Rare Mileage
Mar. 9th, 2013 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeLisa and I hitched the utility trailer to my minivan and we drove over to Big R in Fallon on Saturday afternoon to buy another half-cord of firewood. Lisa said she might be able to make what we have left stretch through the rest of the winter, but we figured it might be best to get wood in now and not have to fret about it. Besides, anything left over we will burn next winter.
This might be the last time we have to drive over to Fallon for firewood because by next winter there should be a Big R in Fernley. They plan to open in the former Ace Hardware within walking distance of our house &emdash; not that we'd walk to get firewood, of course. OTOH, next year, I might be in a position to be able to afford a more cost-effective order of two cords of pine from Flame-Os like we did the first winter we were here. On the gripping hand, the Douglas Fir "fenceposts" (they appear to be cut down stubs of fencing) make starting fires very easy and they stack wonderfully.
While we were pulling out of the Big R back lot, we stopped to pick up the free pallets they had stacked there. We're putting the pallets on the "dog run" concrete area around the back of the house and that's where we store firewood above and beyond the 3/4 cord that will fit in the wood box. That way the wood is not plied directly on the ground and has air flowing under it, which we've always been told is good. As we were loading the pallets, we had an unexpected train sighting.
The Fallon Branch runs from Hazen, about ten miles west of Fernley, out to Fallon. It's all low-speed (probably 10 MPH) run-down track, but there are still some customers on it. A UP local comes out here occasionally (I don't know their schedule) to switch local customers. They were heading west back toward Fernley and Sparks at just over a walking pace. We never did see them pass our house when we got back to Fernley, and I suspect that their crew went "dead on the law" (train crews aren't allowed to work more than twelve hours at a stretch) and had to tie down their train at Hazen and be shuttled back to Sparks by van.
Returning home, Lisa guided me to none-too-easily get the utility trailer back where it belongs. Having learned the hard way from the previous load, Lisa then immediately removed the plastic sheeting in which the firewood had been shrink-wrapped. We don't get much rain here in Fernley, but Lisa says the previous load of firewood got quite moist very quickly while covered in shrink-wrap, whereas out in the open it would dry out once the rain stopped, which around here is generally right away.
This evening I began breaking down my computer gear to take back to the Bay Area. Come May, I'll have to rethink what I leave at home in Fernley and what I haul back to the Bay with me.
This might be the last time we have to drive over to Fallon for firewood because by next winter there should be a Big R in Fernley. They plan to open in the former Ace Hardware within walking distance of our house &emdash; not that we'd walk to get firewood, of course. OTOH, next year, I might be in a position to be able to afford a more cost-effective order of two cords of pine from Flame-Os like we did the first winter we were here. On the gripping hand, the Douglas Fir "fenceposts" (they appear to be cut down stubs of fencing) make starting fires very easy and they stack wonderfully.
While we were pulling out of the Big R back lot, we stopped to pick up the free pallets they had stacked there. We're putting the pallets on the "dog run" concrete area around the back of the house and that's where we store firewood above and beyond the 3/4 cord that will fit in the wood box. That way the wood is not plied directly on the ground and has air flowing under it, which we've always been told is good. As we were loading the pallets, we had an unexpected train sighting.
The Fallon Branch runs from Hazen, about ten miles west of Fernley, out to Fallon. It's all low-speed (probably 10 MPH) run-down track, but there are still some customers on it. A UP local comes out here occasionally (I don't know their schedule) to switch local customers. They were heading west back toward Fernley and Sparks at just over a walking pace. We never did see them pass our house when we got back to Fernley, and I suspect that their crew went "dead on the law" (train crews aren't allowed to work more than twelve hours at a stretch) and had to tie down their train at Hazen and be shuttled back to Sparks by van.
Returning home, Lisa guided me to none-too-easily get the utility trailer back where it belongs. Having learned the hard way from the previous load, Lisa then immediately removed the plastic sheeting in which the firewood had been shrink-wrapped. We don't get much rain here in Fernley, but Lisa says the previous load of firewood got quite moist very quickly while covered in shrink-wrap, whereas out in the open it would dry out once the rain stopped, which around here is generally right away.
This evening I began breaking down my computer gear to take back to the Bay Area. Come May, I'll have to rethink what I leave at home in Fernley and what I haul back to the Bay with me.
