Visions of future firewood

Some splitting, wood moving, lopping, and bow sawing took place this morning.  All of this glorious activity focused on creating future firewood.  We were cool outside on this fifth full day of summer. 

The bow saw took down two red maples that were dying back.  We'll add the wood to the splitting pile after some cutting. 

This red maple was already leaning a bit, which makes for easier cutting with the arm-powered bow saw.  Here's the tree shortly before the final cut that brought the whole thing down.

And here's the same trunk after the loud drop.  The brown of the interior wood sure is pretty.

Here's is a picture of the second tree just before it fell from the cutting point.  The big part of the trunk is still leaning on a larger tree for now, but should blow down this week. 

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Solar production update

We are getting some rain today after two brilliant days.  The sun was out for so long with blue sky dominating.  Temps were wonderful and humidity was low, making the days extra awesome.  Wednesday and Thursday this week were the 28th and 29th days the solar panels produced 40 kilowatt/hours in a day since installation of the system four years and a month ago.  It was only the 7th time that two consecutive days each saw 40 kilowatt/hours from the panels.  With the sun rising just after 5 a.m. and not setting until 8:30, clear days in June can really boost solar production.  The first half of this month totaled 385 kilowatt/hours.

Although today might be a day off from outside work, the weekend looks dry for the most part.  Perhaps some pics of recent work will get posted by Sunday evening.

Piles of future firewood

Cutting and moving wood continues at a determined pace on our hill.  The workout is tremendous, thanks to the north hill we need to climb to retrieve so much of our future firewood.  Several species are in each pile.  It's interesting to see hophornbeam and quaking aspen in the same pile.  The two species are quite different in how they burn, with super hard hophornbeam and very light aspen giving off lots or not much heat respectively. 

Here are pics of the two piles together, then an up close shot of each.

 

Big day for big saw

More than two hours of work with the big saw today focused on cutting a few paper birch spring poles, a broken trunk from a red maple, and some smaller stuff, which included a large group of red maple stump sprouts.  Here's a sampling of the future firewood. 

This clump of paper birch benefited when the red maple stump sprouts were taken out.  There's a lot less shade for the birches now.  Previously, the maple sprouts, located in the middle of the young trees pictured here, towered over the birches.

Cloudy spring

This year and last year are quite different on the solar front.  Just counting April and May, we produced 431 fewer kilowatt/hours this year than in 2016.  June 1 has given us some blue sky, but clouds are deciding to stay prominent in the new month.  Even so, the house has still produced just a bit more electricity than what has been used since the end of April.

Trail trimming, chainsaw work, wood moving, and other outdoor activities are a constant for us in the warmer months, regardless of solar production.  Some pics of recent work will be posted soon!

Small saw work

The small chainsaw had one of its greatest tanks this morning.  Cutting included several downed spring poles.  You can get some big wood and great kindling from this type of operation.

The morning's work also had forest management benefits.  Some red maple stump sprouts and balsam fir were cut to give more sun to a sugar maple and some red oaks.  Not that we've had much sun lately!

The foreground of this pic shows the sugar maple, with two young oaks farther back.  The eliminated red maple stumps are also visible, as is some downed balsam fir on the left.

Oaks on the left and the right of this picture have more growing space now.

Another young oak, in the middle of this pic, with a few red maple sprout pieces on the ground.

Porcupine and birches in the sun

A mighty oak has served as the home for some porcupines.  One was out getting a suntan this afternoon, about 40 feet above the ground.

Here's a before/after pic of some birches prior to thinning work from the brush cutter today.