Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

A couple of days ago, a contractor came to the vacant lot to the west of Fernley House, where, as you may recall, workers had cut down most of the trees on the fence line. Rather than try to separate out burnable wood from the mess of brush the tree-cutters had left, he scooped most of it into the trailer and hauled it all away, probably to take to the dump. That seemed a waste. Had we know that's what was planned, Lisa and I might have gotten out there with her electric chainsaw and pulled out the stuff that might make usable firewood.



Here's how the fence looks without the trees and brush. They weren't very good trees, but I will miss them. I bet the house runs hotter this summer without them.



There are still piles of brush that didn't make the cut this time. Maybe they'll come back and get them later.



Not wanting to waste good firewood, Lisa and I went over and pulled out the pieces that looked like we could use for firewood. There was more than I thought there would be, and I ended up having to get the wheelbarrow to haul it away.



It's still not a lot, but after we cut it down to size (the pieces you see here are too long to fit into the fireplace) and let it dry for the summer, it make make for a few days' worth of burnable wood, and that's wood that we don't have to buy.

We still aren't sure why the lot was cleared. Possibly they have found a buyer who wants to develop it, but it's also possible that this was a clearance to reduce fire danger. I hope for the latter, because I don't deny that I'd like the lots to remain undeveloped. I just don't have the money to buy either of them because the prices they want are absurd: the last time I checked, they wanted more than twice what I paid for the house (including the lot on which it sits) for an undeveloped lot.