Contemplation

© 30 Sep '12    photo by smck

This is almost the same view as before but at just a bit larger scale in which you can see the roughness of this old and seasoned wood.  It is somewhat wet from soaking up rain but will dry quickly when I have split the rounds into 1/2s and then 1/4s and leave it stacked here, covered on top with a thin two foot wide piece of plywood until I have finished cutting in this area.  Later I will haul it back to my wood-rick near our house to split the larger pieces to nice stove size and stack it all again. This old dead wood burns well with little creosote output but the one main drawback is the 'dirtiness' of the bits of decaying exterior wood that litters the floor after every loading of the stove - when I do occasionally cut either a living tree or one that is newly deceased I always have a minor enjoyment of how little litter there is in handling the wood.  In general though it's load the stove - then sweep and vacuum around the stove. 

However when the stove is burning nicely with the flames flickering their hypnotic lantern show through the tempered glass doors and I am sitting in my comfortable chair with my book and my single-malt of the day, laze-ally enjoying the warmth on a bone cold winters day then the labour has been well played.   
 
I have to fess-up, that actually I drink much more tea than single-malt - but the single malt does fit right into the ambiance of the moment.