Wood Pickin'

I know that I PROMISED to talk about jail, and I will. I just really need to lighten up a bit for a few days. Last week was emotionally draining. I need a break.

Ok so after my first year at UW(madison), and living with 3 other girls, and  paying a stupid amount for rent, I chose to live off campus.

A very good friend of mine, and her boyfriend moved in together. I also had my first fiance move in as well.

It was a town home, on the west side of Madison, WI. We first did the walk through in May...it looked nice enough. Actually, wholly crap, it was 3 bedrooms, 2 and a half baths...we thought we were gonna live the high life.

It was cool...we thought very cool. The furniture was hummm...how do I describe it..."shabby ghetto." We had a gold/green/I am not sure what the other colors were plaid, couch and love seat. We actually bought it, I think we paid $75.00. I am not sure if you remember the VW beetle commercial...where the 2 guys are driving, and they pick up a chair that someone  had put to the curb. They pick it up, and it smells bad, and then they drop it off on another curb...yeah...kind of like that.


I was still in school the first semester that we lived there. Sadly, within a month or so the legs broke off the couch..on the same side. SO I had my Spanish dictionary, and English dictionary holding up the couch. Mind you this is all really pre computer. So I would be writing a paper, and have to retrieve my dictionary from the foot of the couch.

I had adopted a dog, and so did my friend. So now we have 2 dogs. At the time neither of us probably should have. So I told ya it was a 3 bed-room. I was in one, my girl the other, the third..the dogs used, and used, and  used some more.

I could go on, but I think that is all I have to say about that.

SO when winter came we soon found out that the frickin town house had NO insulation. NADA, NIL, NOTHING! Even if we set the thermostat on 50 degrees, out bill was $250.00 at a minimum.

UG FREEZING!!!  BUT, the town house had a wood burning fireplace. So this is how wood pickin' began.We were broke, desperate, and cold. We took turns bouncing checks to the eclectic company.

So wood pickin started. So the girl that I lived with, and another friend we recruited went wood pickin'. Which means that you steal wood from others wood piles. Yes, we stole wood. So there was a runner...usually me, a loader, and a driver. It was amazing..we were warm. It was such a bummer when we put the last log on the fire. We would move the 2 legged couch right in front of the fire, and play boggle for hours. When it was the last log, "crap we gotta go wood pickin'"

Damn those motion lights!. So on one very happy wood pickin' night...well ya can only do it at night. I was the runner, as usual, as usual, the motion light came on, the loader slammed the hatch on my head, the driver drove away. My ass was laying in the snow, just trying to hide. Good news, they did come back for me.

So that is wood pickin'