Snow and Firewood Update for Mid-February

I figured I’d give a short firewood and snow update for the latter part of the winter up here in Maine. And if you’re interested in doing so, please comment at the bottom of this post with your own update for your part of the country. We’ve all had an interesting winter so far and I’m curious to hear about yours.

December and January were fairly boring. I think it was later on in January when it finally began snowing. It was like…nothing…and then, everything all at once. We had three or four substantial snow falls that earned us over two feet of snow. Over the past few days though, it seems like it compacted some. If I had to guess what’s on the ground right now, I’d say around 18 inches. Either way, the snowmobile riders are happy and Laura and I plan on going on our hike up in the hills when the temperatures rise a bit. Currently, they are between 5 degrees and 15 degrees during the day and anywhere from -18 degrees to 5 degrees at night. Last year, I freaked out at those temperatures but now, I’m becoming numb to them. As long as I’m not shivering while trying to work on the computer, I’m good. The wood stove is taking care of that.

Snow in Front of Garage

This photo looks more dramatic than reality. I have a big pile of wood that’s covered with the snow in front of the garage. That’s not all snow.

Driveway Cleared by Snow Thrower

This is a pretty good picture of how well of a job the snow thrower does. You can see that everything is nice and neat, just the way I like it. No damage caused by plows and no piles of snow to look at. If we had a longer driveway, I wouldn’t be snow blowing it, but for this size, a snow blower is the best answer.

Okay, over to the firewood. So far, this winter, I’d say we burned a good two full rows of wood. I’m sure you all remember my many posts on how much wood I have, but if you don’t, check this out. You can see some pictures.

If I didn’t cut and split wood this autumn, we’d be screwed. I had a full two rows and like I just mentioned above, we burned two rows (a row is slightly over a cord). I’ve tapped heavily into next year’s supply, which means that I’m going to have to double down in the spring and really get enough for next winter. Now, I do want to say that this year’s wood was mostly junk and burned very quickly. If I had real wood, I’m sure that it would have lasted longer. But with next year’s supply just sitting there doing nothing, I’ll use it.

Partially Empty Row of Firewood

Next Year’s Row of Firewood

I figure that from here on out, we’ll need two tons of pellets and four cord of firewood. That is, unless I decide to install another wood stove in the living room. If that’s the case, we’ll need six cord of wood, straight up. Wood is better. It gives off more heat for the buck.

Laura and I joinded Sam’s Club a few days ago. We drove down to Augusta to fill up on some larger packaging of the foods we already eat. I was getting a bit tired of purchasing such small canisters of bread crumbs and such small bags of flour. At Sam’s, we get 25 pounds of this and 15 pounds of that. It’s sort of a hike to get there, but I figure it’ll only be a once a month thing.

Anyway, on the way to Sam’s last week, Laura snapped a few photographs of some scenery. I think it snowed the day before, so things were still in somewhat good shape. Enjoy – and don’t forget to tell me how much snow you have and how much firewood you burned!

House in Snow Covered Field

Snow Covered Road and Field

Old Bulldozer in Snow Covered Field