Red oak spring pole

Because the wood is so heavy compared to many other trees, a bent red oak is a rarity.  How sad, too, because the trees can live much longer than red maple or paper birch, two species more prone to becoming a spring pole.  But this young oak has been bent for years, likely the victim of an ice storm.  Taken down with the handsaw this morning, the tree will get cut up in the spring, then hauled quite a long way to burn in the 2018-19 season.

When the cut was being made on the bent trunk, a "barber chair" was created, which is a split down the length of the tree.

One benefit from a spring pole is kindling.  Or, walking sticks.  These two branches from the red oak served as extra legs on the walk back up the hill.

Starting win-tah with a walk

Happy Winter from the birch groves of Hardwood Hermitage

Little saw blazes trail

A balsam fir fell on the driveway in yesterday's fierce winds.

But never fear! The little saw was ready for action.  Starting readily even on a really cold morning, the saw made a few cuts to get the useless roadblock out of the way.  The smell of balsam was nice for the season as the softwood quickly gave way.

Here is the corpse of the fir, with remnants on either side of the driveway.

Winter still a week away

Seven inches of snow have fallen since the weekend walk.  Scenes from late autumn often make one think of winter though.

Oh, those shiny birches . . .

A young grove of the same fabulous paper birch, a few years away from being all lovely and white.

Because of the blowing snow that's cold enough to stick, this yellow birch is performing its best paper birch impression.

The spring approaches winter

Winter is still more than a week away.  During a cold late autumn walk this morning, our spring, way out in the Jut, was still at work, creating an endless supply of water.  The spot supported the pasture animals that lived on the hill.  The forest has taken over where pastures once were.

Later in the walk, about 1,500 feet from the Jut to the west, the hills of Vermont were cast in some very rare sunshine.  We've had lots of clouds lately.

We expect about five inches of new snow tomorrow.  Not that much on the ground now, but we'll remain cold, so whatever we get sticks around for a while.

Four inches of snow

Our snowfall for the season doubled yesterday with four new inches.