Even in the desert, flooding brings driftwood

I had intended to give firewood-gathering a rest during the hot months, but if this is going to be a wet monsoon I may as well take advantage of it.


The wash flooded its banks on Wednesday morning, then ran again during a heavy storm Friday evening. Yesterday afternoon Tobie and I ventured out to see what had changed after the second run: Not much, but there was some nice driftwood that will only go further downstream if this keeps up.


So this morning I decided to put the chain back on the Jeep and snatch some of it before it gets hot.


I have enough for a full woodshed already, since this wood won’t fill the space nearly as efficiently as cut-up pallets and old lumber does. But that only means my 6×8 woodshed probably isn’t big enough to supply all of any conceivable winter. So I expect to stack surplus at Landlady’s barn, some of which will be needed at her house anyway.


Tobie helped. He seems to have lost all his Jeep-related inhibitions in less than 2 months, and now gets positively butthurt when I leave him behind.

About Joel

You shouldn't ask these questions of a paranoid recluse, you know.
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5 Responses to Even in the desert, flooding brings driftwood

  1. Mike says:

    It looks like we’ve been doing something very similar these past couple of days. Several large ash trees come down in a storm this past Friday near the back of our property. I spent yesterday morning while still cool recovering the downed wood. I use a chainsaw to cut it into manageable lengths. And, today, I spent the morning splitting and putting the wood into my utility trailer while it was still cool. Tomorrow, the wood is going to my Bro-in-law’s place. I don’t have a wood stove, but he does.

    As my dad would say: “Always better to have and not need than need and not have.”

  2. Terrapod says:

    I fought the Jeep and the Jeep won. 😉

  3. Robert says:

    Tobie looks pretty happy. Next, he’ll be wanting to drive.

  4. Matt says:

    I’m sure you’ve thought of getting a small trailer for this task. but I’m guessing it might be easier to chain and drag some of these pieces than lift them into a Harbor Freight trailer…

  5. Joel says:

    I have a good utility trailer for the Jeep, and that works for gathering smaller pieces of wood. But the chain works best for the big ones.

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