Colder here. What's your temp? What ya burnin?

It was 10 this morning, all Cherry.

 

10 here now down to 0 in the morning. Potluck dinner for the boiler tonight, cherry, hackberry, walnut and ash.

 

That was the forecast between all the different news channels and websites. They really covered their arses on this one. We ended up with somewhere between 8-10". I just got home from 15hrs of plowing. My wife sent me this pic while I was out. It sure made the time go by a little better

 

a smile like that on a kid's face sure will put a smile on yours

 

Minus 6 here this morning Did I mention that I'm sick of it?
Oh well...throw another log on the fire

 

-10ºF here and Ash burning in the boiler. Yes Woodchuck, you did mention that you are sick of it. And I am in agreement with you! We were talking about how it is suppose to be 40 next Tuesday. And how that will be a big boost to people. A lot of peoples moods are in the gutter right now. Cabin fever has really set in for some.

 

A big 4 degrees here now burnin ash n oak ,
But I LIKE THIS

 

-21 this morning in the pines, I only did the pellet stove last night. Over coffee I loaded the Liberty with Cherry (bottom) the top was all ironwood.

 

-16WTF out
Can't say I'm not used to these consistent overnite temps,,,,,,,,,,, can say I'm sick of them !!!! It's March for the love of all that's holy ,,,,,, and daffodils !!!!
68 in
Beech and coal,, same oal same oal .
Kids off school today so we're gonna fill the wood room. Prolly one more time after this and the fat lady will sing !

 

Woke up to -9f. Now up to +5f sunny and no wind. Stove in burndown mode as it needs a clean out, then a feeding of beech for the day.

 

-5° this morning,the coldest I've had all winter, but with total calm & 8" of fresh snow, the stove room stayed at 70°, 7 hrs after the nighttime load of locust. INCREDIBLE full moon & warm sun today, it's been a perfect last hoorah for winter.

 

Looking really good here man.Even threw a bunch of shoulders in from the carport today.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/canada/ontario/kingston

 

Beautiful moon, clear sky last night. Brilliant stars. -4F before 9 PM. Didn't check after that...what's the point? It's clear today, but quite windy. Have a tree near the road that is creaking like crazy. Have to decide whether it is just the 1/2 on the N side above where the trunk splits (which doesn't look very healthy) , or whether the creaking is coming from closer to the base. It is supposed to get even windier and chillier in an hour or two, so Artan and I will venture out again and see if the tree tells us anything new.....

With the sun, small fires are keeping us quite warm. Not using much wood per day now. Hoping to get to the Spring without starting another stack, just using shoulder season wood.

Went to the woodlot management workshop last night. Learned a bit. Also upon inquiring was told that the research up here has indicated the EAB comes from a similar climate in China, and the cold is not impacting them at all. Current recommendation is to do some thinning where indicated, and some underplanting in anticipation of the devastation we are bound to get. They are basically talking disaster, which I guess a lot have already experienced.

 

The Ash out here have been in trouble for a few years now Sherwood but they say its worse Brockville way?

You and Artan don't get too close to that creaky tree eh!!!

 

Another thing I learned was a bit more about the managed forest tax incentive. I had been told that if one entered the program, one's taxes were reduced to 25% for the land portion, getting reassessed from residential to managed forests (need ten acres, beyond the acre around your home). My reassessment only reduced my assessment by 67 %, not 75%. I asked about this and learned that there is no guarantee of ANY reduction in assessment, that it is the mill rate that changes from 100% for residential to 25% for managed forest. So, I have a reduction in assessed valuation of the land of 67% (Maximum allowable reduction) and the remaining 33% will be taxed at 25 % of former rate. Savings in tax will pay for much work on the woodlot.

My home is more than an acre back from the water, so I no longer have any residential land that is taxed at waterfront rate

I'm a happy camper this morning.

 

Lost me at the first 25% thing.Good your a happy camper though!

 

They said it was really bad in Ottawa and to the west of Toronto. I said I had a few ash die on my property in the past two years, and they pooh-poohed it being possibly EAB, said it was the drought before last year.....I did definitely see one EAB near the house (pretty green bug..ugh!) but have not seen evidence if tunneling in the trees. Have you reported to the gov't? They want us to. I can post the phone numbers if you haven't them. The also don't recommend immunizing the trees, even a few, unless you have a specimen in the yard. Ottawa is doing some, as is Carleton Place (so it is pretty darn close to us if you have it and CP has it); Ottawa has gone from every other year to every year, as they found EOY was not 100% effective. Costs $6 per cm of CIRCUMFERENCE! The inject a pressuring form of neem, which flows up the tree, the larvae feed on it and die.

Bet there is sales tax on top of that: 12 inch diameter= greater than 36 inch circumference = greater than 80 cm circumference x $6.00 = $480 + 13 % tax = $540 for a 12 inch tree!

 

We talked about it here last year but didn't want all the hoopla and dealing with the Gov.
There isn't a lot of Ash out here to begin with, but those bugs are definitely here.

 

I have no where near the amount of ash that many have, but still have a surprising amount. One does not notice it as much as the ironwood, hickory, sugar maple, beech and white birch. It's a "quiet" wood.

They told us last night that many communities and farmers and golf clubs planted it exclusively to replace the elm that was killed by dutch elm disease. So, I guess the trees are now at a nice size, and are the dominant trees, in many areas and are being killed by EAB. Mine are only the percentage you would normally find in a climax sugar beech forest.

 

So, we went for another walk at around 3:30. Pretty sure it is the main branch to the N, where the trunk bifurcates at about 30 feet up.

When it goes, it will go on the road. I wish it would just go and get things over with. I'm a bit nervous walking by it. It's really creaking today.