Dieselhead said:
why is it frowned upon to cover just the top of the pile during the summer months? I figure the more rain you can keep off it the faster it would season. no?
It is ABSOLUTELY NOT frowned upon, not by experts in the lumber-processing field, and for two reasons:
1) You do not want the lumber to crack/split/check from local temp extremes.
2) You do not want liquid water coming in contact with the wood. (Weren't you trying to remove water?)
2) applies here, to speed up air-drying.
"season" is vague and meaningless here; "dry" is the operative word.