[fabsroman]

Even though I'm a CPA and an attorney, I'm not brain dead when it comes to wood, fires, cutting wood, and manual labor in general. I grew up the son of a construction worker/handy man that is an Italian immigrant. I was out using a chain saw as soon as I could hold one and not cut off my leg with it. Before that, I got to haul wood around and hold up logs while my dad cut it. In the first house I can remember living in, my brothers and I had the privilege of carrying wood from the driveway, all the way up the 15 plus steps of the driveway to the backyard, and then up another 20 steps in the backyard to the top of the hill by the shed. We had plenty of wood. I still go with my dad on occasion and cut wood; however, we go less often now and things are a lot quicker because I take my F-350 and a 10 foot trailer and my dad takes his F-150, log splitter, and chainsaws. Back in the day when we didn't have any money, we were splitting wood with an axe, a sledge hammer, and metal wedges. Life is much better with the splitter and it is worth the $1,000+ my dad paid for it. Now, in one trip we can get enough wood for him to get through the winter, and then some. By the way, when we were younger and my dad was cutting trees for money, we were cutting them in 100+ degree heat or 30 degree cold. My dad had a knack for picking the hottest or coldest days for doing the wrong work. On one job, we were cutting bricks with a wet saw and mixing cement when it was just barely above freezing. That was wonderful. My brothers and I often kid my dad about our payment back then (i.e., a sandwich, a coke, and a snickers bar, and on special occasions we got the 7-11 2 hot dog special with our choice of fixins).

If it wasn't such a pain for me to move out of the area (i.e., two licenses to practice law, my CPA license, my client base, and most importantly my family), I would be out west in a heart beat. I wanted to go to school out in Colorado, but my parents just couldn't afford it, and they might have also been worried that I would have been riding my bike too much instead of studying.

Anyway, I am stuck here for a while, but I mentioned to my wife that maybe we could buy a farm in South Carolina, Georgia, or Florida so that we can vacation somewhat closer to her parents. Of course, this was just after seeing 100's and 100's of ducks on the way to her parents' place from the Tampa airport. It will be much easier to sell the farm idea on the east coast to my wife versus something out west where neither of our families are located. Wish me luck.

By the way, I thought that if a wood stove was burning hot enough, it would even burn green wood in moderation. Am I right or wrong?