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gradual winter sunlight
Friday, December 10 2010
At some point this morning Gretchen said "I don't want to grow old and die." She tends to worry about things that she can't do much to change, often to the point of articulating them. It was a glum thought, but it seems a bit narcissistic to worry about something so personal (and usually Gretchen's sadness comes from mass ongoing tragedies). As for me, I don't want the Sun to swell into a red giant and swallow the Earth, but that's inevitable too.
I cut down some more evergreens south of the house this afternoon while Gretchen was away. I do a little at a time here and there so the changes that result are not drastic. I even conceal the stumps after I finish by cutting them low and covering them with leaves held down by rocks. Gradually more winter sunlight is finding its way through our south-facing windows. As a side benefit, I've been generating a fair amount of White Pine and Eastern Hemlock firewood. I don't know much about the drying characteristics of green hemlock, but my experience with White Pine is that it dries very quickly once it's been split. It's possible to burn it a woodstove only days after cutting it down if one pre-dries it near the stove for at least 24 hours.
A light snow fell this evening, accumulating less than a half inch. It was enough to keep Gretchen from going out to some concert thing at Bard.
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