half your wood and half your hay<BR><font size=3 color=#11593C >...Thoreau's Journal: 1-Feb-1857</font>
Down railroad. Thermometer at 42 degrees. Warm as it is, I see a large flock of snow buntings on the railroad causeway. Their wings are wh...
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I expect many folks including myself didnt get a lot of exposure to Thoreau but he was wood burner who built his own cabin in the what was then the woods of Massachusetts on the shore of Walden Pond. He cut his own wood and lived in the cabin over 2 years and "lived off the land". There was civilization around him he just choose to live in the woods (he actually was from a well off family that made wooden pencils).
I would tend to agree that around the end of January, early February I usually have gone through half my wood. I am cutting it close this winter from my easy to get to stacks, as heating with a broken ankle for the first half of the winter required some compromises in efficient burning.
Groundhog day is on the same date as Candlemass day, so feel free to substitute Groundhog day