Was That Crazy, Or What?

Our January thaw was amazing.  Temperatures were in the 50s and all the snow melted except for some small hard strips hiding in ditches and under overhanging pine boughs.  I watched our driveway change from a tilted ice rink to a normal patch of stone you could safely walk across again.

This break in the winter weather afforded us the chance to do some outdoor work we didn't imagine we'd get to, such as cleaning the concrete yard between the sheep barn and feed bunk. The sheep drag an awful lot of bedding out the two doors as they walk back and forth to the 'picnic table area' and of course leave lots of sheep berries out there too.  We scrape that area clean daily in above-freezing weather but once we get snow that sticks around there's no good way to do it.  That area becomes a trampled glacier of frozen manure and bedding. It's not slippery for the sheep but on warm days the surface thaws enough to make it sloppy and unpleasant to walk through.  Usually it's there until spring but this year....

For the internal combustion engine and hydraulics, we thank thee!

It was forecast to fall below freezing at night so we scattered some Sure Foot (a brand of barn calcite) on the wet concrete.  Pro tip - use this around your house, garage and yard in place of 'ice melt' products.  It's completely non-toxic to animals, birds, fish, plants and bees.  Find it in places like Tractor Supply or other feed stores.  It's usually cheaper than other material meant to make ice safe, too.  The down sides are that it comes in 80 lbs bags (so eat your Wheaties before shopping) and it does track into the house on shoes and paws.  It's ground stone so not friendly with hard flooring but it sweeps up easily.

Another day we went to the woods to augment the firewood supply.  Usually that's a move of desperation in January but with no snow it was just another fall-ish day. Andy managed to take down at least a dozen moribund ash trees which is about the only species that burns well without curing.  Holly was thrilled.

"A walk in the woods?  Heck, yes!"

Once they were down Andy pulls them out into the field to dismember.  It's safer than using the chainsaw with brush and whippy saplings underfoot and around you.

Despite the lack of snow the day presented other challenges.  Fortunately it was only this one wheel that found a soft spot.  Andy was able to back up and get away from the area without further problems.

The field next to the woods was put into soybeans last year by the fellow who rents land from us.  He never did harvest them last fall, due to the heavy rains I suppose.  They seem to be standing OK and not deteriorating but the fields are floating now, so they may end up a loss.  That would be a shame.  Someone has made use of them, though.  It's out of focus but some enterprising chipmunk or red squirrel has packed soybeans into the cavity of this damaged sapling at about chest height.

Other woodsy critters were taking food out of the trees rather than putting it in.  Here a woodpecker has made a neat rectangular hole (bit hard to see but take my word for it) which is a hallmark of a pileated woodpecker.

Being in the woods is thirsty work and Holly tiptoed into this puddle of ice water for a drink.

"Wild water is the best!  Lots of flavor!"

Makes me shiver just to think of putting my feet in it.  

October's Beautiful Moon

The full moon last weekend was The Hunter's Moon and a super moon to boot.  Alas, I couldn't get any nice pictures of it rising but today it was only two days past full and setting behind the trees in mid morning.  It was quite lovely with the colorful trees as contrast.

We've been making the most of the warm dry weather.  We went to the woods to take down some dying ash for firewood.  Of course that meant a fun outing for Holly!  It was actually a bit gray and damp on Sunday but not enough to stop us.

It was very still with not a breath of air moving which is very helpful when getting trees to go where you want them.

And Holly has to walk the length of a few of them just for fun.  It must be an interesting perspective to be up off the ground with a better view of things.

I finally finished the new flower bed next to the front door.  Some of the plants are transplants from other beds here but most of them are new - a splurge to mark the occasion.  They are all perennials - unless they die over winter in which case they were annuals.  :-/

There's still a good bit of room to stick in other things so I'll keep my eyes open for end of year sales.  And of course there's an unending stream of garden catalogs coming in the mail.

My garden gargoyle had been tipped over in a neglected bed for some time and I resurrected him to sit front and center in the new bed. 

"She put me here without even brushing off all the dirt.  Good grief."
I'm sure by spring the dirt will have all been removed by the weather and I'll have to pull him out and give him a new coat of paint as I see several patches of bare concrete on him.

"This giant garden is already full of plants and stuff.  Let's just sit here and study it."
Dog logic......is pretty smart sometimes!

Back to the Woods

Sunny, dry and about 50 degrees.  A perfect day to cut more firewood.  Of course, if it were truly perfect we'd be cutting wood for next year and what we needed for this winter would already be stacked and waiting but that's pretty much crazy talk so we'll just be glad it was a nice day.  For a blog about sheep and wool I seem to talk a lot about cutting firewood but it makes the very short list of essential jobs we do to keep ourselves comfortable.  Wood heats our large house and two workshops.  Paying for fuel oil to do the job would bankrupt us.

