Free is a good thing

Yesterday I had plans to do a few errands but remembered that i'm broke and decided to stay home.  But then I  heard some news through the family which prompted me to go get some more wood from my grandmothers house.  Those not familiar with my  story here is a quick run down. My grandmother passed away last month and the family has been going through her property, house and stuff to get what they want. My grandmothers house is a 135 year old farmhouse which has no heat and old electricity. Years ago she had help fixing things around her home and they decided that her fireplace was not safe and they pulled it out. Leaving her only the wood stove which was her only source of heat.  Ever since then she has been getting wood delivered so she could heat her home. Well since I am the only one with a fireplace who needs the wood, I have been taking trips out there to get the wood. So yesterday I decided to go out and get some more.
I picked up a few more fun things while I was there.

A galvanized bucket-Found it in her cellar half buried in the dirt floor. I'm thinking she put her potatoes or root vegetables in there to keep good for a long time. This is the second one I have found. Not sure just yet what i'm going to do with them but I couldn't pass them up.

Old round bird cage with no bottom-I think she used this to put over some plants in her garden. I found it in a fenced in garden area by her front door. This area was kid free and we were NEVER allowed to go in there. I snatched that thing so fast! I will use it to put over slug bait so my dog won't try to drink it. I have a big slug problem and it's the only way to get rid of them in my yard.

I had to make the executive choice of blogging or getting free firewood. We have to stay warm so the firewood it was! You may be wondering why we use the fireplace for heat when we have central heating. Well to be honest its cheaper. Winter of 2009 we bought a few truck loads of wood and would have a fire here and there but also used our heat a lot.  It did lower our heating bill a bit.  In 2010 we bought a fan grate for our fireplace because the heat from the fireplace was only staying in our living room. So we put up a curtain in our kitchen doorway and hallway. This kept the heat in our living area which is where we all spent most the time anyways. Why heat our bedrooms when we only sleep there? At night its a different story. We let the fire go out, open up the curtains and turn our thermostat back on to 53 degrees. We have 4 daughters and do not want them to freeze at night. But each morning its turned back off and the curtains shut again.

A couple of months ago we again tried to buy some wood and have it delivered but for some reason the guy never came. One day a friend of my husband needed help with his truck. They truck up a deal for free truck help for free firewood. It wasn't pretty wood but hey it was free. We were lucky enough to do this two times. My husband is very proud when he fills our wood shed. He gets a big grin on his face and says "I did that". Its pretty cute. But we were not able to fill it completely which bugged him.

Now each time I go to my grandmothers house I try to fill my truck with wood. Slowly but surely were getting enough wood to last us these winter months. And my husband gets a huge smile on his face each time we bring more wood home. My children help load the truck and unload the truck. Our dog gets the smaller pieces of bark and proudly runs around waving her tail as if she is helping too. Once in a while she drags around a rather large piece of wood and chews on it. Then when were all done daddy says "You girls did that". I catch him staring at it often. Its funny.

He stares out our kitchen window at the woodshed he built last summer. Filled with wood he worked for, and fencing we salvaged from the fence we had to rebuild last summer. Great kindling because its FREE!

Wood from grandma's house is stacked alone our garage under the roof line so it won't get wet.

And now in the garage so we can just go get some more wood and not have to go outside. He is very proud of our hard work. Cracks me up really. I get my freezer full and feel this same way.

There ya go. Free is a really good thing!