Happy Thanksgiving!

We would like to wish everyone a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving Day weather has been more wintry than fall-like with temps in the low 20s and wind blowing most of the day with gusts upwards of 25mph.  We had 1.5" of snow late yesterday/overnight.

Here is a photo of some wood we recently cut down from two 25' logs.  Our neighbor brought it down from the hill with his excavator so we could cut it to length on an even surface.  The orange glow in the upper left quadrant is a reflection from the wood stove (yes, it is a toasty 75 degrees in here at the moment!)

These logs won't be used for 2 years so there is plenty of time for them to cure (i.e., dry).

We've been busy!

Lots of wood work in the last few weeks:  cutting, splitting, moving.  Fires have kept us warm, especially on mornings where lows have been in the teens.

18 outside, 75 inside

We had a cold morning, but only outside.  Temps were in the high teens while brush cutting, but the fire kept the inside really toasty.  You can see a piece of red oak burning in the stove earlier today:

Birches don't mind the cold.  Some were looking lovely this a.m.

Happy Halloween!

Some pictures from Littleton's Harvest Festival, which took place on Saturday:

Cold temps are creeping in!

This morning we woke to near 20 degree temps and a heavy coating of frost on the back deck.

  Surprising that our wildflowers are still hanging in there!

Thermometer in the screened in porch around 6am today:

Sunday, in 50 degree temps with a nice breeze, we moved the logs below from up on the hill.  They are from the original cut done before the house was built to facilitate solar energy production.  The freshly split wood (about 1/2 cord - 4x4x4) was also split -- great weather for working on the wood pile!

Firewood and foliage

We did a lot of red maple log cutting today.  This will be future firewood after further cutting and splitting.  This is what a bunch of butchered logs look like.  We likely won't need to burn this for a few seasons.

Some trees are clinging to leaves.  This has prolonged the fall foliage season in certain spots.  Below are colors from a young oak, as well as mature maple and birch.

Daytime highs in the 60s, with lows in the 40s.  They'll be getting colder soon!

Mr. Shaggy

I don't think we'll make it a habit to name individual trees, but this yellow birch has been dubbed "Mr. Shaggy."  Got to love that bark!

Here are three extra recent pictures, including tonight's sunset.  Peak foliage is gone, with lots of trees having no leaves left.