Saturday, December 19, 2009

Free Heat on the Street Part IV: Occupied Homes and Next Year's Heat

...and the saga continues.

Just up the street from me is a small house with, well, it used to have 5 tall skinny pine trees in front and back of the house. The house is a rental, and is occupied, and the landlord decided to fell all 5 trees for a variety of reasons.

The trees were healthy, and not in a threatening position to the house or power lines.

Nevertheless, a crew was over there doing the Paul Bunyan thing with chainsaws, a stump grinder, and a chipper/shredder setup. I happened to be driving that way, and pulled over and asked if the wood rounds in the back of their truck had a specific destination, and one guy said, "Yeah--the dump." I asked if I could get them delivered to my house and dumped in the carport.

After felling 2 of the 5 trees, I got a carport full of large, heavy wood rounds too green to use for this year. For their efforts (they also helped us stack them to make room for the car), I bought them a 12-pack of Heineken--it came to just over $1.00/bottle with tax for the 6-man crew.

In return, they asked for my name and number for future tree fellings, because I not only rewarded them well, but I saved them a long and lonely drive to the dump (not to mention costly).

The beer would've cost less if it weren't cold, but I believe in immediate reward for tradesmen--something my dad taught me. He said beer always makes a man work best when he knows he's getting it in the end.

Okay, the wood wasn't free after all--it only cost me $13.29 though, and I'd gladly pay another $13.29 for another delivery once we get this one cut and stacked to make room in the carport.

So far, one simple question has yielded me rewards beyond my wildest dreams. I still have to work on that truck and chainsaw, though.

0 comments:

Post a Comment