Season now alive with snow and decorations

A few inches of snow yesterday, a bit more today, then more tomorrow makes it look like winter around here.  Then there's the decorated house!

Here's the Abominable Snow Monster, hanging out with some elves and a bear.

Herman, a friendly polar bear, has donned a Santa hat!

The ornament trees are filled with a variety seasonal items.  Some are non-traditional, including a hippo and moose angel.

More progress from neighbor project

A bunch of new future firewood is on Hardwood Hermitage as a result of the neighbor helping neighbor project.  Here's a big stack of lovely wood that will be cut in the spring.  It's a beautiful day for such work:  Sunny and cool.

Some of the wood in the above picture was paper birch cut and split in the field yesterday.

The big red maple logs pictured in the previous post are now cut and split, as well.  Here is a picture from yesterday when that work was in progress.  The Jut is on the opposite side of the rock wall on the right of the picture.

Helping hands

Neighborly work has been happening on the hill.  In appreciation for some of our labor, a neighbor gave us a bit of the wood we helped cut.  Also, he took his big excavator through his field to the Jut.  A very large Hardwood Hermitage red maple took a dive during a wind storm.  Or, a half dive.  The tree was leaning against another tree, so the best way to take that down was with really heavy equipment.  Cutting the maple while at that angle was simply too hazardous.

Two lengths of the tree, each about 15 feet long, now rest near the Jut in our neighbor's field.

 

The crown of the tree remains in the Jut.  There's plenty of good wood that will be cut here. After processing, this 2019-20 firewood will come home in several pickup loads.

Happy (Snowy) Thanksgiving!

Late season brush cutting

The blade may be getting dull, but the brush cutter still has lots of power.  Work in the second half of autumn has several advantages:  More visible ground and a lot less sweat.  The FS131 continues its first year of work on the hill, doing a great job.

Balsam fir is a frequent victim of the FS131.  These two, surrounding a baby paper birch, were promptly dispatched shortly after this photo was taken.

And a young red oak, much easier to spot in November compared to summer's dense weeds, benefited from some cutting of surrounding junk.  Then the deformed but awesome tree enjoyed afternoon sun.

Mid-Fall snowfall

A few flakes fell last night after rain and a lightning show.  Here are the first snowy pics of the season.

Chowdah for suppah

Wood-fired corn and red pepper chowder is being heated on the Norwegian cooker.