Still winter

As I've written, I traveled up to the Bolt Hole this past weekend to do a little burning. I also said that the burning of brush was safe because there was still a great deal of snow on the ground.

The broad expanse of the fields behind the garage and barn were still knee deep in snow. Some parts of the lawn were closer to chest deep because they were the recipient of blown/plowed snow. Some areas, like under the pine on the right, were bare because the tree blocks the snow fall and traps some heat.

The snow in the foreground is a mere 18 inches.
That in the bank in front of the garage was close to 48 inches.

In other parts of the front yard, the blower/plow left snow banks in the shade that will be there well into April. But the blower and plow also made it possible to drive the Tundra right up to the cabin's front door and/or over to the garage and barn.

This snow bank, nestled in the shade all day long,
will probably be here until at least Earth Day (April 20).

Thank goodness for snow plows and blowers! Snow/ice between
the garage and barn is a compacted 36-48 inches.

The pile of brush to be burned on Sunday was about 40-50 yards behind the barn. It measured about 10 feet high and 15-20 feet across. Of course, the height measurement is only an approximation as there was--in spots--three feet of hard packed, icy snow around the perimeter of the pile.

Mark sets a torch to the brush pile.

We burned all day and even added brush from freshly felled Scotch pines to the blaze as well as brush from other piles nearby (when we could free it from the ice and snow). By next morning this is what was left:

Much of the pile is gone but the edge is still frozen in the snow.

The small stuff is frozen in the snow. It's quite a step down to the bottom of the pit.
The larger pine branches didn't burn. Too much space between them?

The fire was unable to burn all the brush. Some was embedded in the ice and snow and was still in ice and snow on Monday morning. The fire did leave a hole in the snow, the bottom of which was some 2-3 feet below the edge of the pit. Surprisingly, while the fresh pine needles would roar into flames once they caught, the pine branches over a few inches in diameter resisted something fierce. We had a few "trunks" that were 5-6 inches in diameter and they hardly would burn at all. When learning fire safety they tell you about fuel, heat and air. In the case of this particular pile, I think we had too much air when the smaller branches were turned to ash and the heat was escaping without consuming the wood. A single log standing alone, even if it has glowing embers on it, will not burn for long. But put two of 'em side by side like a couple of young lovers spooning in bed and it's "Baby, come on light my fire!" Obviously, there's more burning that needs to be done. Damn shame we didn't have a pig to roast.

Oh, one more thing. Releasing all that CO2 into the atmosphere didn't do a damn bit of good. The high temperature in the sunshine on Sunday was 34 degrees. Monday morning at 7 AM it was just 6 degrees...on March 23rd.