Enjoying my second cup of Maxwell House by the fire early yesterday, I launched a weather app and browsed the forecast. The next two mornings would find us in the mid-teens, it said, and today (Sunday) we likely won’t break the freezing mark.
I made a mental note to confirm that our plumbing (the cabin’s, I mean) would be ready for that.
Once we get past Monday’s low, we’re predicted to have an extended run of downright pleasant (for December in Ozarkansas) days. It’s unwise to become too invested in long-range forecasts, I know, but in the near future I spy eight straight days and nights above freezing.
The week of Christmas looks delightful.
Every day, a little progress. Eating the elephant, as it were, one bite at a time. If I hope to heat the cabin next year with wood I bring in myself, the time to get after it is now. Temps are cool to cold. Ticks and chiggers and venomous snakes are, for the most part, dormant.
I have 20 acres of options for what and where to harvest, depending on my interest and capacity on a given day. Yesterday, I had an appetite for mining the big brushpile and adjacent woods.
But first, I brought out the pole saw and dropped a couple of dead hickory limbs that were hanging over the picnic table.
The job I had in mind for Saturday would be an all-electric effort, I figured, since what I’d tackle was relatively light. I sat down at the picnic table and gave the 20V chainsaw some attention before getting underway.
With the newly sharpened saw, I turned those hickory branches into a couple of armloads of firewood.
Waste not.
Down below, then, behind the well shed, I spotted a good-sized downed black locust. It was on the ground (and apparently had been for some time), so I didn’t hold out a lot of hope that it’d prove useful. A few cuts revealed the expected pith but also some solid wood.
I bucked about ten feet of the trunk, yielding eight rounds.
Beyond that, I was able to gather a respectable amount of prime firewood — red oak, hickory, even Osage orange. Altogether, it was enough to fill the bed of the Ranger.
I added it to the pallet I put down yesterday, which is now about 20% full.
As for the questionable black locust, I split it right away — no sense stacking punky wood if that’s all it was. Of the eight lengths I’d bucked, I discarded the equivalent of three. The rest I put up to dry out.
It all burns.
Last, I took advantage of the Ranger’s now-empty bed to bring a short load of cordwood up to the cabin. That replaced what I’d burned since 9am Friday. Better to do it then, I decided, than when the temperature is in the teens 24 hours later.
The beat goes on.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable