It's that wood time of year again

 A week or so ago I finally got round to ordering more wood.  This is always an internal struggle, because it's usually warm for a lot of October, but I know that it turns suddenly in November and then rains or sleets most of the month, so ideally I should get the wood delivered in plenty of time to stack it before it starts raining, but I can't be arsed.  For the past few years I've ordered from the same guy, who delivers a truck load from somewhere up in the Thumb.  Prior to that I tended to have a different wood guy every year, as they were all local sad-sacks who had decided that selling wood was their path to escape from their shitty lives, but realized quickly enough that it was very hard work and hard to find if you didn't have your own land, and when I tried to call back the next year the phone number was always discontinued.  This guy isn't the cheapest, but his wood is actually dry (not just claiming to be dry but actually green enough to tar up the chimney) and we've made it all the way through the past few winters without the chimney getting choked as a result.  Downside is that he ALWAYS moans about our driveway, because his truck is HUGE and it gets scratched backing up.  Get a crappier truck, I say, but it falls on deaf ears.  He also usually brings his girlfriend (not the first relationship for either of them - both have kids prior, I have gleaned) for this visit to the Big City, and they usually go out for a slap up feed at a "fancy restaurant" (they favor local chain Black Rock, which advertises giant thick steaks and magic cocktails that change color).  Anyway, he got back to me surprisingly quickly and delivered this past Tuesday (20th). This time they were both grumpy because her son had demanded that they return to watch his soccer game (why that's going on in a pandemic is beyond me).  But she came along anyway, as did their poodle/bichon frise.  However, despite me cutting back our hedges to the bone, he backed only halfway up the driveway this year, and when he dumped out the wood it blocked our side entrance, so we've been going out the back porch and round through the front yard since.  And I haven't really got going on the wood, although I perked up briefly when the wagon I ordered arrived.

Last year I invested in some super-large tarps to cover the wood and that's probably a mistake.  It keeps the wood dry (we've already had one TORRENTIAL storm) but there's no incentive for me to rush stacking the wood.