Firewood

Diane & Ken, neighbors of ours up here on the mountain made us an offer we couldn't refuse yesterday.  We were on our way down the mountain and we stopped to visit with them for a few minutes.  They were using their log splitter to add to their woodpile and offered us some already split oak firewood.  Of course we accepted and thanked them for the wood and we picked it up today. 

We hauled enough down to fill the wood rack inside and half of a larger rack on the porch.  I would estimate we have enough wood for at least 5 nights of burning in the fireplace.  It is a heatalator fireplace with two metal sections and a space between them where two input ducts bring in the cold air below and it comes out heated via a large grate above the fireplace opening.  It actually produces more heat than standard fireplaces and we love it.



It sounds like we picked up the firewood just in time since they are calling for a cold front to move through late Thursday and Friday with temps down in the low 30s at night and only in the 50s during the day.  I hope this is just a short cold snap since we don't want to be here for the first snowfall like we did a few years ago.

Gerry felt liking raking leaves today and cleared all the leaves from around the cabin.  There are more leaves to fall and with some expected high winds the next few days, I am sure it will look like she didn't rake the leaves.  I was hoping for a dry day on Tuesday so we could burn leaves and some branches that are laying around the place.  

The cabins in the area were built around the mid 60s and were two basic styles.  A-Frame and regular cabins.  The three cabins behind us were all a-frame and two of the original cabins are still much like they were when built.   The a-frame cabins look very neat, however they don't have a lot of useable space in them.  Fine for weekend use, but long term use would be very confining.

The migration of our friends to Tucson began last week with Linda & Sherwin leaving Maine for Chicago to visit relatives & then on to Tucson.  Tomorrow, cousin Sharon & Al will leave in their 5th wheel for Tucson if all goes well.  Then later in the week Dee & Ron will be driving out to Tucson in their van.  They left their 5th wheel there over the summer and it looks like that was a good move for them with fuel prices beginning to rise once again.  Judy & Steve will be leaving once the deer season ends in MN around mid November.

Our good friends Gloria & Doug have already left Missouri for Florida and should be there soon.  They prefer the east coast of Florida to the dryness of the desert.  Maybe next year we will be joining them in Florida and bypassing the long drive to Arizona.  John and Pat have already flown the coop also as they are heading for their Florida home.

Finally, we should be on the road o/a November 4 and arriving in Tucson after December 1st.  All plans are written in jello and can change at any moment. 

We went to Wal-Mart this evening and saw 9 RVs parked there for the night.  Three were from Ontario, Canada; 1 from Washington; 1 from Florida and couldn't see the tags for the other units.  A couple had their slide out, antenna's up, jacks down and settled in for the evening.

11 more days to departure.