My lumber order was done.

Because my truck is still in the shop (awaiting a winch mount), I borrowed my daughter’s and we went up to pick up my order yesterday….

It’s beautiful…

I know the old guy in the lumber yard pretty well by now……….not by name……..he recognizes me by the trucks I drive, and he recognizes Patrice.

He told me yesterday that he’s been working at CrossRoads for twenty-six years…             He knows his lumber.

He was there twenty-five years ago when my Mom & Dad and Paolo & I went to buy fencing posts and material for this property when we first moved in……………

Here’s a suggestion when picking lumber.

 

 

Stand there like you know what you’re doing, even if you don’t.

Because if you don’t stand by the tailgate of your truck, sure as the day is long, you’re going to get a few split or warped or knotty pieces slipped in with the rest…

My Dad taught me about lumber, what to look for, what the grades meant.

I don’t know it all—————by a long shot.

 

But I can stand stoically by my truck’s tailgate and act like I know what I’m doing……………..and occasionally in between boards being loaded, I meaningfully flip one over and eye down its length.

I don’t have to say anything.

I just watch.

 

Having said that, I don’t have to do that at all with the old guy at CrossRoads.

He’s nice to me.

He even loaded the aged boards where he could, because they would be lighter for me to handle at my end of the trip (freshly cut wood still has the moisture-weight in it and it’s much heavier).

I usually help him load…

I got some photos of 12″ x 12″ x 16′ posts.  Wow!

Can you imagine the cypress trees those came from!?!

Wow!

I asked what’s the biggest they ever custom-cut there………..He said 16″ x 16″.

I wonder where they’d be used?

 

I’m happy with my order…………………I could barely unload it and stack it.

I’m ready now to start on the shoeing stock repairs.

 

I’ve got all of the necessary dimensions for repairing the dry-rotted flooring and skids.