get hold of the line crew that would be working on the job and working out the details with them to try to save the gal some money and get her back up ASAP. All that wire is her responsibility. So I kept my eye out for the crew but had to make a run to the store (I'm out of beer and I am not doing that Jack stuff again for a while) when I jumped in the truck and was pulling out, 3 utility trucks drove past, so I followed them while I called Bill but got his voicemail. So I walked up the the foreman and introduced myself. Before I could finish my first sentence, Bill pulled up driving his bucket truck home. We all walked the job together. Bill politely tried to politely wangle to figure out how we could get her back up with the least impact (did I mention Bill was very polite?). She has plans to bury that line completely, but with all the rock we have to get through that is a big expensive job. That pole is about 3,500 bucks and when the line is buried, it's (the poles) camp firewood, at best. Try as we might, the foreman had to recite the code and primaries require 65' poles. Bill is going to have to check his stock on poles to see if he has one, when the sun comes up. At any rate, we have a plan, the line crew was sympathetic and even gave us a replacement insulator for one that busted when it hit the ground. Saves us rooting through stock for one or a trip to the supply house.
 It kills me to see her having to deal with this. She is having a tough enough time going through her cancer right now as a single woman and didn't need this. We really want to make her life easier if we can, at least on this front. So tomorrow we will regroup, the line is locked out and we are good to proceed. We are all cool with the line crew and they gave us a few 'cues' on where we could save a little on stuff that will never be looked at. We'll hit it in the morning and see what we can get done. Bill may call in a few guys to help move it along. As long as the lines are down, we will likely drop a bunch of other trees that were marked to come down anyway. Ironically, the one that caused all this was not marked. Go figger.
 My table client came this afternoon and picked up his table, he continues to be pleased.  So that's gone. I wasn't too happy when he said he was going to hide it in his shed until Christmas after I had been heating the shop for 3 weeks just to keep the thermal cycling low on that thing. Oh well, it's his now. :D
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So let me ask you folks something because I want to know if I am nuts or not. (Wait, don't answer yet, even if you can. let me ask the question(s) first.)
 So I did a beer run this evening and because I am only buying my cheap beer I don't want to go all the way to town and I just go to the local food store. Now this used to be a local family owned food store until Hannaford bought it up, fired most of the staff and changed everything to fit their corporate scheme. Now there are always long lines at the checkout because they don't have enough clerks and I never recognize any of the staff in there. None are towns folk whereas you always knew more than half the staff as neighbors and the kids of your friends, etc.. It's sure not the same, but whatever. The prices are a lot higher and they don't carry the stuff we used to buy there anymore, they have a lot of stuff we don't buy. But the place is a mecca for the weekenders who don't know any better and think they get good prices there. They also never venture far enough to find the good food stores down in town. Anyway, I walk in the door and see this sign on a bread rack:


 
My first thought is "what the He** is THAT supposed to mean?!"
Now, the bread on this rack comes from a bakery 2 hours drive from here, so NOT local in my book. In addition, we have several local bakeries that make good stuff and one of which makes VERY good stuff and is 15 minutes drive from this store and employs about 40 local folks. Their baked goods ship to some of the best shops and restaurants in NYC and we USED to be able to buy their bread in this store, but no more. Now they truck it in from 100 miles away (and call it 'local'). So  THAT really set me off. What kind of BS is this? The second thing that bothered me is what does that DANG sign mean? Is this playing up to the city people and telling them 'If you buy THIS bread, you become a local'? What kind of nonsense is that. Yes, we get it, city folks who own preparty here want to feel like they 'belong', but can they be so gullible as to think buying this bread makes that happen? Who thinks this stuff up, some pinhead sitting in an office 200 miles away?
 So my question(s) is(are) this(these): would this burn your bottom you if you saw it? Am I being a crotchety old curmudgeon? Am I overreacting? Should I continue to fuss over these things and call them out when I see them or just let it go or as my wife says "get over it"? Really this annoyed me so much that as I am tying this I am thinking I may go back and have a talk with the manager and at least let him know what B**S*** looks like. Am I all wet on this? I can say that even though I was thinking about picking up a good quality loaf of nice multigrain bread, I passed on the whole thing when I saw this.
 AH, tomorrow id another day and I guess I can pretend to be a lineman for a day, I always wanted to try that. ;D :D

[Nebraska]

Great just fat fingered a post off into never never land....Thanks for the answer..

