Well, there haven't been many changes in my neighborhood in the last 25 years or so until recently, about 16 months ago when my neighbors of 33 years that lived two houses up the road abruptly sold out and moved to Seattle. An elderly couple, she was disabled and he couldn't take care of her anymore and their daughter insisted they move in with them. The house sold in two days.

The new owners immediately started cutting down many of the huge red oaks that surrounded the house in order to let in some sunlight. I can't fault them. I took down a lot of trees around my house back in '75 just to open things up. They even hired a bucket truck and a 120' crane. That house and my closest neighbor's house practically lived in a dungeon amidst these towering oaks.

Last May my closest neighbor died and her grown children spent the next several months cleaning out that big rambling home and it sold a few weeks ago. The first thing the new owner did was to remove four massive red oaks, three of them within five feet of the house. The fourth one, biggest of all, sat on the property line between them and us. I would guess it's age at 250 years and it's broad trunk was obviously rotting and leaning ominously toward his house. He wanted to take it down and as it was over 200 feet from my house and a line tree I told him to go for it. He hired the same contractor as my other neighbor and brought in the same crane and bucket truck.

Now they both have these huge piles of wood in their yards.

So here I am, the guy who HAD the biggest woodpile in this neck of the woods suddenly being challenged by two new neighbors (who obviously don't know anything about working up firewood).

I have a mere ten cords of wood split and stacked outside and maybe two cords in my cellar. These new neighbors have thrown down the gauntlet on the "BIGGEST WOODPILE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD". I figured I'd let them have their glory until late fall when I would have another eight cord load of wood dropped off.

Well, I have trumped them! Last week the guy I buy my wood from had a job in town and asked if I wanted a load now rather than wait 'till fall and dropped the price a bit so he didn't have to haul it the 35 miles to his yard. Yesterday he dropped off a load bringing my total to about 20 cords of wood in my yard.

Take that muthafuckas!

I can't wait 'till they come over and ask to borrow my homemade hydraulic wood splitter. I am such a tool.

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