Kick or Treat

That’s what the little tree that I cut down on Sunday said to me. The tree was tied up with grapevines. I cut the grapevine and the tree. The tree was only about 2” in diameter. It bound when the saw was almost all the way through. I thought the grapevines were holding the tree so I just cut from the side. When the stump let go the tree flew up and hit me in the face like the kick of a mule. No treat.

Sunday’s plan was to build another raised bed. Instead I lay around with a bag of ice on my eye.

October is gone. The lowest temperature was about 39 degrees. There were frost warnings for Saturday that chased the topsy-turvy tomatoes into the greenhouse. The frost didn’t happen. Saturday was dedicated to splitting wood and filling the wood ring and the kindling box in the garage. The wood in the yard is stored in a beehive.

A beehive is a vertical wood pile. A post is planted in the ground. The pieces of wood are stood up around the post. As the bottom expands a second, third and fourth layer of wood is added, all standing up. This helps green wood dry faster and causes rain to run off rather than soaking the firewood. The whole thing could be covered with a tarp, but that just adds a couple of steps to the task of bringing in firewood. The name beehive comes from the shape and appearance of the finished stack.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/