It gets addictive. Old mouldy floor boards, trim, tongue & groove pine wainscoting, ash logs, bed frames and whatever else needed to go. A couple rotten roof trusses even made it into the mix. Once I got the fire really going, and there was a healthy bed of coals we were able to incinerate just about anything. I had the fire running for two days straight. Several busted up pallets got sent to their doom in the fire pit too. I went scouring through the trees for downed limbs, and brush to clear the ground around the fire pit. It’s a shame the leaves are so water logged as we could have lit up the heavens by burning those too. Whoosh! As it was much of the burnable stuff was wet and/or damp and pretty smoky. Glad we don’t have particularly close neighbours. November and December are great months for long burns as there are no bugs to contend with.
If I had my way we’d have made it a full blaze and cleared up ALL of the cut off wood bits, and building junk on the property, but as it was I cleaned up the burn pit pretty well myself by rolling various logs into the flames and coals for a long slow burn. I should take a shovel over there to flatten out the ash/sand pile so that you can stack piles in the centre once again. Right now the centre is a massive mound of old ash, sand and soil. It stands about four feet high, and probably 10 or twelve feet wide in diameter. Not that I want to shovel all that by hand, but it should get knocked down at some point. Preferably when there are no bugs down in that low rock lined pit by the tree line. Come summer it gets brutal down there for all kinds of creepy crawlers.
It is Sunday December 31st, 2023. Last day of the current year. No big plans to do much of anything today. Except laundry. Always have to do laundry. Can never escape it. I imagine we will find some fireworks to watch on tv from the comfort of our own home. No walking, no driving, or finding parking spots in a crowded lot loaded with children. Tantrums and rain, delays and late starts, aching legs, and sore feet. We’ll give all that a miss this year.
No resolutions for the coming year. Other than I intend to make exercise a stronger personal habit and a part of every week. I haven’t thought much about doing a new reading challenge this coming year. I think I’ll read whatever takes my fancy as I find it. No pressure to read a set number. I’d like to find the time to sculpt more, and/or do some wood working. I was working on a pine bed, so I didn’t totally slack off in the shop this year!
Well, the 24 hour burn, became a 48 hour burn, is now close to a 72 hour burn. Roof trusses, old beds, and all manner of other junk was fed into the belly of the beast. It ain’t pretty, but she sure is a roaster. Burned a hole in my coat while I was at it.
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