Wet wood? No problem.

Ok
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I strive for the efficient lifestyle and I am always looking for an easier, more effective way to complete a job. The reason I bring this up today, New Years eve 2008, is that northeast Ohio got about 6 inches of snow last night...blanketing my woodpile. All my beautiful firewood that greets me each morning, and then upon my return from work, is hiding somewhere under that blanket of white stuff. I mentioned in an earlier post that one mistake I made with my planning is my woodshed is about 2/3 too small and the majority of my wood sits outside exposed to Ohio's notorious winter.
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My first year with my OWB I went out and purchased about 4 mega large blue tarps and kept my woodpile covered, safe, dry, and shielded from the Ohio winter. I did everything I could to keep the woodpile dry because we all have learned since childhood...wet wood doesn't burn. Well, this great blue tarp idea lasted into December of my first year with my Hardy. After about 2 snowstorms I folded up the tarps and tucked them away in the barn. To me, covering my woodpile is a waste of time and actually creates more work for me or, I suspect, any owner of an OWB. When I had my pile covered, the wind was constantly tearing them off and after a heavy snow, I had to pull up the tarp (which held about 50 pounds of snow) to get to my logs. What a pain...What a waste.
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When I open the door to the firebox on my Hardy H2 I am literally staring into the fiery pits of Hades. If I were to throw a wet or snowy log into the Hardy, it would be kiln dried in about 30 seconds. What need is it for me to keep my wood covered? After a hard snow, I just reach into the snow, pull out a log and bang the snow off of it. In the furnace it goes...and burn baby burn! I can still remember fighting with the tarps...I would lay a log across the bottom of it and throw logs on top of it to keep the wind from blowing the blue kite to Pennsylvania. All those logs holding down my tarp, not to mention the snow, was just a burden to feeding my furnace. No more tarps. No more tarps. No more tarps.
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My friend down the street just installed a Central Boiler OWB this summer and the wood he has which isn't under the roof of his shed, is covered with out 10 tarps. I offered my opinion that the tarps are a waste of time since his OWB will dry out any wet log...but he still felt it necessary to cover his wood. I would bet money that there will be no tarps on his wood next year.
Smokin