Wood, Wood, More Wood

Wood is sexy. Ir'a great when it's growing; it's great when it's dead. Dead wood is best when you're cutting firewood for the winter months. You can't burn wet wood.

so I was cutting firewood in the woods again today, and I'd found an old stand of Red Oak dead hardwood where the shale rock had welled up and thinned the soil making the trees susceptible to wind and storm. And so the trees fell. And so I was cutting the dead wood for the winter.

While cutting wood, I heard some voices and then I saw these three people walking toward me from down the hill below the property. It was this old guy I knew walking through the woods with his two sons whom I also knew slightly. They were scouting out places to hunt and wanted to know where I'd be posted. I pointed to the big pine with the stovepipe arms and I nodded toward the spot on the uphill horizon where the shale rock had split and surged upward to create a jagged rise.

One of the man's sons had worked for a tree surgeon's company and knew a lot about chain saws and trees. I had osme questions about chains. He pointed out that one of my Stihl saws had a "chipper chain," meaning that it had a squarish cutting tooth. That was good. Now I know what to look for. It has a good bite and cuts down effortlessly.

I had the wood cut into sixteen inch logs and stacked them upright in the little drailer I drew with the John Deere 445. They looked at the wood. Nice wood, they said. I knew about the Red Oak but I was wondering if the other wood was White Oak or Ash. The bark was old and peeled and you couldn't tell, not the way the bark had come apart. One of the guys boys said it was Ash but I wasn't so sure. The Cherry wood looked like the Red Oak when it was red except that the outer rings were red to the bark.

The End of Summer - Beginning of Fall

So I took a flyer from blogging for awhile. Lots of reasons for it. Even though heating oil prices are dropping along with the price of gasoline, I'm determined to save the heating oil we already purchased at $4.23 per gallon. Right now, the cost from our dealer is $2.59 per gallon. The price could just as easily swing back to higher levels. Therefore, I'm spending lots of time cutting firewood. With few exceptions, I'm cutting dead wood, mostly oak and maple and ash. I'm playing catch up and I need to build up a pile of dry firewood before winter sets in hard. Truth to tell, I don't expect to cut a sufficient amount to last the winter but I might get close.

I have cut down a few living trees which were very close to other live trees. Those will be split and saved for next winter. Clean wood is a whole lot better than the molding dead stuff I've been cutting. But I have a sense of moral superiority when I cut the dead, down wood. I'm cleaning the forest floor and making room for new and healthy growth.

And yes, I'm leaving some brush piles and cover for the deer little critters.