The sky was really pretty with unusual clouds and a ton of jet trails that didn't seem to want to disappear.

This time Andy headed for the woods next to the now-empty corn field.  Trees are always trying to claim open ground and the edge of the forest really needs to be clear-cut back a good fifty feet but for now we'll just cherry pick the meaty trees that will add up fast.  Unfortunately a lot of them are dead or dying - partly wet ground, partly ash decline, partly crowded conditions - and so getting them to fall properly was dicey work.   After an initial walk around while he scouted out which trees to cut I hooked Holly's leash to the butt of a log already out in the field where she'd be out of harm's way no matter what went wrong.

 "I can't believe you tied me up here like I was a bad dog."

"I will lay here in the sun with my back to you and shun you and plot my revenge.....zzzzz."

The trees really fought him all morning.  Standing so close together they interfered with each other and often wouldn't fall, just lean into other trees and not fall which of course is dangerous to deal with.  Thankfully, we rely on the logging winch to pull these things down from a distance.

In the video below, the standing tree in the center is cut through, just teetering on the stump, not toppling.  So, Andy hitched a chain on the butt and ran the winch cable back to it and used the tractor's power to dislodge it.  Of course it jammed against another stump and stopped, so Andy repositioned the chain so it would spin the tree and roll it away from the stump and then it could fall.  The very next tree got stuck at about a 45 degree angle and the cable was employed again to pull it off the stump..... and then it jammed against the first tree's stump.  Andy went in and cut the butt log off and then he could get it out. A lot of trees came out in shorter pieces. The winch cable is 165 feet long and making multiple trips back to the same tree, and then to other trees, plus carting the chainsaw around cutting the trees.....   Andy's a pooped puppy after a day of cutting firewood.


Here's a better view of the winch in use.  The blade is dropped and bites into the ground so the tractor has something to brace itself against when pulling.  The cable is activated by a pull cord so you can stand safely aside while operating it.  We usually bring out full sized trees when the woods don't fight back.  Once the butt of the log is drawn up to the blade the short logging chain is unhooked from the cable and secured in a slot on top of the blade which is then lifted to raise the butt of the log and off you go, pulling the log where you want it.
While we were gathering fuel to keep our home warm I noticed the remains of a robin's nest in a tree at eye level.  She had a nice view all summer and didn't have to worry about how to maintain it during cold months. I hope she raised a nice family.

And then I spied something that looked out of place.  Something horizontal when all else is vertical.

Yup, an arrow!  We do allow hunting for deer, turkey, bear and raccoon, deer in particular as they do so much damage to young trees and field crops.  (We don't allow trapping or hunting of coyote, fox, crow or other such critters).  Anyway, this one clearly missed the mark and became so embedded in the small tree that we couldn't dislodge it and I imagine the archer was peeved as those arrows aren't cheap.

The arrow must have been fired from very nearby judging from the depth of penetration into solid wood and the fact that the trees are thick as hair on a dog right there.  Some lucky deer evaded his date with Fate.  

Maybe we ought to leave the tree standing, for luck.

Oops, I Did It Again

Somehow the bulk of the month has slipped past without a blog post.  Sorry about that. Until recently the weather was so fine that it was easy to do outdoor work until dark, eat supper and then box up orders or answer emails or peel apples for applesauce or other things that ate up the evening.

Several fleeces were skirted and sent to eager spinners.  Odds and ends wool was sent to the mill to become quilt batts.  Two lots of wool went to Acorn Works to be made to roving.  I'm hoping this gray fleece which was dyed lilac will come back a smoky amethyst.

Typical of "October's bright blue weather" it's been sunny with low humidity during the day and in the low 40s at night.  The sky, the trees and the field corn all say we're deep into fall and winter is coming.

The sheep (waaaaay out in the far middle pasture) have been enjoying some really fine weather although a sudden cold wet weekend pulled off most of the colorful leaves.  

They've got a pretty sweet deal right now - cool enough to be comfy, no flies, still nice pasture.....  they spend the day moseying around at their own pace and then gathering at the back of the barn to come in before night.

Drambui is still looking good at 12 years old.  She's the oldest ewe in the flock now that Daffodil's gone.

Daisy, using the old rock pillow.

The Cotswold lambs were shorn last month and this little cutie is already showing some nice tight curls growing back.

We actually had wet snow over the weekend (shudder) and two hard freezes in the upper 20s, leaving heavy frost that lay on the grass even after the sun had touched it for awhile.

We were already well aware of the need, but this kind of weather really spurs firewood activity.  First Andy cleaned up some piles of limb wood that he had left in the field from the previous year.  This partly seasoned wood will go into the cellar first.

Then we head into the woods to drop trees.  Once they are down on the ground I'm not too fearful of him working by himself but I always go with him when he's actually felling trees.  Too many bad things can happen even when one is experienced and careful.  And Holly is always ready for a good woods walk!