Anyway Tom yes that sign bugs me as well....

My idea was to leave a snarky sticky note stuck to that shop like a local sign saying "yeah some where else" or "at Lovetts Bakery" (insert correct name)...
Just a little mild act of disobedience. Just leave them every so often  


I use an add on wood furnace as  a supplemental heat source.  My chimney is insulated stainless steel inside a masonry chimney that rises through the 
center of the house so most of it holds heat and if I do a good job burning, it  doesn't  creosote up just some at the very top.  I have a chimney thermometer  I watch and it keeps me on track keeping the flu warm enough..  It's just a farm store add on but the wood furnace  has served us pretty well.  It a model that was made by US Stove Co.
It has a pretty good sized fire box and burns the sawmill waste just fine as long as it is reasonably dry.

Bless you guys for helping that lady out!!
If I had a 65 ft pole in my pile you'd be welcome to it.

[Old Greenhorn]

You know Nebraska there are neighbors and there are neighbors. This gal (I am guessing in her 50's but I am likely wrong) has all the 'markings' of just another 'weekender', yet she is not. She is a corporate lawyer working on music licensing for major clients her company produces. I am sure she is doing 'OK' financially. So you think you have a picture of how she 'fits in' but you'd be wrong, as I slowly learned. Her Dad and uncles were all loggers in Oregon where she grew up. She is no stranger to real work and has no issues shopping for a good splitting axe and stacking up her own firewood. When she does actually ask for help, it's because of a missing skill, not an unwillingness to do the work. She had a woodstove installed, but laid all the tile around it herself and asked if I could help her find the right kind of molding to trim it off. So I happily milled and machined up some nice ash that came from a tree she could have seen out her sliding glass doors when it was there. She liked that a lot. She not only showed up at a redneck party at Bill's that has a bit of a 'rough reputation' but she had a blast meeting folks and getting on with them. She gets it, embraces it, appreciates it, and soaks it in. She has been to more places around here learning the history and opportunities in the last year, than I have had time to see is 35 years. Yeah, she gets it.
 So yeah, when somebody like that could use a hand, it's a no-brainer. Drop what your doing and let's get this done. If she could help, she'd be right in the middle, but we need her to stay in a warm apartment/condo/thingy  and watch her health until we have the heat and lights on for her. and the house is up to temp. We want to keep her around. She is on a chemo break right now and intended to be up this weekend, but I told her to stay home. Folks like her are easy to care about. I don't feel like helping out with this as a favor, its an obligation. But that's just me.

[Nebraska]

Tom I hope I'm not way off base but...

No I disagree it's an obligation  not to you or her. Itsan obligation to the generations before us that raised us and taught us the right way to treat each other. It's respect.  She was raised by people with a sense of community back in Oregon.  That's why she fits in yours.

[Old Greenhorn]

Of course you are not off base, we agree, and I think I said that, or did it read wrong? This is what you do for people wo are part of your community. That's how I think anyway. maybe we both missed something here or I expressed it incorrectly.

[Hilltop366]

Am I being a crotchety old curmudgeon?

Get off my lawn!! smiley_old_guy

[Old Greenhorn]

Am I being a crotchety old curmudgeon?

Get off my lawn!! smiley_old_guy

Yeah well, somebody has to remind folks about how things are done right.

