Woods Work Again--still.

with the forecast calling for scattered T-storms and showers, the temperatures in the high 70s and a humidity to match, it was back to the woods this morning to haul out the wood I had cut the other day as wells as some that I had cut last September. Many trips up and down the hill with the ATV got me a pile of firewood--most of which needs splitting. I do believe I've got enough to get us through the winter now. We only burn to supplement the propane heat when the outside temperature remains below the freezing mark for a day or two. Last year, that amounted to about two cords of wood. I've still got one left from the 2010 vintage and I estimate two-plus in the round, so to speak. (I'll try to remember to take a picture of my accomplishment tomorrow.)

I also hauled out nearly all of the skinny hickory poles, too. The trees had been knocked down by the loggers back in the summer of 2009 but the wood is dry and hard with nary an insect bore hole in sight. I'll have to take a close look at it for signs of branches and such to see if I can cut some three or four foot lengths for splitting into table or chair legs or some other project. I might even be able to use the band saw to turn the pieces with the largest diameter into narrow boards.

One thing I noticed as I worked in the woods is that there are a lot of youngish hickory trees still standing in my work area. The loggers took maples, beeches, a couple of cherries and lots of ash which opened the forest considerably. The tops of those trees have shown very little sign of decay which is why I'm happy to cut them up for firewood even two years later. Unfortunately, even the smaller branches which I've left in slash piles have shown little decay.

There are still a few large (12"+ diameter) logs in the area that I want to cut into firewood lengths which I will leave stacked in dry spots along an access trail for next year. THEN I will move to the other side of the property and see what I can do about the tree tops still present over there.

Oh, yeah. Those showers finally arrived around 2 PM when I was finished working outside. It poured for all of 30 minutes. Then at 8 PM a weak line of T-storms approached from the west-southwest, reached Route 15 and the end of Armenia Mountain and promptly divided like the Red Sea. One strong storm cell traveled eastward along Route 6 to our north while the rest followed the south side of Armenia Mountain. We might have got a dozen drops--maybe--before they moved on. I see on the radar that there are similar little stormlets all over the map out into the Ohio Valley so we may still get more rain overnight and tomorrow. As the radio announcer said yesterday, "The forecast through Sunday is like a broken record. Highs around 80 with scattered showers and T-storms possible in the afternoon and evening." Seems to be a pattern for now.