Firewood & Fall

We have been so lucky this year. It's still autumn. Not news to most of the world, but here in the north, it's a little odd to still see grass and warm sunny days.


We finished filling the basement. Quite impressed with myself and my boys.

Basement

6 Rows. It's never held six rows before.


So... now what? Should we refill the long rows along the side of our house? We still haven't built a proper wood shed. Should we build a little temporary A-frame wood shed? It would store another 3 or 4 cords.


Nope. #2 takes the bull by the horns. He's the one that helped Grandpa build the green house. He's going to build us a wood shed the same way. He is 13.

He did build it himself. Only needed help putting the beams across the top and sides. I am so impressed with that boy.

Putting on the roof.  Vapor barrier plastic.  Slippery.

The weather held. We kept cutting wood. And cutting. And cutting... Wow. Is winter coming? Usually it's a scramble to fill the basement. This year, we've got a wood shed. And it's nearly full!

And we've still got this mess to cut amd pile...

We're so far ahead of where we usually are, we even left a present for my brother.

A-frame wood shed in background, blue.

#2 and #1 also built this lean-to for their other grandpa.

We've been clearing old trails at my parents new place. We've got a trail cut from our place to theirs. We worked on their trail to the creek bridge. It's all downhill from where we left off, and I didn't feel safe continuing. As nice as the weather's been, it's probably still too cold to take the truck for a swim in the creek. And now we're working on another trail that goes back to a natural spring. The trails are pretty old, and haven't been cleaned up in about 15 years. It's pretty easy pickings for firewood. A lot of dead fall.


And since we're so far ahead, we started getting a head start on spring. I mixed up a bucket of seed- grass, clover, beans, broccoli, lettuce, romaine, pumpkins, gourds, melons, swiss chard. Maybe a few other things that I've forgotten.

I walked through the pasture, tossing them out in the front corner, in the cropped grass section. Then we ran a third strand of barbed wire around. When we put the two strands up in the spring we ran out of wire. The two strands kept the horses out, but the cows walked in between. It was on the plan for next summer, but as long as the weather co-operates, we might as well get ahead on a few extra chores.


Two more loads of firewood should finish off the wood shed for this year. If the weather still holds after that, we'll start stringing barbed wire along the property line.


The horses started wandering out of the back pastures when the frost killed the leaves and brush. Once they could see through the trees the figured they could go wherever they liked. They've been back in the pasture since then, eating bales of hay.

Rita and Sugar

So, here we are.  The last day of October.  No snow.  It has snowed.  Almost every day.  But it keeps melting.  The ground isn't frozen.  Still fall.

Happy Hallowe'en!