reede, oktoober 22, 2004
Wood
I'm typing tonight with a feeling of satisfied exhaustion. I did another of those "manly" things I never did in the States, but which is better than going to the gym. I stacked wood!
The former tenants of the house had left enough wood to last three to four weeks, so I knew we needed more but was clueless on how to get it. I called one of the Americans who have been here for quite a few years to get his suggestion, and he said, "I'll come over tomorrow and we'll set you up." It sounded like a drug deal or something! In the end, it kind of felt like one too. We drove over to a big parking lot by the bussijaam (bus station) where there were around eight trucks of various sizes parked, and each was loaded with wood. Milling about chatting together were the drivers, and when we pulled up they gave us their full attention. My friend Linden, who seems to know everyone in Estonia, spotted a guy he knew, and spoke to him about his load of wood. I could see for myself that this wood looked pretty fresh, like it had been cut recently, and wouldn't be good for burning for several months, at least. We then strolled from truck to truck like farmers examining new livestock and asking each guy, "Kui palju" (how much?). One load of wood looked really good to me: dry, neatly cut and split, the right size for our furnace. But Linden told me it was aspen, which looks nice to burn, but has no real heating value. It's good to know people who know that kind of stuff!
None of the wood was that great, mostly because people here buy their winter wood in the spring or summer so they can stack it and let it dry out well before winter comes. I was approaching them late in the game. But Linden spoke to one of the guys (who had the greenest wood there!) and found out that he had a load of dried ash at home that he was holding back for later in the season. He convinced our new friend to sell it to me now, even got me a good price on it, and arranged for the delivery a few days later. Not bad!
The wood arrived when I was in Finland, so when I got home, I had 10 cubic meters of wood dumped in my backyard waiting to be stacked in the wood shed. It took a few days to get around to it, but I decided that today, no matter what, I was going to get that wood done. In the late afternoon, Chris, Elizabeth and I headed out to tackle the wood pile. Chris and I hauled the big pieces into the shed and stacked them while Elizabeth collected the smaller pieces for kindling and made a separate pile. We stacked and filled the whole right side of the shed as high as my head, then we did the same on the left side (except that part of the space was taken by the birch left by the previous occupants). We had to do a second row in front of the first on that side, but we still had more wood! It seemed like for as much as we stacked, the wood pile didn't go down. We started stacking from the back of the shed toward the front, and by the time we began our third row, we finally finished. It took four hours, but the yard is completely empty of wood and as I type, I can hear the rain outside that I was trying to beat (remember, I want dry wood), which is supposed to continue for the next two days.
So much of our work here is beginning things, learning things, building relationships and figuring things out that it seems like we rarely bring things to a tangible conclusion. I think that's why it felt so good to get that wood stacked: I could see the task, measure it up, and then bring it to completion. I needed that sense of satisfaction.
Of course, as the weather gets colder, I will have to haul that wood again, but this time it will be only a few pieces at a time to throw into the fire. I think I can handle that.
--Tim
The former tenants of the house had left enough wood to last three to four weeks, so I knew we needed more but was clueless on how to get it. I called one of the Americans who have been here for quite a few years to get his suggestion, and he said, "I'll come over tomorrow and we'll set you up." It sounded like a drug deal or something! In the end, it kind of felt like one too. We drove over to a big parking lot by the bussijaam (bus station) where there were around eight trucks of various sizes parked, and each was loaded with wood. Milling about chatting together were the drivers, and when we pulled up they gave us their full attention. My friend Linden, who seems to know everyone in Estonia, spotted a guy he knew, and spoke to him about his load of wood. I could see for myself that this wood looked pretty fresh, like it had been cut recently, and wouldn't be good for burning for several months, at least. We then strolled from truck to truck like farmers examining new livestock and asking each guy, "Kui palju" (how much?). One load of wood looked really good to me: dry, neatly cut and split, the right size for our furnace. But Linden told me it was aspen, which looks nice to burn, but has no real heating value. It's good to know people who know that kind of stuff!
None of the wood was that great, mostly because people here buy their winter wood in the spring or summer so they can stack it and let it dry out well before winter comes. I was approaching them late in the game. But Linden spoke to one of the guys (who had the greenest wood there!) and found out that he had a load of dried ash at home that he was holding back for later in the season. He convinced our new friend to sell it to me now, even got me a good price on it, and arranged for the delivery a few days later. Not bad!
The wood arrived when I was in Finland, so when I got home, I had 10 cubic meters of wood dumped in my backyard waiting to be stacked in the wood shed. It took a few days to get around to it, but I decided that today, no matter what, I was going to get that wood done. In the late afternoon, Chris, Elizabeth and I headed out to tackle the wood pile. Chris and I hauled the big pieces into the shed and stacked them while Elizabeth collected the smaller pieces for kindling and made a separate pile. We stacked and filled the whole right side of the shed as high as my head, then we did the same on the left side (except that part of the space was taken by the birch left by the previous occupants). We had to do a second row in front of the first on that side, but we still had more wood! It seemed like for as much as we stacked, the wood pile didn't go down. We started stacking from the back of the shed toward the front, and by the time we began our third row, we finally finished. It took four hours, but the yard is completely empty of wood and as I type, I can hear the rain outside that I was trying to beat (remember, I want dry wood), which is supposed to continue for the next two days.
So much of our work here is beginning things, learning things, building relationships and figuring things out that it seems like we rarely bring things to a tangible conclusion. I think that's why it felt so good to get that wood stacked: I could see the task, measure it up, and then bring it to completion. I needed that sense of satisfaction.
Of course, as the weather gets colder, I will have to haul that wood again, but this time it will be only a few pieces at a time to throw into the fire. I think I can handle that.
--Tim
