I celebrated the longest day of the year, by getting out with my bike at first light, and pedaling my way to the Great Confluence trail, then pedaling on the trail to the Great Rivers Museum/Melvin Price Lock & Dam, then pedaling back home with a stop at the grocery store for bananas and 5 oz paper cups... and they didn't have 5 oz paper cups. I didn't know I was going to try, so I didn't take the clunker camera with me, but now that I know I can do it, I'll probably try again with camera and tripod in tow. The power plant was noisier than I expected, and the narrow steel-girder wooden-plank bridge going over the Wood River, was a tad more... exiting... for a guy with acrophobia than I would like. Total trip time was about 1 hour and 20 minutes, and my miles were a little over 5 out, and about 6 on the way back, with many intersection stops.
Worked graveyard shift over the shortest night of the year. Weird having full sun on both ends of the shift.
Wiskas, with your lifestyle you're going to live forever. But yeah, I didn't even realize it was the solstice. I celebrated by grilling out and later watching Horror Of Dracula.
I should've hopped a bus, and took the Heritage trail to Woodhenge! I doubt there would be pagans there though...
yeah? five years ago I would have split at least another cord in the same amount of time. My body tells me that I'm getting too old for this shit . One more cord and I'll have the winter heating bill taken care of. I figure the with the price of seasoned wood of similar grade/species (>$150/cord) that I made pretty good bank yesterday. I may just buy the last cord though. Here's a vid of one of the trees coming down winter before last: Cottonwood is kinda shitty firewood but it burns OK as long as I keep the flew clean. I could tell instantly that the longest day of the year arrived when the sun came over the mountain as early as it did. I got all the irrigating done before 6:45am. I started as soon as I could see well enough to make my way down to the pump to switch it on without breaking my leg tripping over shit. Apparently I could see better than a three-point buck deer that came trotting through the area down by the pump. The damn thing almost ran right into me. It stopped with a screech about four feet from me. I could even see the whites of it's bulging eyes. This was at 4:30-ish.
I didn't do a damn thing, except enjoy the fact that it doesn't get dark until 9pm by getting work done outside. So I guess I did more than a damn thing. Seeing things like "summer solstice" makes me glad I'm not going out with that Pagan girl anymore.
Wiskas, are you burning cotton wood just because you have it and it's a way to use it up, or because you don't have better wood to burn?
I'm burning it because I have it, it is free, it is there, and it is seasoned and dry a year and a half now, it'll burn about as fast as douglas fir and put out just as much creosote.
I spent Thursday through Sunday weekend camping at a friend's house in upstate NY, partying, drinking, and getting roasted in a steamy backyard tent. My friend had a graduation/going away party (going to Brazil for a month) at his house on Friday, and that Saturday was the wedding of two of my close friends: the first in my group of college friends to get married. The bride and groom come from affluent families and are both charismatic and beautiful. The backyard ceremony was beyond perfect, not a dry eye in the crowd. The groom's dad became ordained so he could marry the two as his present to them. They had fancy appetizers from around the world and a brandy/cigar room that all made for a decadent and wonderful reception as well. Wild shenanigans came courtesy of the best man who, among other things, made out with the groom's newly divorced aunt. Nice.
I'm too lazy to redo it, though! If an adminy type wants to excise that post, and stick it in a new thread, feel free! Although I really feel that it's just the visual portion of my initial thread... Edit: Hey! I'll do it the easy way! cut and paste!
You know, people think I'm crazy for burning the wood I do in our fireplace. But, I followed my grandparents as examples. They burned whatever they had on the property for well over 50 years. That included several pine trees, cotton wood, gum trees, just whatever they had that was easy to fell. My grandfather never bought into the whole mentality that you couldn't burn pine. He always said to run a chimney brush once every 2-3 years, and you'll be in good shape. He has used his wood stove to heat his house ever since he bought the house over 50 years ago. I recently got a wood furnace from my dad that I'm looking to install to heat my house. Figure I already have an endless supply of wood! ~Will Courtier~
Not just that. When you fell a tree, you're actually taking a life. My credo dictates that when i take a life, it's more than my responsibility to assure that the life was not extinguished for nothing. I do not kill what I don't use to the fullest. It's true for fauna as well as flora. As soon as that saw touched the tree trunk, the wood was destined to heat my home. same with the venison from last hunt. I utilized every shred of meat. Meat most hunters would have tossed away because it would be too much hassle. As a result, that carcass provided 20-25% of my meat diet this winter.
You started a fiery debate that touched a cord in woodsmen's hearts! The worse the pun is, the better I like it!
