How Old is That Wood Shed?

I was looking up homesteading blogs a few days ago and came across one that I found very interesting. I can’t seem to find it again, which is a shame because it had some really great content. If I remember correctly, it had a set of rules to live by if you decide to live in the country. The best one was “Don’t be lazy. Ever.”

For some odd reason, that one stuck in my head. While I’m not sure what the author’s definition of lazy is, I’m sure it’s something like, “Oh, I know I’ve got to get that done, but I’m not in the mood. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

The lazy thing is probably a rule that was created by way of experience. “Oh, I should really rake the snow off the roof today, but I’ll just wait until tomorrow.” And then the roof caves in from the weight of the snow. “Oh, I should really clean the cars off and shovel the driveway, but I’ll just wait until tomorrow.” And then there’s an emergency during an ice storm and there’s absolutely no way you’re going to get anything cleaned off.” I think you get the idea.

Anyway, I just thought that little tidbit was worth sharing and if I find the post, I’ll link to it.

It’s 3 degrees outside right now, which isn’t that bad. When it’s in the 20s, the house actually gets too hot. For some reason, the pellet stove doesn’t really differentiate temperature output no matter what setting it’s on. It does a good job heating, but come Spring, I think we may have to open a window or two. When the temps drop down below 0, it has trouble keeping up. Right now, it’s warming the house to 58 degrees. I can live with that.

It’s supposed to go down to -22 on Friday night though. I’ll be honest with you. I’m a bit concerned.

As I sat here about an hour ago, thinking of ways to not be lazy and considering how cold it’s going to be on Friday, I figured it might be a good idea to go split some wood. Why? I don’t really know. We don’t have a wood stove yet. But it’s better than sitting around not doing much of anything. At the very least, it would make me feel like I’m somehow helping the situation.

I got all suited up and went outside. First, I shoveled out behind the trailer. That was kind of buried from the last storm. We keep some emergency supplies in there and it’s not helpful to have access to those supplies blocked by snow.

Then, I went way into the back and cleared out in front of the shed doors. I knew I was going to be doing some wood splitting, so I would need to get into the shed to stack the firewood.

After that, I grabbed the axe and split one log. I wanted to start small, just to see if it was possible. It worked out well, so I stacked the firewood from that log onto my growing pile.

Realizing that I was probably looking as tough as all hell, I decided to pull out the bigger logs I cut from the Maple tree I took down a few days ago. There were probably only about six in all, so this splitting episode wouldn’t take too long. I thought that if anyone was watching, they would either think I was crazy or that they envied my prowess.

I did what I had to do and withing a few minutes, I was finished. I wasn’t ready to pull out the chainsaw, so I stopped with these logs. It gave me about half a pile and finished the second row. Not bad, I’d say. You can see the new firewood on the top of the closest pile. It’s slightly covered with snow.

After I was all finished, I started poking around the shed. My father and I had a conversation about it last night and I told him that the guy who lived here before us dragged it here from a farm up the road. As you can see, it’s got a wood floor. Now, I’m not sure if he dragged it on the road or dragged it onto a flatbed, but I’ll tell you, anything is possible. Either way, here it sits and I’m fairly certain that this wasn’t its birth place.

So how old is the shed? Interesting thing I discovered today while I was back there. Take a look at this.

It says, “Please Do Not Damage Our Camp.” But what’s more interesting is what is written right below that.

That says, “1969.” Crazy, huh? I knew this thing was pretty old, buy not that old. And as Laura pointed out, that most likely wasn’t written on the very first day the shed was created. It’s most likely older than that. I like things with a bit of history attached to them.

I think my father mentioned putting a heater in the shed to keep things toasty if I wanted to work on something back there. I told him that a heater wouldn’t help much, because there’s a big hole in the shed’s corner. It overlooks part of the pond.

Yep, there’s the hole. I could probably patch that up if I wanted to. I most likely will.

I found a great blog post yesterday that was written by a guy who loves to split wood. He loves it so much, he hunts wood out and splits it for free. If someone has had a tree taken down, he’ll ask if they would keep the wood and then he’ll stop by and split it. You should read the post. It may give you something to think about.

The Pleasures of Wood Splitting

And if you’ve ever had the itch to head outside when there’s a foot and a half of snow to split some wood, you may want to follow a few good tips. Check these out.

Axe Techniques: Firewood Splitting On Snow

You can also read Paul Kirtley’s full post here: How To Split Firewood on Snow: Key Axe Techniques