After snow, a new brush cutter

A dear old friend on Hardwood Hermitage is no more.  Word arrived yesterday that the brush cutter, a central part of the property's forest management, kindling creation, and trail maintenance activities, has serious engine issues after five glorious seasons working so hard on the hill.  The cost to repair the machine, a Stihl FS250, was more than a new unit would cost.  The replacement is the FS131, which was ordered not long after the bad news arrived about the FS250.

The saw blade, trimmer spools, and cultivator head of the deceased unit will fit fine on the FS131, which Stihl is introducing in 2017.  We'll have slightly less power for the vital work the brush cutter performs, but the FS131 is more fuel efficient and weighs in excess of two pounds less than the FS250.

We'll make sure to share pictures of the FS131 in early spring, when it's due at our Stihl dealer.  That much time will be needed before the snow disappears.  Five more inches have fallen today, getting us to 60 inches (five feet) for the season so far.  Look for some updated wintry pictures tomorrow!

Biggest storm of the season

Snow started falling on Sunday afternoon.  We have nearly a foot of new snow 24 hours later.  The tractor has done  great work, and lots of snow has been removed from around the house.  We now just need the solar panels to clear.  Temps of about 40 degrees later this week should help, especially when the roof rake takes off much of the snow below the panels.  Here are some shots taken today in the storm's windy aftermath.

Snowbow over New Hampshire

While doing some work with the bowsaw this morning, a snowbow was seen from a birch grove.  The day is sunny and cold, so the light creating the rainbow colors passed through really frigid water vapor in the sky.  The snowbow was so neat by itself, but the picture wouldn't be nearly as awesome without the shining birches.

The morning's work included taking down five spring poles:  3 yellow birch, one red oak, and one paper birch.  In addition to some large wood from these unfortunately bent trees, our kindling supply for next season just grew by leaps and bounds!

 

A good solar January

As the sun set on the last day of January, we have positive news on the solar front.  We almost had the best production for January ever.  There is a bit of snow on the panels that blocked some energy on a very sunny January 31.  If the snow wasn't there today, we could have surpassed the January record.  But we'll take the more than 95 kilowatt/hours for the month, just under 20 more than last January.  We hope to at least match the production of all last year, about as many kilowatt hours as we could possibly hope for!  The system now accounts for just under 80 percent of the house's electricity use since the May 2013 installation.  By the end of September, we should have that number back up above 85 percent.

May both Hardwood Hermitage and you see many sunny days in 2017.

Snowy scenes

A few more inches of snow greeted Hardwood Hermitage this week.  With the really wet flakes, it's sticking to trees again.  Here are a few pics taken this morning.  As usual, the young paper birches are likely soaking up the attention from the camera.

Foggy and soggy

We have been above freezing most of the day, creating fog and lots of dripping.  Most of the solar panels have cleared, but we might see a bit of snow tomorrow.  Cold returns big time after that.

First work of 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Another spring pole was taken down with the handsaw this morning.   Close to the house, this tree will be an easy one to cut and add to the firewood collection.

Our panels are covered by snow now, but we'll warm up the next few days.  We received 31 inches of snow since Oct. 23.  Although not producing today, the panels had a great 2016, turning 6,468 kilowatt/hours of sunlight into electricity, more than 80 percent of our demand.