14.01.2024 Stack 'em up!

 ~o~

 Sunday 14th 36F/2C. A dry morning followed by rain is promised. Up at 5.50. 63F/17C in the room.

 6.40 Stove lit. Another idea has arisen to bring the logs into the greenhouse from the trailer. I have inherited lots of strong plastic baskets. If I fill several of those each time  Then I can carry logs in batches. Without having to open and close the greenhouse doors so often. This will mean I am working on more than twice the capacity of the wheelbarrow each time. 

 The baskets will be much nearer the logs in the trailer and the greenhouse. So the operation should be more speedy. I will get more exercise this way but I have missed cycling and walking during the winter. The sheer volume of logs makes it a time consuming process. Which I would rather reduce to a minimum. 

 I can fall back on the wheelbarrow if it proves too much like hard work. Many labourers around the world have worked with baskets. Useful where the ground conditions do not suit wheels. My journey is short but repetitive. Logs don't slide well. So an incline wont work. Nor do I have a transport belt.

 Moving existing stacks is time consuming and best avoided. I still have a surprising reserve of logs. Thanks to the car full I brought home recently. So space now has to be found for the heaped trailer full. The alternative is to have a reserve left in the trailer. Which usually means I will find another use for the trailer within a short period. The main drive is potholed again. Which means fetching more gravel! 

 08.30 Heavy overcast. 68F/20C in the room. 42F/6C in the greenhouse. I have been shuffling the existing log stack in the greenhouse to the left. To raise it and make more room. It started raining as soon as I opened the greenhouse doors. To bring in the new load. 

 10.30 71F/22C. I am having a rest. The showers eventually gave up as the overcast moved on. The wheelbarrow proved it could carry several times the volume of half a dozen baskets. It also allowed relaxed filling and stacking. I have now raised the stack to windowsill level. About half the contents of the trailer has been moved into the greenhouse. This includes some rubbish and lots of slightly shorter logs. 

 The rest will have to be stacked at the far end under the kitchen window. Which I have just cleared to make room. This is where the wheelbarrow scores best. Heavy loads can be trundled effortlessly the length of the greenhouse.

 It was a day of showers and and brighter periods. Dinner was fish fingers and chips. It had snowed lightly when I looked outside at 22.30.

~o~