Good morning!

As another year winds down, the optimism each new sunrise can bring always seems like something to treasure.

Last sunset of autumn

Winter starts in under and hour! The sunset six months from now will be about four and a half hours later than today (and well off to the right of this photo)!

We'll have consecutive weekend storms. Three inches of snow fell last weekend. Temps (and wind speeds) will reach 50 on Friday, with a great deal of rain. Then, temps nosedive, with the high Saturday in the teens. Welcome to wacky NH in December!

Cookie decorating took place last weekend during the storm.

Recent happenings

We usually slow down a bit as the weather cools, but November seems especially busy this year. Examples of some recent activities include:

Smoking bacon with the neighbors

Enjoying walks along snowy rock walls that seem to never end

Eating lovely pies

Consuming stocked Thanksgiving plates

Installing new curtains (to keep low sun from getting too bright over the cooler months and to keep some heat out in the summah).

Wood-fired garden soup

Potatoes and leeks from the garden make for a wonderful soup. We always enjoy our wood-fired meals, especially because cold weather has finally arrived to stay for a while. The temp did not get above freezing today, compared to the 62 degrees that started our Saturday morning.

Great start to Veterans Day

Another beautiful sunrise today. Happy Veterans Day to all!

Frosty start

Balmy conditions have prevailed through much of October. Temp exceeded 60 degrees at dawn on Wednesday. Colder weather has moved in, as this frosty picture shows. The wood in the foreground, mainly red maple thinned to help out some oaks and sugar maples, is set for cutting this weekend, which will be quite sunny and pleasantly cool.

Minus 5.56

The title of today's post does not relate to a low temperature, at least not yet. Rather, -5.56 is the average daily electricity usage in kilowatt/hours for the house since the installation of our first solar meter on May 20, 2013. We're producing nearly 20 percent more electricity than using on an average day, thanks to the sun!

October days are filled with work and color. Who needs the leaves to change, when such a great carrot harvest can be dug up (a few radishes, too)

Even with many leaves down, there's still lovely color above!

Good as gold

Grand any day of the year, yellow birch stands good as gold in October especially.

Pure poetry

 Every October walk brings pure poetry.

Color coming out

 

Early autumn update

Fall weather means more harvesting! Some beautiful squash came up the hill yesterday from the neighborhood garden. Butternut is the fave here, but they're all wonderful.

This a.m., some forest thinning with the bowsaw netted nice wood that will be added to the cutting pile including the big birch taken down in early September. Both chainsaws will roar soon!

End of an old friend

One of the property's best paper birches had been showing signs of dieback in recent years. Additional crown death became evident this year, so a tank in each chainsaw started the process of turning the great tree into firewood. Hopefully the morning stays dry tomorrow, but splitting might not begin until Tuesday. Here are two pictures from the morning's action. It's a bummer to see the end of such a beautiful tree, but the wood will warm the house for a cold winter month, likely more than two years from now.

Recent harvesting

 

Picture from South Peak

Where do people go for a getaway from the woods of northern New Hampshire? Where else but the woods of northern Maine? We decided on a difficult hike up South Peak, Aroostook State Park. This was a chore, for sure, but the weather was great (almost as far north as Quebec City). Here's the view from the top!

Berry nice morning

After a wave of heat and humidity, this morning dawned clear and very pleasant. The early summer was quite dry, which cut back on raspberry production. Each one shines like a red gem, though. Blackberries must like dry conditions, because they are coming in early. Overall this year, the forest has yielded 6 1/2 cups of raspberries, with 2 cups of blackberries. This picture shows the five cups of berries picked this a.m.

Pool Cover Wood again

An annual ritual was completed this morning. Shortly before being topped with a pool cover, two-and-a-half cords of wood soaked up some sun. This wood will stay here until April, when the big shed, which currently holds three-and-a-half cords, is empty. There is some excellent kindling in this year's Pool Cover Wood, like usual.

The eastern third of the pile (left of the photo) includes the two birches and some crown branches recently spilt, with the last part cut to length and stacked this a.m. None of this wood will burn for about 15 months, with much of it waiting for the stove until 2024.

The demise of birch cousins

In Star Trek 2, Captain Kirk declares, "How we deal with death is just as important as how we deal with life." Two dying birches on the south hill were taken down recently, with both saws burning a tank for the cutting. The splitting work began this morning, perhaps continuing tomorrow if expected rain is late. Losing two really pretty trees is tough, but both will burn beautifully. Thankfully, neither species is anywhere close to extinction here.

 

Holiday weekend work

Here are two pics from some work this morning. The wood won't amount to a lot, but it was a relatively easy job.  The pieces will move up to the house (about 200 feet away) in a splendid bit of pleasant weather early tomorrow.

Work and reward

Less than two hours after the start of summer, a chainsaw roared.  Both saws did excellent work to expand what's known as the "pool cover wood.".  The lighter colored pieces were cut today, just about half of what's there now. All of this wood gets cut, then protected by a pool cover  before moving into the big, enclosed shed the following spring. This beautiful biomass won't burn for about 20 months.  There's some nice kindling along with a lot of big wood, mainly red maple.

The reward after this morning's effort? Double Chocolate Malt Whole Wheat waffles. The raspberries had been frozen since last summer.

Wood and flowers

Late spring means more wood work and some great color from lupine, daisies, etc.

70 minutes

Much can happen in 70 minutes. Here is a before/after duo showing the cutting and stacking progress made today before the sun and humidity got too high.

Processing progress

The big red maple project on the south hill continues, with some additional splitting and moving today. The first photo shows all that's left on the hill of the big tree, while the second image is the big pile that needs some splitting and lots of cutting.

Quick work

From the south hill, a before/after of some quick work today: These two pics were taken 13 minutes apart. Cutting and splitting of the big red maple will continue later this week. We're enjoying very pleasant weather.