~o~
Thursday 22nd 43F/6C. Misty, breezy and overcast. Some rain is forecast for this morning. A severe storm is promised for tonight. Not a favourable wind direction either! Peaking at 27m/s gusts from the west at 4am on Friday. The wind starts southerly, then SW before turning temporarily westwards at its peak. I might be lucky and be protected by the trees when the wind is at its worst.
Up at 6.15 after waking twice in the night. The room has dropped from 68F at bedtime to 63F this morning. From 20-17C.
I need to shop or there will be no lunch and only toast for dinner. The log situation is getting grim. I haven't heard from the garage workshop yet. I can't tow the big trailer full of logs with the Morris. Nor use the old car's hatchback's huge boot area for half as many logs. The Morris doesn't lend itself to carrying logs. The boot is tiny and divided by a shelf.
The Morris is registered to tow 350kg. The 1150S trailer weighs 100kg. Leaving only 250kg load allowance. It's volume, with 50cm high, mesh sides is almost exactly 1m^3. I have searched online and failed to get an exact answer for 1m^3 of loosely jumbled, stove ready, beech logs. One forum suggested 250kg/m^3.
There are conversion factors going from solid wood, to neatly stacked, to loose fill. More air is taking up space with each case. Moisture content adds greatly to the total weight. It is assumed to be below 20% for burnable firewood. I'd have to discuss trailer volume with the timber yard. They use a huge bucket loader and rely on experience to measure volume in loose jumbled logs.
I have no easy way of weighing such volumes. Nor am I sure the mesh sides can tolerate having a bucket load of logs dumped on them. They are willing to dump logs onto the ground. Though it is hard and slow work loading a trailer that way. I did that with half a cubic meter when filling the car boot. Though the boot's lower boot lip was probably higher than the trailer's.
9.00 I returned from a short walk in wind driven drizzle. I wore my winter jacket and kept my hood up. As I plodded around the drive loop. Puddles everywhere and minor flooding. There seems to be renewed activity in two of the long-empty houses. Electricians and plumbers working at others. The builders are busy at another neighbour. Are they teasing?
10.00 Stove lit. Waiting for it to settle down before I go shopping in the Morris.
I stopped to check on the old car at the workshop. It was ready. They had fitted new spark plugs and ignitions cables. I drove home and then headed straight back. It took me 40 minutes to walk there. I was stripped down to my T-shirt because I was so warm as I walked briskly. There was mist and fine drizzle but I didn't care.
The extensions to the district heating system are enormously disruptive. The detours go for miles. [or rather kilometres] Because there are no alternative routes across the agricultural landscape. Only narrow lanes connect outlying villages. While all the main roads are blocked by their lengthy excavations. Fortunately I was able to squeeze through on foot. Then plod on along the mud caked roads.
13.00 The trailer and old car are finally hitched together. I will fetch more logs as soon as I have finished lunch. The long term forecast is a return to winter conditions for March. Which means I must have a good stock of logs. It may not be possible to collect more if the roads are icy or snow covered. Pushing the big trailer around on the sloping parking area is becoming very hard work. I am just not as fit as I was once as the years accumulate. It is odd to think I am much nearer 80 than 70!
14.30 Returned with a trailer load of logs. I had a chat with the bucket loader, machine driver but came to no firm conclusions about a smaller trailer. Much depends how big a bucket he has on the machine. He told me that a cubic metre of dry beech weighs about 250kg. Which would place it just inside the ball park for the smaller trailer.
15.00 I have brought about a quarter of the logs into the greenhouse. It is raining lightly, I am tired and my back is aching. So I am having a rest. Tonight's storm gusts have been upgraded to 31m/s or 70mph! Still tending to westerly at its peak. Which will provide some shelter from the trees. If they stay up! Their roots have been sitting in water for months.
16.45 Had a nap then back to work. The trailer is now empty and parked out of the way. The wheelbarrow still contains the odd shaped lumps. They burn well enough but are difficult to stack. There is the strong smell of damp in the greenhouse again. Hopefully a bit of sunshine will hep to dry the new load out. They measure between 19% and 22%. The last dregs of the previous lot average just under 20%. This is after a month in the greenhouse with some sunshine.
The storm force gusts are now forecast to be southerly to south westerly. Where I have least protection. From about 1am to 9am it will be gusting over 20m/s. Peaking at 30m/s at 4am.
Dinner was salad. I forgot to take a picture.
~o~
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