This person's woodyard nirvana...kinda....sorta

The entrance to my processing area has a little river running through it. We’ve lost a lot of snow and ice tho. Try to drive on that right now and you’ll sink out of sight



Hard to see but my civic looks like it’s floating because the ice melted except for just under the tires. That’s just overnight. Parked it there yesterday afternoon. Didn’t realize the temps were going to increase as the night went on. That was a little different to watch on the thermometer.

 

No real mud season here. But, we do have squishy season.

 

Some snow, a little mud, but a lot of ice here.

 

That ice makes me cringe just looking at it. The worst is when it melts on top in the sun then refreezes in a glaze. I can feel my feet slipping now...

 

How warm did it gets up there today? Hit low 60's down here close to the shore.

 

Supposedly we got to 62 today, which is close to A/C temps for me. Of course one weather report I saw this morning said we could get 8" of snow by the weekend. Typical New England late-winter roller-coaster weather.

 

I’m amazed at how fast the snow went. Just a few days ago I was dragging the skid plate and trailer hitch in the softening snow. After tomorrow I’ll think all I’ll see in the woods is patches.

Saw a Woodcock this morning just off my front yard. Haven’t seen one of those since I was a young teen. It was nice to see and a harbinger of spring. Skunk cabbage is sprouting in the swamps.
I may be crazy,,,,ok I am crazy but at dusk I could have sworn I saw a hummingbird hovering in front of my picture window. It’s too early for them but that’s exactly what they do every year to get my attention. Can’t think of any bug that big that would hover in the window this time of year,,,,,,I made some nectar and hung out the feeder just in case.

 

Our mud season isn't from frost, but water table gets high in our yard. I think the kaolin bed is pretty close to the ground level in our yard. Springs flow from the hill...

 

jo191145 The hummers we get here do the same thing. They hover near where we would have the feeder placed in the summer. They have been doing that for years. It is their way of saying, "we are back, where is the food?"

 

Oh yeah they’re smart little critters. My picture window is about 20 feet from the feeder but they know that’s where the lazy old man with sugar water is
Ever see the big U mating dance? That’s a heck of a spectacle.

 

I do know they like to chase each other around. They don't like to share much, either. Have you ever found one of their nests? Not much bigger than a half dollar.

 

Yep seen the nests. Tiny, cozy I guess. And they are territorial.

Found this video of the U dance. Gotta say my boys are better at it LOL. First time I saw it I was standing on my second floor porch with the A frame roof. Not saying he was centered with the house but it gave me perspective to see he was doing half a circle and using a very precise track. Don’t think it was off more than a few inches.

Brendan Mcvey on Instagram: "Aggressive spring time humming bird mating dance"

 

And the eggs are the size of a black eye pea.

 

Well, it was time to make some firewood. So, the RO was the likely candidate. That's what the tree service took down.


The pile will get moved tomorrow.

On to where to put them.


The black powder coat rack is where. Freshly raked and re-footed.

The rack was about 1/3 full with RO bark pieces. I find room for them somewhere instead of flinging them into the woods. Makes for good firepit fuel.



Into the newly coined "barkhausen".

 

Looks great. Should make a nice rack full.

 

I moved what I split yesterday.




Then, with nice cool temps, I split more to move tomorrow


The pile of chunks is getting smaller.

 

Those are some nice looking splits. Well done, sir

 

Gotta love how oak splits. Should wrap that up this week?

 

Lots of healed over knots. It's splitting just difficult enough for a good workout without pi$$ing me off.

It'll be done when it's done. I'll split and move Monday morning.

 

I give you a LOT of credit for staying on the 3 year plan while strictly hand splitting (and occasionally noodling as a last resort) every single stick of firewood you burn. Especially doing it all at an age where I'm sure a lot of people are spending their time puttering around the house in loafers watching golf. Even though I have a splitter, it's still a ton of labor; there's no getting around that simple fact.