Firewood

We are half way through Winter and a warm wood stove helps relieve the chill of  the cold days of February. Not only is February a good time to use a wood stove, it is also a good time stock up on fire wood for next year.

With the ground frozen solid we are able to haul logs out of our woods without doing too much damage to the ground. A photo of Mary driving our tractor to the pipeline right-of-way on our property where trees cleared for the pipeline are stacked.



We used the front-end loader on the tractor to load logs on a flatbed trailer and haul the logs to our barn, about a mile and a half drive. With the trailer parked next to the barn the logs were cut into blocks.



Another load of logs ready to be cut into blocks.



Large blocks ready to be split. Many of the logs were over 24 inches across.



Once the blocks are split into firewood it is loaded onto pallets and moved to a storage area using my old John Deere tractor.



The firewood is temporarily stored in our barn to keep the snow off it.



More firewood stored in the barn. This firewood will be moved closer to our house and allowed to season (dry out) for next year's heating season.

Signs of Early Spring

Was "Punxsutawney Phil" correct with this year's prediction of an early Spring? I found these daffodils sprouting next to our barn.


(Please Note: The National Weather Service has issued the following:
...WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 7 AM EST SATURDAY... )

The Woolly Bear Report

It's not unusual to find  Woolly Bear Caterpillars (Pyrrharctia isabella) scurrying around in the fall, but within the past week I've seen at least a half dozen of these weather prognosticators wandering (slowly) around the neighborhood.

Some people believe the Woolly Bear can predict the Winter weather by the size of the black bands on its body. The more black bands, the worse the winter will be.

Most of the Woolly Bears I've found this week had more brown than black.





Occasionally there is a statistical outlier in the sample data.

Sunset at the farm

The clean white snow-cover from the Christmas snowstorm  is starting to turn light gray  as we progress into Winter and most of the leafless trees are now a drab brownish-gray. An evening sunset added some color to the otherwise black/white view of our farm property. (Click on image to enlarge)

Snow

We've had a few dustings of snow this Fall/Winter season, but this is the first "plow-able" snowfall in almost 2 years.



Our son, Matt, was home for Christmas and his dog, Colby, acted just like most kids with the first snow of the year...


Colby ran up the road ...


Down the road ...


And sometimes stopped to look for rabbits (he loves to play with rabbits).


The snow on our solarium formed lots of icicles as snow started to melt.



The snow acted like a mini-glacier as it slid off the solarium roof.


A picture of Wysox Creek.

Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree ...

I needed to thin out some of the white pine trees on our cabin property and the Hopkins family was able to select a Christmas tree.



Brian supervises as Daylan and Brady saw the white pine tree.



Brady, Daylan and Brian.



Dragging the Christmas Tree home.

White Christmas (?)

When most people think of a "White Christmas" they think of the  1954  musical film  starring  Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, but "white Christmas" has a different meaning to Brian & Tish Hopkins.



The trees at Brian & Tish's are decorated with toilet paper (this week's special bargain at TOPS Super Market)  and not  the typical Christmas tree garland.



Tish isn't sure who volunteered their decorating services  but she hopes to return the favor.



It almost looks like snow on the ground.

Time to relax

With Thanksgiving over and the fall turkey season closed, this flock of turkeys was taking it easy and enjoying the mild December weather.

Why did the grouse cross the road?

Q. Why did the grouse cross the road?
A. To get to the other side of the road.

We were driving on Joyce Road, between our barn property and the cabin, when we spotted this grouse standing in the road.



After some hesitation, the grouse slowly walked across the road.




The grouse may have been looking for new territory (or lost) because all it found on the other side of the road was a large pond. After a short walk along the edge of the pond, the grouse had to fly across it.

Big Bird

Matt and I were checking out a hunting spot on our property for tomorrow's start of rifled deer hunting in Pennsylvania when we were approached by "Big Bird". The emu came within 25 feet of us and watched as we trimmed some limbs from a white pine tree.



We're not sure where this emu came from, but it followed us around for at least 30 minutes.

Skunks

Earlier in the year I was able to find skunks everywhere in the neighborhood and then they disappeared overnight. It looks like at least one skunk survived and is still active in the neighborhood.  I found this skunk within a hundred yards of the pipeline valve assembly.

Buck Rubs

In a recent posting I described the white-tailed deer's breeding season, known as the "rut" and how the bucks are looking for does (female deer). While walking around the neighborhood I found some of the bucks calling cards, "buck rubs".



During the "rut", bucks rub trees and shrubs with their antlers and head transferring scent from the forehead glands to the tree, leaving a scent other deer can detect. The scent on a buck rub communicates a challenge to other male deer while also attracting potential mates.



The size of the rub usually varies with the size of the deer. While most buck rubs won't kill larger trees, they will slow the tree's growth and may disfigure some trees.

The view from above

Google Maps has updated the aerial view of the Rome area again this year with an image that was taken sometime in September. This image shows the new pipeline activity in the neighborhood. Here's a view of our cabin property showing the access road to the valve assembly.



A view of the pipeline valves.



The prior Google Maps image, taken October 2011, showed me working on the lawn at the cabin, the new image shows my pickup truck being driven on the access road.

The "Rut"

On our way home from voting we noticed a buck deer wandering back and forth in the road,  not paying any attention to our truck. It is the white-tailed deer's breeding season, known as the "rut", and the buck has one thing on his mind,  find as many does as he can. White-tailed  bucks are more active and less cautious than usual during the "rut" and this makes them  more susceptible to being hit by motor vehicles



This buck would walk up to the 5 foot high fence, look through it, return to the road, walk up the road a short distance and repeat the process.



After determining the fence didn't get any lower, the buck made a standing jump and easily cleared the fence.



After jumping the fence to enter the pasture the buck soon realized he needed to be on the other side of the pasture fence...



From another standing start the buck jumped over the fence, onto Joyce Road and walked into the woods.



Within a couple hundred yards of the buck jumping the fence we saw a doe run across Joyce Road and soon followed by another buck (with one thing on his mind).



As we approached our driveway we watched six more doe cross Joyce Road.

We've been on vacation ...

You may have noticed the lack of updates on this blog for the last month ... We've been on vacation and out of the country. This vacation took us to Turkey, where we've been twice before while on cruises, but never got to see the interior of the country. I've taken a small sample of the nearly 3,000 photos we took on our 2,000 mile tour of Turkey and created the Turkish Tour photo blog.

I have divided the photos into related groups based on locations or events. Click on the links below and check out just a few of Turkey's treasures.

	Instanbul
	Troy
	Izmir
	Pamukkale
	Antalya
	Cappadocia
	Cappadocia Balloon Ride
	Ankara