[Tacotodd]

Tom, you're doing the RIGHT thing for helping her out! Cancer is no joke. Hard to have a remission but easy to relapse into a bad spell. She sounds like good people and would help you guys if she thought that she could be of PROPER service, but you and the guys made the right call.👍 Good for ALL that were involved and her for remaining cognizant of the possibility of that relapse that COULD happen. Chemo is not fun on the best of days. If in doubt all that we half to do is talk to brother Ed about his cancer journey. Just wish that I could be there to help you guys. If nothing else I could serve as an example of what NOT to do. After all, I'm willing to try new stuff out but I'm not real sure just how much help I would be. (I've always had a heathy respect for power lines and left them alone. Just always seemed safer to me that way.) My hats off to you guys for going that extra mile for your neighbor. She'll not soon forget it either!

[Old Greenhorn]

Well It was  a long day yesterday with more equipment than people. Self loading log truck, skid steer, bucket truck, compactor, and a few other odds and ends. We worked past dark and Bill kept asking "can you tell me if that line is straight?" and I'd reply that I couldn't even see that line. :D
 We took down the offending tree, which was the smallest of the day and 5 others, 2 white pines, 2 WO and a big ask. Except for one WO, the others were all around the 22" class. All dead and previously marked. Most of it loaded and some left for the homeowners firewood. (Smaller stuff that could be bucked and split easy, I'll do that later.)

 We got the birds nest of cables squared away, pulled the broken pole, set the new one then started the tedious job of getting it all strung back up and getting the right tension on the cables. It just takes time. It is 95% done. We came up short on one pickle to make a splice and a short piece of alumaclad to make a connection. We wound up leaving the bucket truck and skid steer there to finish up today.
 Unfortunately I can't help them today because I have that land consult visit to do. I came home last night, took the wife for a quick dinner a the diner we like, then came home, loaded up the Mule and hooked up the trailer, tended both stoves, took a shower, finalized my paperwork, and went to bed. I was beat and my bad foot was just getting it's feeling back.
 Up early today and walking out the door in 5 minutes for the hour drive. Here I go again. ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Glad you guys could help your neighbor lady. I often find some of the hardest work I do and greatest reward I get are often the ones I never collect one dime for doing.

[Tacotodd]

That's ok Howard. Sometimes we're repaid in ways that no dollar amount can EVER be used. I'll even do that same stuff for folks. If I ever get burned, never again. I remembered, I'll do it repeatedly for folks. Because you can't put a dollar figure on it. Good job guys. I've not repeatedly interacted with ANYONE on this forum that did not seem to be good folk. I quite often wonder why you folk tolerate me, but that's the kinds of good folk that you are! Thanks for allowing me to be part of the family. YES, I said 

   F A M I L Y 

bon_fire

[aigheadish]

The "Local" sign would bother me too, OGH. I thought the same thing as Nebraska with the post-it of the name of the legit local bakery, or maybe just standing there asking loudly, on occasion, why they don't carry the one right down the road.

Good on you for helping your neighbor, like the others are saying, it always makes you feel good to help out those that really need it, and not expect any compensation or anything like that.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well yesterday was the long day I expected but it was a good one. I had everything loaded the night before and hit the road around 7am for a 8am appointment. I could have taken the Thruway but I don't like dragging the trailer at those speeds and I did want to drive the local area with an eye toward what was growing around there and how similar properties were being used. Just an hour north of me, but the soils and tree species are very different, as is the agriculture. The economy is pretty similar.
We managed to get 3 adults and a small child in the front seat of the Mule and I am glad I brought it along, lots of ground to cover. This property runs from well manicured landscaping around the living complex to overgrown conifer woods. in the remote sections. It has meadows and one spot we found at the high point had a nice, partly mature hardwood stand with a lot of chestnut oaks. From what I could tell it had been cleared land 50 years ago and al these hardwoods popped up with most growing nicely. It is due for TSI work to release the better trees, but it would be easy work.

