Sunday, September 16, 2007

At the Bolt Hole for the week

Fall is definitely in the air here in the Adirondacks. The temperature last night fell to the upper 20s and there was a heavy frost on the ground at sunrise this morning. All day the temperature never got above 58 degrees.

One thing I miss up here is high-speed internet access. Using dial-up to surf the net or make any sort of download is a time consuming process. Forget about listening to a football or baseball game via the internet. Plus, being on the end of the telephone line, should there be any problems with the lines, static fills the circuit and knocks me off line in a blink.This happens at least once a year when there's an ice or wind storm.

I've been able to walk the woods the last couple of days and the number of uprooted trees or trees that had their tops snapped off during the mesocylcone in late August is amazing. The entire character of the woods changes when that happens. Trails are blocked that were open during the summer. New "open" areas are created where sunlight can now reach the forest floor. It's a learning process when you want to walk the woods. As you may know, the Adirondack Park (that is the state land within the Blue Line) is considered "forever wild" which limits what can and can not be done within its boundary. There will be no clearing of storm damage on state land. I will, however, plan on how to either drop the leaning trees to the forest floor or fell those that I can for the purpose of harvesting firewood or speeding the decay of the dead and dying timber. Already I can see that it will be a good deal of work.

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