It's amazing how quickly I can spend $3500. We decided to have Chelsea creamated, so I picked her up and took care of that expense, dropped $100 at Wal-mart for a trail camera and accessories and ordered our Yodel. I mean Jotul.
Jotul comes from a Norwegian heritage, which Ghon will not deny is the main reason we looked at the brand. They've been around for over 150 years and have a spectacular reputation. When we started the fireplace and hearth repair, we measured the opening to fit a Jotul. By chance, I happened to find out that one of our friends, a Mom at our daycare, worked at Aqualogix/Unique Heat, a pool and stove shop that is a Jotul distributor. Ghon and I stopped by a couple weeks ago to check out the options. Always out for the bargain, I was able to negotiate a discount for a cash purchase. :)
While the company is based on Norway, there is a manufacturing facility in Maine. The unit we chose is the Rockland,named for the town in Maine. We are getting a plain black surround that is trimmable, just to close off any gap between the stone and insert. We were originally going to get a fancier trim, but the stone is just too pretty to cover!
Once finished spending money like it was free, I headed to the farm to work on the yard, preparing for winter. There are a few things around the yard to pick up before the first snow, and I wanted to trim back the lilac and forsythia bushes. I'd planned to do that on Sunday, but the kids and I had a lazy/work at home day. However, Ghon had other plans for my day.
Cutting down trees and hauling them down the hill to prepare for splitting and stacking. Oh joy.
We used the farm truck to head up the hill. This was the first time I recall riding in it, and I was not thrilled. It is a mess. It is a work truck, yes, but goodness it is a mess. It smells. It has trash in it. The seats have mouse poop on them. Disgusting, but it was sort of inherited with the farm and it runs. Barely. I think there is only one gear that creates forward motion. But, it does what we need it to do, which is drive up hill and haul stuff. Ghon used it to haul all the stone down that was used on the fireplace and hearth.
Before we went up to get to work, I had to take a picture of the plant life growing in the truck bed.
 |
| Dodge truck bed - let's add that planter to Pinterest! |
I forgot to grab a pic, but the weather has been so crazy here, with fall then winter temps, that our forsythia bushes have actually started blooming again!
Last month, Ghon and I started a wood cutting day, and I used the chainsaw for the first time. We headed back to the same spot, but Ghon manned the chainsaw, and I loaded the truck with what we cut previously.
 |
| My lumberjack at work, |
If anyone needs a workout, please feel free to visit. It was hard work. Back and forth, back and forth. There were some huge logs to load into the truck. For the first load, I think there was only one that I needed help with.
I couldn't help but take notice of this one log. On one side, there were two rings and the other, only one. Wicked cool how trees grow!
 |
| Both sides of the same cut of log. |
After the first truck load was filled, then emptied at the bottom of the hill, it was back up to load the wood Ghon cut.
The tree Ghon cut was huge. Loading these suckers into the truck did require a bit more assistance. We rolled quite a few closer to the truck before hoisting them into the truck. One banged me pretty hard in the shin, so as a result, I let out a series of colorful expletives. A few may have slid out lifting them into the truck too.
 |
| Two different truck loads - and the pile we accumulated at the end of the day. |
The wood pile was near one of Ghon's tree stands, so I attempted to climb it to check out the view. However, the ladder was a bit shaky and I chickened out halfway up.
Later, Ghon showed me up and headed up.
Eventually, I made it. Up two different stands. Ghon thought it was funny, so he kept snapping pictures.
 |
| Two different tree stands - enjoying the view. |
While I was in the stands, I couldn't help but take a few pictures of the view.
It was pretty breezy on Monday, and at one point, I was able to watch the tree I was sitting in sway. Yeah, I turend around after that. Didn't need to see that for long.
Ghon has now proclaimed that he will have me hunting by the time I turn 45. His claim is that half the battle is climbing into the stand. That I already know how to shoot. The next step would be to hunt. I reminded him that I don't eat deer, so it would not be good for me to hunt - it's not appropriate for my mindset. He countered with the notion that anything I harvested, I could donate to hunters for the homeless or something like that. Yeah, not so sure about this. Not sure I could actually do the deed. I do like pink camo though.
In the end, we loaded the two truck loads of wood, then unloaded. Wednesday, Ghon has off work and will work on splitting and stacking the wood. With the insert ordered, we are hoping by December we can start working in the house, and heating by wood while we are there.
I never got to trim back the bushes. The yard still needs picking up. But hey, I climbed a tree stand and hauled wood. I'm getting there, but still not a country girl! Yodel-ay-ee-oooo!
No comments:
Post a Comment