SPOON: more wood, more wood, more wood

[kellan_the_tabby]

[ A heavy metal splitting wedge sticks out of the flat top of a good-sized log; a steel hammer sits on a smaller log next to it. ]

The nice thing about a wood stove is you can find & cut your own firewood, instead of having to pay some big company somewhere that’ll happily triple your bill when the people in charge want a new yacht.

The problem with a wood stove is you gotta find & cut your own firewood. I mean yeah, you can buy it, that’s how we started the winter, but we still hadda chop it into stove-sized pieces, & most of the stuff we’ve found since then (thank you, Wood Dude!) has needed cutting AND splitting. Like, yeah! Cutting & splitting your own firewood does warm you twice! Also, I think my arm just fell off.

Anyway today has been stressy because the news is horrible (don’t look at the news), so I spent basically most of it chopping logs, & finding more not-really-useful pallet wood & weird-sized leftover bits of plywood to cut into stoveworthy lengths. (Yeah, plywood has glue & stuff in it. But you know what it does? It burns.)

[ There’s a couple hunks of pallet wood sitting across two sawhorses. My hand is holding a red circlular saw, about to cut them in half. ]

I keep thinking I’ve found all the wood suitable to cut into short bits instead of saving, & then I find more, which is nice, we’re looking to need firewood for another month at least. I think we’ll need fires, at least some days, more of the year than otherwise, here. It’s all good — wood permits aren’t expensive — but it’s always gonna be a fair amount of work. But I’d rather put in the work than pay for someone else’s yacht.

Today was really nice! We stuck Marisol in Remy’s crate & left the front door open for a while; the house really does need to be aired out.

[ The longer wall of the house, with double glass-paned doors set into it. One of the two doors is sitting open. To the left of the doors is a line of pallets. One holds a big green plastic bucket with a single log just visible inside. ]

… but then Sigdis, mighty hunter, caught herself a self-propelled toy, & not only brought it inside, but made it upstairs before any of us caught her. Fortunately the kangaroo rat got loose & hid under one of my shelves, & Morgyn put on gloves & scooped it back out. Said rat has been deposited sufficiently far away, & all the cats are back inside now.

SCREEN DOORS.

Anyway I chopped a lot of wood. A Lot. Not all of this is from today, but most of it is. Ow.

But that? Should last us a week this time of year.

[ A stack of firewood, perhaps five feet wide by three feet high, sits on a pair of pallets next to the front door. The left side is held up by a tall hunk of plywood held in place by a third pallet and a filing cabinet. The right side is held up by careful stacking and optimism. ]

Also keeps the dog out of the firewood. Because apparently logs are tasty. I DO NOT KNOW WHY. WHY ARE DOGS.

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Comments

[azurelunatic]

Hooray wood! And it looks nice and seasoned too.

[kellan_the_tabby]

Happens fast out here, which is REAL NICE. At least some of that was cut last summer.

[corvi]

what does "spoon" in the title mean?

[kellan_the_tabby]

SPOON is the name of our lil queer artist commune! It's short for 'Sanctuary for Perpetually Odd, Outlandish Neighbors' & of course references the spoon theory, but also calls back to an organization in Ysabetwordsmith's Polychrome Heroics universe.

... we really need a website but in the MEANTIME we've got a linktree with a buncha stuff on it.

[stitchwhich]

The first time I met my in-laws was in the middle of winter. They lived in South Dakota and heated the house with a wood stove but (that year anyway) had not stockpiled much wood. I remember driving through snowstorms with my father-in-law to "harvest" deadfall on the sides of the roads, for hours. We went out about every other day. Finding sufficient wood on the edge of the Deadlands is tricky, especially since most trees are behind fences and owned by others, so it was a matter of scavenging along the one-lane roads. This necessity did not endear my father-in-law to me. (He was an ignorant and arrogant man who was sexist to boot. So his lack of forethought and planning was just the icing on the cake.)

[danabren]

Ew

[kellan_the_tabby]

... I kinda wish you could see the face I'm making right now, but you can probably imagine, so, close enough.

SO MANY SYMPATHIES

[danabren]

"self-propelled toy" I AM WHEEZING.

That is some impressive fukkin wood dominance, I tell you what. I'd call you a Goddess for your efforts but I don't know if you're using pronouns or not. So accept the compliment and I will do better in the future :D

(self-propelled toy oh mah lawrd)

[kellan_the_tabby]

"self-propelled toy" I AM WHEEZING.

She was the MOST SMUGGEST.

I uhhh am apaprently mostly using he/him these days because why? Would gender be easy?? I hear some people just go with what they got. Weird flex, but okay.

(so far being addressed as 'sir' is MASSIVE gender euphoria. 'god'? extremely not sure about that one. we'll see.)

[danabren]

As you request, so shall it be, Sir.

[kellan_the_tabby]

*salutes Real Bad*

[danabren]

Sir doesn't need to salute, a sir can give a macho nod :D

[montuos]

Are you familiar with the Hydraulic press channel on on YouTube? or more specifically their second channel, Beyond the press? This video they made last fall seems like something you need to see if you haven't already: The Best Axe EVER? Four Bladed Quad-Axe

[kellan_the_tabby]

WELP there goes the rest of MY day

[montuos]

Sorry not sorry? XD

[kellan_the_tabby]

So far I've watched them smush a whole lot of things with the hydraulic press, then they blew up a concrete wall a lot, & now they're making really very unfortunate grinder blades. This is GLORIOUS, thank you!

[kellan_the_tabby]

okay just the part where the name ends in five MILLION has me cackling

[kellan_the_tabby]

okay apparently I'm liveblogging? live commenting? the whole thing

*dude holds up ridiculous axe* CHECK OUT

the SOUNDTRACK! the PILE OF PERFECTLY GOOD AXES!

*handle almost fits* *dude has at with a hammer*

the EXTRA ECHOES added to the audio of the test chop

"I think I just have to get more angry, and hit harder" I am laughing SO HARD OMG

"I'm going to have to go pretty gotdamn hard." *thwack* "YES!" Loiosh is now staring at my monitor, looking concerned.

"Probably dangerous as hell, but I think I can take care of myself" oh gods

That was a terrible idea. I want one.

[montuos]

That was a terrible idea. I want one.

I knew you would. <3

[kellan_the_tabby]

on account of you have MET me

[danabren]

You spelled "need" wrong.

[kellan_the_tabby]

although it COULD wait until after I've gone on T & built like 300 new muscles