Actually only the rubber is bad

The wood and chicken are yummy.

I got to bed on time last night so I got up early and it was not raining so I got to split and stack wood. First I stacked everything that was already split then I got to splitting. It was easy going and I few through the wood. All this split stuff on the ground I did this morning.

When it was almost time to get ready for work I went back to stacking to make some room for me to split more later. When I headed in for the morning I was left with a pretty nice pile. Now a lot of this is from last weekend and before.

I'm mixing up some of my wood prep techniques after the internet gave me ideas. In the past I stacked wood at the end of my splitting area and just built a new row right beside the last row.

This made all my wood in the shade (bad), on the moist ground (bad), against some bushes that block the wind (bad) and usually 3 layers thick (bad). Fresh cut wood is about 80% moisture when it is cut and it needs to get down to about 20% or less before it burns efficiently. It will pull moisture from the ground and rot when it can and it really needs the sun and wind to help get the moisture out of it. Ideally you want your wood off the ground on a hill in the sun and wind but covered from the rain.

I have a limited amount of space and resources so I won't have the idea setup but I can change a few things to help my wood dry out better. First I moved my first cord of wood to along my fence. The fence will let me pile higher and not worry about it tipping over but still let wind get to it. I also made 2 rows of brick to lay the wood on.

Then I just started stacking. Since I want to pack as much wood into as little space as I can I tried a new technique on the ends of my rows.

I used some rope to tie a bundle of wood together then I let out a couple feet of rope and tied a single log to the other end of the rope. I stuck my bundle on the end of the pile and I put my single log (the anchor) towards the middle. Then I piled wood on top of everything and the bundle on the end kept wood from spilling out the end and the anchor kept the bundle from rolling off. I stacked 3 bundles on the end and so far it has stayed put. This is the first time I have tried this and I'm not super confident about it but it is likely to be better then my old technique.

This stack wastes space on the ends and the wood still in rounds is not drying out and the wind from the side tries to tip the canoe.

Enough about this morning and on to last night. Stephen and I carpooled and I was driving home and we were talking about the problem where my truck shakes when driving at high or low speeds. It's been getting worse for a while and I am not sure how to fix it so was planning to take it in to a pro next month. Well you saw from the top picture that this plan may not work out for me. Stephen and I were driving along and whoosh out of nowhere all the air left one of my rear tires and it was done. We pulled over and found a large tear and a ruined tire.

The shake in my truck has been wearing my tires really weird and spots are bald and spots are fine. I'd never changed my tires on this truck but we found the jack and tools and figured out how to get the spare down and had in changed in a jiffy. Not Nascar fast but pretty quick for being unfamiliar with the setup. We discovered the other back tire was also in bad shape and you can start to see the metal through the rubber.

So probably sooner then later I'll be taking my truck in for new tires and hopefully at the same time an alignment or balance or something to get my moving smooth and strait again.

Once home I ditched the truck and stuck the car seat in the van and headed out to get Izzy. Then we started cooking dinner and playing till Heath and Grant got home. Heath fed Izzy then we ate dinner.

We had a whole chicken from the crock pot again. It cost $0.79 a lbs and takes very little work. I think all work day is a little more cooking then it needs but it makes it so easy to get the bones out. I took some of the juices in the crock pot and made a little gravy and also made mashed potatoes, fried cabbage and some cheesy brock, cauli and carrot mix.

After dinner we all headed to Price Chopper for a few items. Heath was exhausted from not sleeping the night before and Grant was wound up so we got a Red Box movie and made a plan for everyone to lay down in our bed and watch the movie then go to bed. We picked out Where the Wild Things Are.

Once home Grant took a shower and Heath and I hooked up a DVD player in our bedroom. We had 2 on the shelf in the basement and eventually got one of them and a universal remote control working. The kids and Heath all snuggled in and watched  1/2 of the movie. Then Grant picked out his clothes for today and went to bed. Heath stayed in bed but worked on the laptop till I was ready for bed and Izzy slept and ate through the whole thing.

Meanwhile I was doing boring stuff. I got the dishwasher loaded ran and unloaded. Izzy's bottles cleaned out and loaded up for today, I got some salmon thawed for sushi tonight and the counters cleaned and floor swept. I picked up all the stuff in the family and living room and then headed to the garage and shop. I poked around at a couple of random projects and nearly put the step thing back on my truck but I could not quite get it into place. I think a few well placed taps from the sledge hammer would have done it but it was getting late and I didn't want to bother anyone. So I got all my stuff ready for today so I could have time to split in the morning. Then I had a bowl of strawberry shredded wheat and headed to bed.