Along the drive we discussed all the questions they had about everything from buying a chainsaw to hiring a Forester. There was evidence of a lot of hand work done to open up trails. I learned that the son in law had done all the cutting with a chainsaw they rented from HD. (I didn't know you could do that!) He had done a lot of hard work, but the cutting was ugly, very ugly. I suggested they get him a decent chainsaw fro a dealer that could support them and that they get him some training, as he clearly needed it. I offered (when he gets the proper equipment) to come up and work with him for a day.

So I met the mother, daughter, and grandson, but not the husband (traveling) or son-in-law. Turns out this woman is no stranger to work and runs a non-profit horse farm in Maryland. She is formally trained in permaculture and had a business doing that for years. I asked her, at least twice, why she called me? ;D I did offer her some reading suggestions and concepts for further study to fill in what she felt she was lacking. I also looked at one structure on the property at the end of the lake that I found amazing. It had been rebuilt for hand-hewn timbers found on the site. Judging by the hand work, I would put them at at least 200 years old with interesting joinery. Quite the piece of work and likely from the remains of the sawmill operating on site in 1797. I should have taken photos.
We managed to finish up by 1pm, she paid me, I loaded up and headed home.

Got home around 3pm (I stopped at harbor freight since I was passing it) and make a quick lunch then headed to the neighbors to see if Bill still needed a hand. He did not, everything was back up and running and I cold tell the house had power because the little frog pond pump was running. So I came home, put the Mule away and drove down to Bill's to drop off a new OWB controller I had ordered for him that arrived yesterday. Nobody was home.

I came back, tended my stoves and started working on finishing up the report before dinner and also after dinner. I quit around 9pm and will finish it up this morning. Long day, the client is happy, and now it's time to get back to work.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

  You said you asked her twice why she hired you. What was her answer. :D I try to send sawing customers to other people all the time, especially the ones far away, but often it doesn't work. Generally, they still turn out to be very good jobs so it all works out.

  Sounds like you had a pretty good day and I am glad to hear the neighbor lady's frog pond is active again. ;D

[WDH]

Sir, Your paragraph spacer is AWOL  ;D.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I assume that comment was directed at Tom not me. :D

    Johnny Inkslinger strikes again. ;)

[doc henderson]

when I read, I scroll with the mouse 4 lines at a time

[Old Greenhorn]

Sir, Your paragraph spacer is AWOL  ;D.

Fixed.
Sorry, I was slacking off.
I must have written it too fast.

[Old Greenhorn]

Tom,

 You said you asked her twice why she hired you. What was her answer. :D

In keeping with WDH's Theme, I believe you left out a question mark. :D

She had a good answer. Basically she said she knows what she knows, but also knows what she doesn't know.  She knows rolling hills, pastures, agricultural stuff, but doesn't know much about woods and managing wooded property. She had heard me on the radio and wanted to walk and talk with someone to get her tuned into what she should be focusing on and noticing. I think she also wanted a local feel how stuff is done around these parts. I was the first of what I believe will be several of these walk-and-talk's as they focus in on what they want to do and how they want to start.

One thing I learned is that I have to raise my rates or create a tiered system. She handed me a check and said it was not near enough for what she had gotten out of it. I resisted making my usual involuntary snarky come-back ('I won't be insulted if you pay me more.'). I am getting better. ;D When I am done she will wind up with everything in writing in a 45 page report. I have never done that before but this property has a lot going for it and some of these things needed to be in writing for future reference.

[WDH]

  I assume that comment was directed at Tom not me. :D

   Johnny Inkslinger strikes again. ;)

That's right, Howard.  You got lots more than a paragraph spacer that you need to worry about  :D.

[WV Sawmiller]

41-24.

[WDH]

It is hard to beat them and the Angels that watch over them at the same time.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   Been there - done that. :(

[Old Greenhorn]

You two fellas want to get a room? ;D :D

[WV Sawmiller]

  And here I was fixing to compliment you on such a nice posting over on the Sawmill employees thread.  :D