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.