Snow on May 25

Hardwood Hermitage received a bit of snow on May 25!

Bear family visit

Today was quite exciting!  Mid-afternoon, i heard a little bump outside and looked up to see a black bear looking into the screened in porch!    Upon closer examination and a few photos later, i saw Mama bear and 3 other siblings!!!  We knew there was a bear on the property but had no idea it was a family of 4!!  WOW!  Even Miss Peaches caught a glimpse of them out of the window.

So here is the first "cub" up by the back deck:

Another cub munches on grasses (will have to inspect to be sure they aren't eating certain trees!)

Here is Mama bear (top) and another cub:

Here is a shot of the entire family before they headed off to the North (the 4th bear looks like a little black blob in the upper right above the bear with its arm up):

So... we  have confirmed sightings of bear, turkey, porcupine, etc..... next up....hopefully we'll see the Moose!!

Porcupine and pin cherry

While on a walk yesterday morning, a porcupine got caught in the rain.  It used a young sugar maple as an umbrella for a while.

We've wacked quite a few pin cherries, but we're keeping this clump just west of the house.  They've bloomed out quite nicely this spring.

Cloudy for solar install

Even with some rainy weather this week, the solar installation made good progress.  We are getting 20 panels placed on the roof, at 260 watts each.

Six of them were on the roof by Friday afternoon.

The construction team was onsite a bit Friday, as well.  They worked on the screened in porch.  Hopefully the door will be in next week.

In addition to all of the color in the woods this spring, we added some more with the purchase of a few plants.  This container also includes a few iris bulbs that moved with us.

Bye, bye electric bills

We're at over 300 cubic feet on stacked firewood after another productive, sunny weekend.  This wood will do much to reduce electricity needed for heating.

As a further means to end electric bills, our solar panel installation has started.  The system will total about 5.2 kilowatts.  Our sunny streak is ending soon, but the panels should be really productive over the summer.

Ready for next winter

We've been busy with wood lately:  Cutting, splitting, and stacking.  We can't wait for cold weather again so we can start burning all of this lovely wood.  What we have done now amounts to two cords (256 cubic feet).  About three more cords are split from work last year.  We just need to cut them shorter.