Our Morning Coffee and Weather

[Sir Henry]

I was too young to attend the Seattle Fair but I do remember the amusement area below the Space Needle when visiting in the 70’s.

50 this morning due to the overnight overcast. This should also be our high for the day as a cold front is here. Lots of rain in the forecast but so far nothing is falling. The big race in Spokane is set to start in about a half hour so hopefully the start at least will be dry.

Heading to the wood shed here shortly to get started on winter. Man, thinking about winter in early May. Crazy. This is the wood I have ready to split so far. I do have three medium trees the died or are in the process of dying probably 14” in diameter and two small 6” that broke off/uprooted this winter. We have a pine beetle problem around here which kills a few trees each year. Those will be cut down in the next week or so. It’s important to do this before June as that’s when the beetles fly looking for more trees to kill and fresh cut trees do attract them.


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I got married in Spokane in 1974 and we lived a short distance to the fair. We went to it once but for the most part avoided the downtown area that summer. The fair celebrated the environment and it brought smog to the area. All that summer the sky was a gray haze that stunk.

But the area did get a nice park the years and decades after the fair. It was especially nice when you knew what the area looked like before the fair.

Plus the nightly fireworks for six months. Thankfully we didn’t have the wildfires then like we do today. As a high school kid I got lots of enjoyment out of the fair but mostly the amusement rides. My siblings and I all received unlimited passes for entrance for Christmas so it was easy to spend lots of time there. (And cheap)

I could see the nightly fireworks from where we lived which was a block from the courthouse.

[JEBar]

another beautiful but hot, busy morning .... First up, meeting the AC service company at her home for then to perform its spring check .... Second, handling a daytime running light replacement on our '05 Chevy Trailblazer .... Third, two of our oldest son's children will be with Maureen for a morning cookie bake'n .... Fourth, working in a mile walk at a local city park .... currently 84 on its way to 88 with a 40% chance of PM thunderstorms .... from looking at the weather radar, a large rain/thunderstorm currently to our southwest just might bring some of that 40% to us ....

[dave77]

I suspect that I won’t be able to burn free wood much longer as both my place and my neighbors place are pretty healthy.

Can't you cut free firewood on state/federal forests? My neighbor heated his house with firewood and said if he had to pay the going rate for cut firewood it would be cheaper to use his electric furnace.

[220]

I suspect that I won’t be able to burn free wood much longer as both my place and my neighbors place are pretty healthy.

Can't you cut free firewood on state/federal forests? My neighbor heated his house with firewood and said if he had to pay the going rate for cut firewood it would be cheaper to use his electric furnace.

It is the same here in Aus, very little cost difference between wood, electricity and gas if you are buying it.
I heat our place on free gas using the same rational as those that think they do the same by cutting their own wood.
I sell a bit of firewood and use the cash to buy gas, 6 or 7 loads sold covers our yearly heating costs about the same as we used when burning wood.

I dont have a big supply of quality firewood after the fires we had at the start of 2020, burnt everything that was dead regardless of if it was down or standing. Have thousands of big trees the fire killed but moisture content is still to high on anything bigger than about 8" unless it is cut and split for 12 months. Also have thousands dead under 8" stumbled on a nice little money earner the other week, I need to start removing them pushing them up with the tractor and burning them. With the proliferation of fire pits/buckets/drums in yards and the price of quality firewood I cut a load of 2-8" rounds 20" long and advertised it on a local buy/swap/sell site. Sold 5 loads the first week and more to deliver today and the weekend. Takes me just over 1hr to cut and load, only delivering locally so no more than a 15min detour to deliver. Probably save 30min labor in not having to cut push and push it with the tractor and getting $100 cash per load.

[Redthies]

I actually bought a cord of fir this fall. $100 for that, dried split and delivered. They old guy even helped me stack it! He’s in his 70s and cuts wood to stay in shape. Other than paying him to work out, I have a bunch of big fir, pine and apple trees cut up and ready to split. The Apple will make it to the smoker.

[cooperhawk]

Overcast, 52°F, Humidity 72%
Wind Speed NE 10 mph
Barometer 29.86 in
Dewpoint 43°F
Visibility 10.00 mi
Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 66.
Northeast wind around 10 mph.
The Emerald Ash Borer has devastated my Ash trees. I have two very large ones that
threatened my bridge taken down with a boom truck, but I have many more that are
dying. They make excellent firewood but I can't even give it away any more.

[Hatchdog]

I suspect that I won’t be able to burn free wood much longer as both my place and my neighbors place are pretty healthy.

Can't you cut free firewood on state/federal forests? My neighbor heated his house with firewood and said if he had to pay the going rate for cut firewood it would be cheaper to use his electric furnace.

Yes that’s an option for sure. But wood cutting is pretty popular around here and any dead trees within a reasonable distance from the road are long gone. I figure that if I have to buy wood I’ll attempt to buy un-split rounds for hopefully less and split it myself. Or better yet, log length not cut up. I can cut some on my property up north but I have a deal with the guy who lives across the road where he gets unlimited access to cut dead trees in return for keeping an eye on the place.

33 here today but the warm-up is happening. 70 today and 80 by the weekend. Cooling down next week back into the mid 70’s and that’s going to be down right pleasant. Taking the pup to doggie daycare for the first time today so we’ll see how that goes. Adult dog is going too so he will have a familial butt to sniff.

I cut down, limbed and cut up the five trees yesterday and today I’ll haul the rounds up the the wood shed and start splitting.

[dave77]

I actually bought a cord of fir this fall. $100 for that, dried split and delivered. They old guy even helped me stack it! He’s in his 70s and cuts wood to stay in shape. Other than paying him to work out, I have a bunch of big fir, pine and apple trees cut up and ready to split. The Apple will make it to the smoker.

Apple and other fruit tree wood goes for $300 or more a cord and we are right in the middle of a very large tree fruit growing region.

[dave77]

33 here today but the warm-up is happening. 70 today and 80 by the weekend. Cooling down next week back into the mid 70’s and that’s going to be down right pleasant. Taking the pup to doggie daycare for the first time today so we’ll see how that goes. Adult dog is going too so he will have a familial butt to sniff.

About the same here, a little warmer. Yesterday afternoon was very nice but it got cold quickly when the sun went down, got down to 42 last night but it's already up to 81 today.

[JEBar]

80 right now (4:30PM) and they say it will go up another degree within the next couple of hours .... 96% chance of rain but just checked the weather radar and there isn't a cloud showing this side of the South Carolina state line ... this morning started out busy and its been that way ever since ... first up -- take our '06 Trailblazer to a local shop to have both front daytime driving lights replaced along with a rear brake light .... I'm pretty sure some of its almost 20 year old wiring is fried .... second thing was to take our Sportchassis to a mechanic for its annual pre South Dakota trip checkup .... third, I had to drive for a physical therapy appointment ... its simply been one of those days