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I moved some snow off the corner of the driveway and dumped it in the woods but before that I opened up gutter on the southside of the house so more water is running, there's still a bit of ice in one corner but that should be gone by the end of the day.

1463 & 64 is the area I dumped the snow, I left the right side open because the deer were in that area earlier. 1465 & 66 is the corner of the driveway I removed snow from.
 

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Spring is right on the doorstep here; I’m working on cutting before the leaves burst…oh man, there’s a lot to clean up!

Today I thinned a bunch of hazels at the bank in my front field. The leaners have been uprooting themselves, so I’m coppicing them best I can. I cleared the base of this one last month…before I started
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End of the day
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lol, my buddy’s biologist wife said its probably grey birch, and that I was giving her painful flashbacks to undergrad… so I guess stoveliker wins!

I’ll split a piece tomorrow and see what it smells / looks like, and post back.
I split a piece and it definitely has a faint root beer type smell. Also the end grains I cut turned orange over night:
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yea, I think it is birch. I’m some odd coincidence I pickup up a truck load of wood off marketplace today. Looks like a mix of yellow and white pine, and something else (sort of smells like cedar, chips are red).

Quick shot while I was unloading it:
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So I cut this load to length, then split about a face cord. Gonna try to split and stack some more… but maybe so should actually spend that time fixing my log splitter. lol
 
took the road less traveled and found this wood today, and then cut it into 16” lengths when I got home. I also picked up a few new pallets, and will try to do some more splitting / stacking over the weekend.


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This stuff is heavy, what am I looking at, ash or beech?
Not Ash or Beech. At least it doesn't look like Beech I'm used to seeing.
 
I'm a spring, summer, and fall firewood gatherer (winters off). So, I got my saws out and prepped them. Next, I loaded the gear into my truck and was headed for a big, downed, owner okayed black locust. I made it about 30 feet when my Tundra decided to no longer go into gear. I had to have it towed to a shop (at least a week until he can look at it).

Ironically later that day, it stormed and snowed. So, a tough start to the wood season. I've decided to start making my own chains, so I got a 100' roll of Oregon chain and a 100' roll of Stihl chain. I was looking forward to getting some sharp chain into that big black locust, but the universe said, "No, not yet." Maybe April. I guess I could load my gear into my car and cut up the trees (there's some elm, too), so they are ready to be hauled. It is weird working out of the back of a car, though.
 
We have some heavier rains with wind coming in so no work outside will get done but I'll be peeling some taters and some carrots today. The wife cooked this near the end of October, this time we'll have 3 chicken breast not 4.
 

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Yeah we got that storm last night. 1.5 inches of rain and pretty rough winds all night. No trees broken this time but it did blow and 1/2 cord of wood over, and down the hill. At least I don't have to cut it before I haul it this time.
 
I split and stacked about 1/2 cord that black birch and maple. As @MRD1985 pointed out my wood stack smelled like a barrel of root beer… pretty nice aroma to stack to. Haha
Told you!! First time I cut it I couldn’t believe it. That is the tell tale for black birch that is a nice score 👍
 
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Spent some time this weekend cleaning up from the strong winds we had Friday. So many sticks in the yard, had to rake them. Got a trailer full. Also had the top of a white pine break off and land on a woodshed. Damage would have been worst if it wasnt full!
 
Since we have some good hardwood inside for overnight burns (when I have them) today we put in a small load of ash and cherry. We'll keep on putting in small loads so we don't get caught with a lot of wood inside when the temps change.

I did take ashes out that went in a garbage can, one or two more times taking out ash and that will be full.
 
The first thing I did outside today was get the ladder and then cleanout the gutters, only certain areas in each gutter needed cleaning so the old knees were happy. The wife was making sure the ladder was steady, job well done.

After looking at the long range forecast and the wood we put in yesterday, I decided we needed more inside before any rains hit. We put in a nice size load that has yellow birch, white birch with some soft maple, we'll burn that during the day when needed.
 
The Spring firewood processing has begun for me. Currently filling my shed with Aspen for my Sauna/Bath House. I should have two years worth in there. Then it’s time to fill the woodshed with 3 cords of Oak and Maple for 2026/27.
 

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I had 300 pounds of sand in the back of the four wheeler for plowing, it was wet even though it was still in it's bags but I opened the gates up more and spread that on some trails. I also had some dry tube sand (260 pounds) in back of the truck, that was also spread on some walking trails.

The tree in the picture finally had the top break off which is good, it should make nice dirt.
 

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The weather here has been up and down 70's a few days the 40's and rain and wind. Just burning up the last of my stacks so I have places to put my spring summer cuttings of wood. Once the weather breaks I have a lot of wood to process. We are supposed to be back in the 60's by the end of the week. If I'm not keeping the garage and kindling barrel filled I have been working with my 2 new labs training them up for spring hunt/field trials.
 
The weather here has been up and down 70's a few days the 40's and rain and wind. Just burning up the last of my stacks so I have places to put my spring summer cuttings of wood. Once the weather breaks I have a lot of wood to process. We are supposed to be back in the 60's by the end of the week. If I'm not keeping the garage and kindling barrel filled I have been working with my 2 new labs training them up for spring hunt/field trials.
We've lost a bunch of ice in the woods so I'll give it another week before I start on something. The 2 new labs will keep you busy.
 
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This afternoon we put in another two loads of ash, cherry and some maple. Hopefully the temps start warming up here by the beginning of next week.
 

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I snow-blowed this morning, met with the new Internet installer (we finally have Internet!), then unloaded the truck and trailer. I have no room to move around in either garage or the basement. Good thing there isn't much left at home to haul up! Once the weather gets more predictable (as predictable as WI gets...) I can pull the boats and trailers out to sort and re-arrainge...

We are going to finish the move either this weekend or Monday and then just a quick trip down for final cleaning, the last couple of items, and closing if we don't do a pre-signing.