Well, hell is a bit strong...most of the vacation was great! But the last day there was this Ridiculous Misunderstanding. When we arrived (a week ago) there were a couple trees blocking the path to the dock. We called the local manager about this and offered to bring our chainsaw and fix it if we could take the wood from the tree. She was thrilled, and we were able to get the path cleared as soon as we came back from getting the saw. Jim cut up the tree for 2 days I think, this was fir and very sappy so my dad, brother and myself all wrecked clothes we had on while hauling wood down the steep trail and steps to the truck. In all, we probably got about 3/4 cord, not much, but it gave the guys a project.
THEN, the neighbors called the owner (in California) and he apparently had a COW. I guess he wanted the wood and he was going to cut it up himself. At that point we had already taken the wood we cut home, and we had gotten permission from the manager (his legal representative). He would have had to pay to have the path cleared anyway, so I said if he paid us $150 (the low end cost for having a tree service come clear the path) he could come to our house and take the wood back. Apparently he told the manager if we paid $75 for the wood (that she had told us to take) we could keep the wood. The managing agency decided to pay him the $75 (since it was really their fault) - so other than someone in California hating my guts, I guess it all worked out. We'll see how much of my deposit I get back.
I just hate conflict like this - I felt terrible that we took the guy's wood but on the other hand, we had probably spent 15 or more man hours cutting and hauling wood on our vacation. Since he had the fireplace capped (unusable) in the rental, and since three were several rotting trees that had obviously been down for years that he hadn't ever cut up, I doubt he really would have used the wood, but still, it was his. What a drag.
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