Truck Ballast or Turning stock?
Dominic Greco in Richboro PA
>
Hi Everyone,
I ask you, "How pathetic am I?"
The weather forecast is calling for 4 to 8" of snow starting this afternoon and ending some time tonight. I have a 2 wheel drive pick up that handles as well as a Camero in snow (for those of you who don't know, that means "not really well".)
The most obvious answer to this dilemma is to drive SWMBO's 4WD SUV. But what is she supposed to drive? So I end with plan "B". Adding ballast to the back of my pick up. During really heavy snow storms, I just shovel snow in the back. That has worked well. But there wasn't enough of an accumulation last night. So I turned to the only other source I could think of. My precious wood pile.
In order for me to get across the sheer lunacy of this situation, I need to set the mood. It's about 7:00 pm. It's dark and VERY cold in my back yard. So cold that my half Husky, half German Shepherd (I call him a "Shepsky") Boris won't follow me outside like he normally does. So here I am with flashlight in hand, trying to select the logs that will go into the back of my truck. And,.....begin,....!
Me: "No way am I putting that apple in there. That stuff cracks if you look at it funny. And I put way too much effort into getting it to risk it as just ballast. Hmmmm,....the Cherry is too big, and has a nice grain pattern (maybe I'll move this piece into the shop right now....). The Box Elder is too soft (and I might want to cut some up tomorrow night). I don't want to move the Walnut. It's drying so nicely there under the tarp. The Osage Orange is under Walnut, so that's out. Unless I get some help, the rock maple stays where it's sitting. I think that piece there weighs 500 lbs! And it's got some amazing figure (I really need to saw up some more of that. Maybe this weekend....)."
So I move to my second wood pile. I call it the "Islandof Misfit Logs".
Me: "Here's some nice bland Silver Maple. That will do nicely. Oh yeah, some ugly spalted Ash that has a grain pattern that looks like bad oatmeal. Throw that in. Hmmmm, some Sweetgum that has cracks running through it. And we'll top it off with some Poplar. Just because I hate turning Poplar. (Rotten camouflaged log! Serves it right for tricking me into thinking it was walnut!)"
See anything wrong with this? Up until several years ago, a log was just a log to me. See what turning has done to me?
See ya around,
Dominic
