Yesterday I took some pics of my road out to the woodlot. I have battled Mother Nature all dang winter. Any time there is a little breeze from the west, or northwest, my road drifts shut. Thought you guys might like looking at a couple pics. This pic is when first leaving the blacktop. Excellent area for drifting! The pines on the right act like a snow fence and cause some mighty drifting! The side view from the driver's seat. Gives an idea of how tall the drifts are. This next pic is facing west. I wouldn't think it would drift so bad but it sure does! This section of the road has the pines on the west side so it doesn't drift as bad, but with the pines so close and that fence, no where to put the snow so it gets narrow here. In this pic you can see where the woodlot is/was. Last fall I had 105 full cords of firewood stacked up there in rows 48 feet long, 2 cord per row. All that is left is that anemic little pile. Time to get to work! This last pic is the Honey Hole! It is the southern end of a 160 acre oak woods that is situated on an island in a swamp. Therefore, the root system is very shallow. Any summer wind of 40 or more mph knocks more trees over than I can cut in a year! Plus there is oak wilt in here, so I will not run out of wood in my lifetime! When I started cutting here, you could not get out there at all. I had to cut roads in just so they could hunt out here! Last season they shot 11 deer, but I have seen groups of deer out here this winter of 10 so they didn't get them all! I did not go farther in to the woods because it needs to be plowed out better. Over the winter snow packs on the road and builds up. Now as it warms up, it gets slushy and I can't get through with my 4 wheel drive. I did plow it clean but that was after the pic taking mood was over! lol My drive from the first picture to the last picture is 3/4 of a mile, or in snow plowing terms, 7 hours! lol Well I hope you enjoy the pics more than I enjoyed fighting the drifts all winter! Ted
Looks all too familiar Ted. Glad you are able to get in and out! Bet you'll be very happy when Mother Earth is showing again.
Nice looking hardwoods Ted. It looked like that around here a few times this winter but most is gone now.
I think we are coming out of the woods now, as far as winter is concerned(as I look around for wood to knock on!) Next week we have several days guestimated to be in the 40's, a temp we have not seen since last fall! I will have to remind myself to take the camera along and get pics of those snow banks after they have melted a bit! Ted
I am in sand country here. It will get muddy only as long as there is still frost in the ground. When the frost goes out, the ground is back to good to go! Good for me, bad for farmers. They need to irrigate if they want a predictable crop. On another note, I made a few phone calls yesterday, aimed at reducing my workload for next year. One guy, who has been buying 45 cords each fall (a reseller). was not happy as that is a lot of wood to find from one supplier. The idea is to get down to only 25 to 30 cords per season. The problem is I do not advertise, these are all folks I have supplied for many many years. It is hard to pick and choose which ones to call and let them know I won't be supplying them next season. Over the years I have already weeded out undesirable customers. Oh well, I guess the early bird gets the worm! After all, my plan is to go south for the winter, and do some golfing! Ted
With 100+ cords on the table, seems like there should be someone interested in doing the work even if it is just cleaning out blow downs for firewood?
Beautiful country there !! Thanks for posting those pics . Sweet roads. More snow..and they would be tunnels
Nice country Fly. Man, you got some snow! Yeah, I'll bet that road issue isn't fun if you get caught way in and punch down thru. Wow.
With 100+ cords and decent business partners buying wholesale, it looks like working that lot is full time work. I like the golfing idea for the winters
I'm jealous of those with sand. I'm sitting on 80' of clay. Every time it rains it turns into a mud pit -- you can hear the ground gurgle every time you take a step. 3 days later you can drive a cement truck across it.
Man it must have taken forever to plow the road with your walker. I guess after 100 cords you need Iit though.
Whaddya mean? I worked long and hard to make that plow! I even modded the brake levers to lift the plow so I can get over them dang stumps! Never good when a guy in a walker runs in to stumps ya know! Ted
I used to drink. Now, instead of drinking, I cut wood. The time I spent drinking is now spent in the woods. Now, can you see how easy it is to make 100 cords of wood?? lol Only half kidding on that. Drank alot, but not enough to equal the time making 100 cords of wood! lol Ted
