Out In the Yard

Spring here in New Hampshire comes at the last minute but it comes on strong. The weather turns nice and before you have time to get the wood stacked and the yard cleaned up, the grass is 6 inches high and needs mowing, not to mention trying to get a jump on the weeds.

But back to wood.

When I gutted the inside of the house at the beginning of this project, I made a point of separating out all the unpainted wood debris with the intention of using it later for fuel.  In a 19th century house, the amount of unpainted wood in the walls is impressive.  Of course most of it remains in the house, making up the timber frame and the exterior sheathing, but the lathe that held the plaster was all removed along with the framing that made up a few interior walls which were demolished as part of reconfiguring the floor plan.

All this scrap wood went into a big pile out behind the barn, and over the past 3 years I've slowly chipped away at the pile, cutting up the longer pieces as needed and using the lathe for kindling.  But the pile was enormous.  It loomed in the backyard as unfinished business.  This week I finally made some inroads at taming the beast.

I started cutting it and stacking it on a pallet and then decided that I had enough scraps to build a little shed to keep it dry.  This of course prolonged the task of getting rid of the ugly pile but come next winter I'll be happy for having dry kindling.

Now this is one shabby little woodshed but remember it was hacked together in a few hours with nothing but recycled scrap wood and leftover roofing materials.  I've spent so much money over the past few years on building supplies; I thoroughly enjoyed this little recycling project.

...and what about the tulips?

Remember back in November when I did a shotgun bulb planting post?  Well, the results are in and I'm in the pink.