Slash Today, Burn Tomorrow

Yard work starts to take on new meaning when the yard is a couple of acres. Especially being warm and humid, small trees and brush grow so fast you feel like you could sit on the porch and watch them grow. With the gray sky's and light rain this morning I decided to get ready for burning time. Global warming is not gonna happen unless we all contribute a little, so I will do my part to raise the sea level and the property value for millions of Americans. People burn around here all the time. The county issue's burn bans when it is dry and as far as I can tell most people observe these restrictions.

I am pretty nervous about a lighting fires out here because I grew up going to the woods once or twice a year where many a ranger station posters of Woodsy Owl assured me that only I could prevent forest fires. So I try to only burn when it has been or is pouring rain. I try to cover a pile so it will dry out. Then the pile dries out and I can burn it when everything else is soaked. This pile had been here a while but I uncovered it and piled on some new stuff I cut up with the chainsaw.

Getting a pile to light up can be a pain when it is to wet. Personally I find the best way to get em going is diesel fuel topped off with a little spray of carburator cleaner. Yes, I will admit that in the beginning I used gasoline and may have burned a large amount hair off my arms once. Drive around here at night and you will see piles burning in peoples yard all through the night. I can't bring myself to do that I have to take a hose and put it out before I go to bed or leave the house.

Rain, Rain and more Rain

Raining solid all day and most of yesterday. Not always pouring but steady.

I should be out burning stuff, but I think we're still under a burn ban. Yes, a burn ban...when we moved here I had never lived in a rural area before and had no idea how often shit needs to be burnt. I certainly had no idea there were days when burning was good and when burning was bad. The property had lots of crap on it, an old hunting camp, and old house, a small barn and years of trash that had been left behind. The buildings were all rotting and needed to go, and when I mentioned to people that I needed to tear them down and get rid of them, everyone said the same thing: "Wait 'til it is pouring rain and chuck a molotov cocktail inside and burn 'em down."

I was in shock. My exposure to wooded areas comes from camping trips to national parks where Woodsy Owl was constantly reminding us that the smallest spark would destroy the forest and all the creatures that reside within. After being here for a few years and watching countless neighbors burn mountains of brush and piles of trash, I gave in to the idea of burning a few things and discovered something: even with a gallon of diesel fuel, it is not easy to start a fire in the rain. Well, when our place was logged the timber management company torched both of the run-down buildings and about fifty acres at the same time.

Anyway, my oldest turns seven tomorrow so haven't had time to burn doodly squat.