No, it doesn't warm you twice...

...more like three or four times by the time it's cut, hauled out of the woods, split, stacked, hauled into the house....

Got a bit of work done out in the woods today. Since the chainsaw was sharpened and running, the ATV ran like a charm once I checked the air in all the tires (one was quite low), the widely scattered rains were happening elsewhere for the most part, and the temperatures never got much above 70 degrees, it was a good day for outdoor work.

I found a recently blown down beech that was some 18" plus in diameter at breast height. The part that I could reach--it was snapped off and still hung up at about 5 feet off the ground at the stump end--was a wee bit less. Still, it was big and long and I got considerable amount of potential firewood out of it. Cut it all into 16" lengths and left it stacked where I cut it for future hauling out. There was also a small maple that came down with it and I cut that up too. Anything over 4" in diameter is fuel for my fire. The rest gets heaped into one of the many depressions created by past uprooted trees.

I cut two long, straight hickories into manageable lengths for transport back to the cabin. I got three or four 8 to 10 foot poles out of those two. They measure from the minimum of 4" in diameter to about 6" or 7" at the thickest. I hate to burn this hard wood since it can be used in so many other ways.

There was also one larger maple felled by the loggers two years ago. They took the long straight portion of the lower trunk but left the branched upper sections that was still well over my 4" limit. I started cutting that up but will have to go back for more.

And speaking of more.... There are several other tops of felled trees in this one small area that I can cut for firewood plus wood that I cut and stacked but didn't haul down last year.

Then there's even more on a steep, steep slope on the other side of the property. All I have to do is figure a way to cut it up and haul it out. Problem is that most of it is on the downhill side of the logging trail. Tough to pull it up even with the tractor and sorta dangerous to cut where it lays. What I need is a couple of big honking pulleys, a stout rope and a winch.

I'll be back in the woods again tomorrow afternoon. Chainsaw in hand cutting and stacking more wood for the fire. Hauling, splitting and final stacking in the yard will be for another day.