Posts from the ‘Montana’ category

A day in the woods

Ok, not really “IN” the woods, but on the edge of the woods – my (by the Grace of God) woods. I never “traded” before moving to Montana, but since I’ve been here trading has been part of my life and a wonderful part! My first trade was a hot tub for a snow blower and we were both very happy! The hot tub needed some work that I could not do and I really needed a snow blower.

Circa October 2008 – I’m talking to my friend Kris and lamenting the fact that I have this pile of dry logs and some dead/dying trees and have been unable to find someone to cut for a split of the wood. Kris puts forth an idea for a trade – she and her carpenter husband, Hal need some computer/photography help and Hal is waiting for a job to start…match made in heaven! Someday, I will tell the story (part anyway) of Kris and Hal and how they came into my life, but for now the important thing is that they came to my woods yesterday and Hal cut up the logs – Kris and I moved and stacked – in preparation for another day of splitting and stacking.

Current state of the firewood supply… – not enough for Winter!

Logs that were not sellable or did not fit on the last truck after Logging ’07.

More logs that didn’t fit on the truck.

It was a beautiful day! – golden larch against blue, blue sky. I didn’t get the exposure quite right – in “person” it was a much more vivid contrast. The larch are approaching their peak of vibrant gold!

That smoke??? – the smoke of an 80’s vintage chain saw starting….the BIG saw, the saw big enough to handle the logging remnants.

I learned about a new tool – a peavey. It is a handle with a sharp point and then a kind of sickle shaped extrusion. It works like a lever to move large logs. Hal used it to get the pile of logs parallel enough to cut through several at a time with the BIG saw.

Hal cut a few rows and threw the cuts out of the way. At the start, I was back and forth from the computer to the cutting area – taking the cuts to the splitting venue and out of the way. As things progressed, the moving (my part) became more fulltime. Kris arrived with Arrow, their Samoyed. Arrow is 15 1/2, loves to ride in the car and even though they have beautiful acreage to walk in, enjoys a “new” spot. We had a nice long walk and left Hal to sawing. Karl, the beardog, was in the house…he has a thing about chain saws and also gun shots (hunters are practicing???).

After lunch, things stepped up and we all worked until all was cut up and mostly grouped to allow me to put a tarp over and keep it all dry until splitting day.

We finished for the day about 2:30 – I was pooped! Hot shower feels so good after a day working hard – even if it was really only half a day more or less.

Below…the “after”:

A day in the woods – wonderful!

Sky fire

My property sits on the eastern edge of a heavily wooded foothill. I can see through the trees to the east – to the Swan Range, sunrise color, and sunset alpenglo – but sunset over the valley is something I rarely see. I don’t go out much evenings… But last night, the sky overhead and over the trees to the west was shot with magenta and fiery orange. I called to Karl, grabbed the camera, jumped in the Jeep and drove down the hill. I gasped at the first site of the clouds and color and then sped to a spot where I could park the Jeep before things changed – the light and color can be so fleeting sometimes. But tonight, the show went on for awhile. I took some photos but also just sat with Karl and watched – sky fire – beautiful!

The road home: Fall edition

To the right of the road in the above photo.

In the park by the lake before returning home: the larch are starting to turn – light green to gold.

A gray, drizzly day meant Karl and I had the park to ourselves.

Early Winter Storm

Those pretty photos of snow on the mountains here in the Flathead Valley were only the “tip of the iceberg” for an early winter storm. Here, it has been sunny but very cold for this time of year – in the low 20’s last night, mid 40’s yesterday and until last night a cold wind from the south east.

But southwest Montana – a very different story…

Montana Department of Transportation has a great web site for travelers. (So do WY, CO and probably others…) A state highway map shows road conditions. In the summer, construction delays and circumstances are detailed. In winter, the above. I use this site and have used Wyoming and Colorado sites when I’ve travelled in my motorhome in winter, which I love to do! But I allow plenty of time so as to be able to sit out dangerous driving conditions. It is tools like these which help me make the decision to go or stay parked.

Monida Pass (above from the MT DOT web cams) is currently closed for blowing, drifting snow and icy conditions. Above shows why. Monida Pass is on I15 – the road south into Idaho and then Utah. It is a high, wide, open pass with a gradual ascent and descent versus a steep, winding through the mountains pass. It is prone to very high winds

Homestake Pass is on I90 heading east from my location. Going east it is a gradual ascent, but a steep, winding descent. It is beautiful, and good road, but can be treacherous. The summit rest and vehicle check area has an ominous sign about the number of truckers killed on the eastern descent and warns of checking equipment thoroughly and obeying all speed signs (25 mph for over 10,000 lbs) until the descent flattens out.

I am glad to not be near it in the motorhome today! And much as I love winter and snow, I also love fall and am not unhappy that this storm missed my area. November is plenty soon for snow on the ground. I will be happy to enjoy a couple more weeks of fall!

Saturday chores

Yesterday was a chore day… first up was dusting and cleaning floors. I don’t do these things on any kind of schedule…I dust when the sun shines at such an angle that it forces me to notice that I can write my name in the dust on shelves, etc. Although I vacuum the floor nearly daily, because it is wood, I am fairly sure that all I accomplish with the vacuum is blowing the dust, hair and dirt to the edges and under things where it forms gigantic dust bunnies. They hide until someone visits and then they skitter out to betray my “only when things get desperate” style of housekeeping.

I noticed that in the last several days the floor was feeling a bit gritty – that is my signal that it is time to get serious. In the living room, I picked up the pet bed and put it on the back of a chair while I worked in there.

“Where my bed goes, I goes”…

Next up on the chore list was firewood. I have about 1/3 of a cord of small larch pine that was cut to length for my stove 2 years ago. I had cut several small live trees that were in the way of the motorhome spot and they are now nice and dry – easy to split and ready for a nice crackly fire – the larch “spits excessively” – snap, crackle, pop in the stove.

My method of splitting I call aerobic splitting…

I like to set 3 or 4 logs in a semicircle and take a whack at them in succession. I use a splitting maul vs a hammer and wedge. Splitting wood is more about letting the tool and momentum do the work vs strength, but it does take some effort to swing the maul with accuracy and to coordinate motion so that body and maul weight is doing most of the work. I find that the rhythm of doing several at once works for me.

Karl supervises….from a distance.

They all split on first whack – but some I split again. I’m splitting these small larch fairly small to use as fire starter and small fire fuel. I have a stock of larger fir and pine for larger, longer stove use.

Wheelbarrow full from 7 smallish rounds.

Karl and I had taken a walk before the wood splitting commenced. The walk was partially my “warm up”. I hadn’t done any hand splitting for 2 years. The fall I moved into the house I bought 4 cords of wood and the handyman that worked for me at the time had a splitter which we used. And while feeding the splitter and then stacking is still work, it was much faster and easier. I have nearly 3 cords of dry wood leftover from the logging done in early 2007. I am doing a wonderful trade with my friends Kris and her husband, Hal. Some of my computer/photography expertise for Hal cutting the wood to length, as well as taking down several dying trees and downfall that can dry for next year. I will rent a splitter for that project, but until then I enjoy hand-splitting a bit now and then.

I split 14 rounds – 2 wheelbarrows full – 1/4 of the little 1/3 cord…enough for me for the day!

Karl thought it was enough also.

We played “Karl’s rules soccer-football”….

“You get it, Mom”

Done for the day.