A weird January

This month has been very weird.  January started with wickedly cold temps.  We've had a few thaws since.  The solar panels are producing lots of energy, for January anyway, because the snow melted away.  There's still plenty of snow in the woods, but not enough to keep the bowsaw in hibernation.  On a walk today, the splendid tool took down two quaking aspen, which will be cut with the smaller chainsaw this spring.  Here are some pics from today.

The two trees are relatively small, but we'll get some kindling and bigger wood from the work. 

The cut tree is still standing in the second picture, after falling onto other trees.  The chainsaw will bring the rest of the tree down.  A hardwood grove, with two fewer aspen, is benefiting from the thinning.  Preferable species look and grow better when not crowded out by the ugly aspen.

Human critters aren't the only animals busy in the woods.  A large balsam fir near the downed aspen received a recent visit from what was most likely a hungry woodpecker.

The Beauty of a Fire

The wood stove keeps earning its keep here.  Again the only source of heat for the entire season so far, the stove serves as the heart of Hardwood Hermitage. 

Each fire starts with some excellent, dry kindling, some newspaper and/or birch bark, and the simple strike of a match.  Here is today's fire shortly after its beginning.

Kindling makes all the magic happen.  A variety of species and sizes are used.  Kindling of relatively large diameters starts burning better if birch bark is used.  The bark burns very hot and fast, with way more flames than a bunch of newspaper.  Our kindling comes from brush cutting operations, or the trimming of smaller branches on downed trees.

Near the stove, a copper boiler holds the supply of bigger wood for the next fire.  This was a picture of today's supply prior to the start of the fire. 

As with the kindling, several species of hardwoods contribute to the wood supply.  Except for some wood gained from helping our neighbor, our wood comes exclusively from Hardwood Hermitage itself.

Nearly three hours since the match was struck, the fire continues to go strong. 

Most often on winter days, two fires a day are started.  Today, the inside temperature at 5 a.m. was still 65 degrees, so only one fire will occur.  The match to start the fire was struck shortly before noon.  In three hours, the fire had added 12 degrees to the temp on the main thermostat.  And the burning day is only half over!

Pretty beats the cold

Minus 31 was yesterday morning's low temp.  Today reached 20 above, a heat wave, especially with the sun to warm your face.  The cold can be really bitter, but the beauty of winter makes the frigid days worth the trouble.

Here is a panoramic pic of the snow-covered Kilkenny range.  The Jut is seen along the left of the picture, as is the neighbor's big field.

The north side of the house is pictured here in another panoramic.

Winter walks always bring delights.  Areas thick with conifers make the day look dark, even with full sun.

 

A favorite tree, that beat up very old red oak with huge holes in it, captures a lot of snow each year -- just on its huge trunk.

A big white ash near the gnarly oak captured a great deal of snow on a large broken branch.

A bit to the south of there, a quaking aspen recently became one of the property's largest spring poles.  The curved tree is pictured blocking the afternoon sun.

 

Lest we forget and make them horribly jealous, you can't leave out all the baby paper birches out there! 



Retirement

January 1 marked the beginning of both of us being retired from our corporate jobs.  We took a moment to check out a few definitions for retirement:

"withdrawal from one's position or occupation 

or from active working life."

[www.merriam-webster.com]

We think Webster needs more clarity since we, like a lot of other retirees in the area undertake a lot of 'work' on an ongoing basis:  cutting, splitting, stacking, and burning firewood, for example.  

"A myth. Something hard working people look forward to all their working lives, only to be disappointed by the fact that they can't afford to live off there substantially small pensions for the rest of their lives." 

[www.urbandictionary.com]

We agree with the first part of the definition from Urban Dictionary, but are hopeful the second part turns out to be the myth! 

 

We actually like the following definition much better and believe it more closely aligns with our expectations.

"Retirement is viewed as "a time of happiness" 

by 82% of people in Britain - much higher than the global average." 

[www.urbandictionary.com]

Wishing all our family and friends, near and far, a safe and positively memorable year.