The leaves aren't falling yet....

but the stoves and accessories are stocked at Lowe's.

Time to dust of the the Hearth Gods, I mean Hearth Mods. 'Tis the season!

As for me, I'm probably more prepared than any other winter, though I've come to the conclusion that I might save time AND money by having wood delivered c/s/s.

Waning days of summer. Pictures from Parker River NWR last week. Not too many of these warm sunsets left this summer.




Sandpipers getting the feed on for migration soon.





Stores have Halloween candy out already.

The exercise has a value to it also. My father (79) and his neighbor (84ish) cut , split, and deliver about 20 cord a year. Neither needs the money, they do it for fun.
Inspirational couple of old farts.

Uggh.

My back hurts just thinking about that. Please tell me you did not do it on a 80 or 90 degree day. I'll have heat stroke for you right now....

I love the fall but dread raking, blowing, and picking up the leaves. Easily my least favorite chore.

I've already done the math; cut, split, delivered makes more sense to me. Both, financially and time saving.

I am ready...been too damn hot and dry here.

I do a little bit of both on the wood front. There is a guy that will deliver wood much cheaper than what I would dream of charging for it...so I buy at least
a cord every year from him. I do scrounge when I get the chance, but its better to have too much than not enough...I tend to give away alot of what I scrounge anyway. Gotta keep my older neighbors and relatives warm ya know.

It's crossed my mind as well.
Went out back mid-afternoon to cut up the oak posts and stringers I pulled up a few days ago.
One hour later and all I got done was about 16 small logs. Jeesh.
I'll keep at it, but perhaps supplement with c/s/d next year.
Every time I go outside, I see all the trees that need to come down, and just shake my head.
Oh, and our lone birch started dropping leaves a couple weeks ago.

This is about what I've been doing the past two years. I found a guy who delivers wood for so cheap I can't justify spending so much time scrounging as I've done in years past. I still scrounge a couple cords a year, but buying two cords this year to burn next year seems to work well for me, and takes the pressure off my scrounge demands. However, I scored a jackpot scrounge at work recently and don't think I'll need to buy wood in the spring.

I've had a lot of wood that has needed splitting forever. I figured it would get done this summer. It was happening too slowly, so I rented a splitter. A friend was up from Atlanta on "vacation." She and the kid ran the splitter. For an entire weekend. I was cutting up some trees the neighbor had dropped. All the wood was scrounged.

The costs:
splitter rental
gas for splitter and saw
new chain plus sharpened chain.
advil
advil
advil
take out food because nobody stopped to cook

Intangible costs:
several wasp stings
wear and tear on our bodies
running too close to a due date on a big assignment for school
no day at the lake
possibly losing a great friendship (nah, she's coming up next weekend to rehab the kitchen. At least I hope she is.)

I love to cut and split, but the truth is I have so little time it just ends up stressing me out all the time that I am way behind.] I don't think I saved much money over buying it.
Plus nobody is allowed to go to the hospital, because my emergency room costs are worth 2-3 cords of wood.

I told myself that after I went on "Bombs Away" at the Cali water park. The floor just drops out from under you and you free fall.



I have some trees around the place I need to clean up, plus a couple more trees at the neighbors, so the saw will still be busy. I think I'll buy a couple of years worth just to get ahead, then continue to scrounge really easy access stuff.

I love raking leaves. You would too, if your property had 40 walnut trees! Have you ever tried to rake up 100,000 walnuts?

Definitely... but I enjoy the excercise and time outdoors.

I've always had a question . . . and it's probably a dumb one . . . can you eat the walnuts?

I mean up here the apple trees I have on my property grow apples, but since I don't prune them or spray them they're not very good looking . . . although in some years I get a bunch and use them to make apple crisp. I was wondering if it was the same way with walnut trees -- do the walnuts look like the ones you see in the stores or if not treated, pruned, etc. you don't end up with a nut that looks or tastes very good?

Well, the walnuts have a husk on them, which makes them the size of a large plum or a crab-apple when they fall. This husk is very tough, and must be removed before the walnut begins to rot. So, you could eat them, but you'd have to gather them up, remove the husks, and then dry the nut inside. If you let the husk begin to rot, it produces a dark colored oil which is used for making dark furniture stains. If you get that stuff on you (or on your boots, and then your carpet... DAMHIKT), you will never get it off.

I've been toying with the idea of buying and modifying a golf ball collector from a local driving range, for the express purpose of picking up walnuts. Maybe then I could entertain selling them.

Thanks . . . may have seemed like a simple question, but not having walnut trees up this way, I didn't know.

I love the fall. We live in the woods and have lots of leaves. We've never raked them nor do we plan on doing so. Exception is to clear just a small amount right next to the house if it needs done. Usually Mother Nature makes enough wind to do the job for us.

Walnuts are good. Yes, you must remove the husks, or shells and many do that by simply throwing them on the driveway and running over them to loosen the husks or shells. Store in onion bags hanging from a rafter and don't try to split until mid winter at the earliest.

One thing that is good to do though with walnuts as with hickory nuts. Before gathering lots, crack 3 or 4 and make sure there is meat inside. If no meat; no picking up of the nuts.

Jags, sorry I had not ready your post before posting and I see you covered the part about running over the nuts. Good advice.

Here's more; wear rubber gloves when handling them. You can also crack them with a hammer.

What is this raking leaves you speak of?

Ditto, Kathleen, why waste valuable energy?
I use the mower and make 'em go into the driveway, where they stay and get smushed further by the Jeep. They also get mulched into the yard.
However, if you were using them for compost, that's a whole 'nother sitchitation.