Seems that this winter is shaping up to be even worse than last year (God help us!)  So I’m revisiting that post.

Thieves Raiding Residents' Woodpiles For Firewood...

In some areas  a crime not seen since the Depression.

In the linked story, someone took a families entire winter fuel supply, several cords of split, seasoned hardwood.  They have no backup, no oil furnace, no gas and yes, they have children.

In the Depression some farmers found a solution to the thefts. All farms had a supply of dynamite; for stumps, or the ubiquitous stones in the fields.  Drilling out a small hole and sticking half or quarter stick of dynamite inside a piece of firewood and leaving it on top of the pile, soon lead to the identification of the location of the thief.  Harsh, but locally highly approved of.

The gravity of this type of offense is that it breaks down the trust in a community; to steal a families source of winter fuel, to steal the tools of a man’s livelihood, destroy crops in the field, befoul a common resource as in a well, or to set a fire in the night.  Today, some of these things aren’t even felonies.

I’ve had experience with losing more than I could afford to lose.  When I was starting out in telecom, installing “Key” phone systems in the seventies, I worked hard all day and into the evening to finish the work by the promised time.  The job was on the Cape and the drive home long. It was dark and late when I finally parked in front of my apartment. To tired to unload and carry my tools up the three floors, I dragged myself up to get a few hours sleep before getting up and going to the office.  In the morning when I went down, the car was gone.  It turned up the next day, towed by the police to the municipal lot.  Side window broken out and empty.  For the next couple of months I was back doing grunt work, pulling cable, labeling phones. No overtime, no travel pay. Until I could put together another tool kit and paid back the company for the lost test-set and meter.  I also lost out on an promotion and advance to a higher pay scale.  That whole incident put me back a year.   I hate thieves.  If they knew what affect they had on their victims, they wouldn’t care.

Well, back to woodpiles.

Let me share some whimsical photos of woodpiles…

Answers the question of what do you do with the old woodpile after you convert to natural gas.

Concerning the likelihood of a very bad winter, the following story has food for thought.

Seems that a tribe of Indians living in the Northwest was concerned about the upcoming winter.

So one of the Indians called the National Weather Service said, “We’re worried that it might be a bad winter. What’s your forecast?”

The weather service meteorologist responded, “We predict a very cold winter.”

The Indian reported this to his tribe, which immediately started stockpiling firewood.

A couple weeks later, the Indian again called the weather service and asked, “Are you changing the forecast for this winter?”

The meteorologist answered, “We think it’s going to be a very harsh, cold winter.”

Again, the Indian reported this to his tribe, which, with even greater urgency, stocked even more firewood.

Even so, a few weeks later, no cold and no snow.

The Indian, wondering where all the snow was, yet again called the weather service and asked, “You keep saying it’s going to be a bad winter. What makes you think it’s going to be so cold?”

The forecaster replied, “I don’t know. But the Indians have been stockpiling firewood like crazy.”