We're still cutting dead and dying ash from one certain area.  Dead trees are particularly unpredictable and have a bad habit of shedding limbs as they fall but this one behaved properly.

I finished a major overhaul of the 'yarn' page on our website and now have current pictures of Cotswold yarn I've recently dyed, like this:

and this:

And even that Gosh Darn Big Yarn that I pictured earlier this summer.

The page was a lot of work and I'm happy that it's done and functional.

Holly says:

"Oh, good grief.  I don't know why you spend all that time at the computer when you could pet ME!"

Right!  Time for some "pet" therapy!

 

Back To The Woods

It was starting to snow lightly when we finished morning chores but it wasn't enough to prevent Andy from cutting some more trees for firewood. Here he's already cut out the wedge from the leading side of the tree - that lets it tip in the direction you want it to fall - and now he's cutting the backside to release the mass and let gravity take over.  Where he stops and looks around the trunk he's checking to see that his chainsaw bar is aiming properly toward the inside angle of the wedge. Sorry the lighting is weird - the phone was more concerned with the light sky than the ground.



Holly went along of course - couldn't let her miss a good woods outing.  Since deer season starts Saturday (gun, that is - bow season has been going on for a while) we weren't sure who might be in the woods scouting around so we made her nice and visible.

 

She really doesn't mind wearing her vest.  She poked around in the leaves behind me for a while and when it became obvious that I was parked instead of going walkies she came and camped out at my feet.  As soon as the chips had settled she had to check out the downed trees.

 

 

 

 

This tree had a streak running down one side similar to the mark it might have had if it had been hit by lightening at some point.  Andy walked the length of it trying to decide if any part of it could be used as a log to saw into lumber and she followed him.  I tried to catch her running the length of the tree but she was too quick!  Once she started going onto the skinnier branches Andy lifted her down as he was afraid she'd fall off.

    

It was snowing harder after he had been cutting for an hour but by that time he had dropped enough trees to keep himself busy for the next few days.

 

 

I was cold and looking forward to warming up with toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch!

 

 

 

Off to the Woods

Getting in enough firewood for the year is always a big job.  In a perfect world there would be time in the summer to cut some now and then and by this time of year there would be plenty - maybe even some to start the following year's supply - and all Andy would have to do would be to get it stacked down cellar and out by the other boiler that heats our two shops. 

To date, we are not living in a perfect world. 

However, today was a perfect morning to get a bunch of trees on the ground so that's what we did.  Once they are on the ground Andy and I are both comfortable with him working alone to limb them out and get the logs home but the actual felling of trees is not something a person should ever do without another person present in case help should be needed.  Too much can go wrong even when you are careful and following the rules. 

Holly loves the woods.  She stays right near me while Andy is cutting but it's not because she's scared.  She actually does. not. care. when the trees creak and come crashing down.  Doesn't even flick an ear.  She just knows that until we're done she has to stay right at my feet.  Once he takes a break and I start walking around then she knows it's OK to explore the downed trees.  The first thing she does is hop up on a log and start walking it.  We never taught her this, she decided it was fun to do and will almost run the length of a tree.  Kids.



"Yep, Dad really killed this one."

 



Andy went to the truck to get the gas can.

"Where's he going??"

 

"He's coming back, right??  It's too nice out to go back home!"



But we weren't done yet and Andy did cut quite a few more trees.  (This was all ash that was in poor shape anyway).  He had quite a bit of work laid out by the time he stopped.

 



 

Despite all the trees and branches crashing down around it I noticed this lovely feather clinging to a low branch.  It's so downy and fringed that I'm thinking owl.

 

 

After Andy had cut enough trees to keep himself occupied for a while we went for a scouting walk down the hill to see where more likely firewood trees were located.  Basically, everywhere we went there were trees that could/should come out.  Sigh.  So much work that could be done.  A stand of trees is like a garden and while you don't want to make to too manicured it's best to take out trees that are dying or damaged so the healthy ones can do better. 

 

One fun part of the walk was a visit to the beaver pond.  It's literally just about at the farthest and least accessible corner of our property so we don't go there too often.

 





 

We didn't see the beavers but their paths up the bank and into the brush were muddy and well travelled so we know they're in there somewhere.

 

"Beebers?  Aren't those little wimpy things that make screechy noises?"

 

No, beavers are strong beefy critters with great big teeth that can chew down trees.  Apparently they are sometimes overly ambitious and chew down trees that are too big to cart off.

 



 



All in all it was a very pleasant and productive morning - probably some of the last nice weather we'll see this year.

 

And I brought that feather in to try to take better pictures of it to show how pretty it is.  I couldn't do it justice.

 



 

 



You do see some of the neatest things in the woods.