Sun, sun, sunny sunshine!!

Finally, the pall has lifted and we have sunshine. It has been such a long stretch of grey, sunless weather. With cool temperatures, and not much snow, it is a good time to get out and get some more wood cut. We are working on wood for the 25/26 heating season.

The winter so far, has not made much of an inroad on our woodpiles. Unheard of, that some days in late December, we actually let the fire go out from afternoon to the next morning.  

We are harvesting beech trees. They are all dead and dying from the Beech Bark Fungus Disease, and lots are too far gone for firewood, and dangerous to fall, so unless they are a hazard to trails or structures, we leave them and let nature take its course. 

After bringing up a couple of loads of firewood from the barn woodshed this morning, to restock the back porch, off we went to see if the tree dropped yesterday, had come down overnight.

Timbeeerrrrr!

It was making ominous cracking sounds, lodged up in neighbouring trees, when we left yesterday. Hubby tried winching it off the stump with the ATV, but it was too heavy, so we left. Thankfully, it was down this morning, so more stringent measures were avoided. (tractor)

That big log to the left is a gigantic poplar that has been there for ages.

It got cut into firewood lengths, and the 'go-fer' (me) rolled, dragged, end-for-ended each piece over closer to the trail so it could be loaded into the trailer for transport. All the bending and lifting is great exercise and a way to whittle off those Christmas pounds. We keep telling ourselves that we have to cut smaller trees though, as hefting the bigger chunks into the trailer is a little hard on these old bods!

There was a day, (oh glorious youth!) when we would have worked away at it all day, felling, cutting and transporting with breaks for water and snacks.....We are a little wiser now, and know when it is time to stop for the day, because we'd really like to be able to move tomorrow!!