The Last Tree, for Now

Wednesday, Michelle and I felled a large standing dead spruce near our trail. Hopefully, this will be the last tree we’ll fell this year, as the first few rounds of it will fill up the last remaining space in our wood shed.

felled tree

This ought to keep me out of trouble for a while . . . hopefully the last tree of the season (Photo: Mark Zeiger).

My resolution to get next winter’s wood in early has been successfully fulfilled. Even without this tree, we have more than enough wood to fill the space if I include the two piles of split wood that are currently drying on the property. Those, being greener trees, will be left to dry through the summer, then stowed elsewhere to be added to the wood shed next spring. That and the excess from the new tree will protect us from an unusually harsh winter and ought to still provide enough wood to make a good start on next year’s harvest.

It’s a great feeling to have such a huge job finished before the end of May! Most of the felling, bucking, hauling, chopping, and stacking has been done during the cooler spring months, much of it before the mosquitoes came out. These last few days have been very warm, but I’ve avoided the need to work this hard in the mid and late summer months.

I’ve gotten to the beach to fish a bit, but while the Dollies are there, they’re not biting real well. So far, I’ve only caught two. It’s just as well that my time and energy is devoted elsewhere. When the time comes to fish in earnest, I won’t be distracted by the need to cut wood. I’m looking forward to that!

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