As you know, we gave up on skiing for the season this past week because it has been too warm.
Yesterday we went to our cabin with the expectation that the temperature might be in the high 40s or low 50s. I packed our snowshoes just in case the snow was still to deep to trudge through.
When we got there, there was more bare ground as expected, but the snow that remained was not as deep as we expected. We trudged around our usual path without snowshoes without problem other than my wife's boots not being as waterproof as advertised.
I had intended to use the chain saw to cut up some wood or cut down some trees, but I discovered that the chaps that I just bought should be washed before use!! (See "I tried to cut my leg off!" http://magree.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-tried-to-cut-my-leg-off.html)
OK, I'll use a handsaw to cut the smaller stuff. But where was that nice draw saw our son gave us for Christmas several years ago? It wasn't in any of the places that it should have been. Well, last week we had cut overhanging branches along the drive. I checked and there it was on the ridge of snow along the side, the sheath sopping wet. I pulled out the saw and it was still shiny! Talk about not making things like they used to. To shorten the story I did use the saw yesterday and today to cut up several small trees and large branches next the saw horse.
We looked at the thermometer on the side of our wood shed a bit before noon. The temperature was at 64 F!!!
I looked at the snow around the chipper and saw that it was almost gone. I had decided there was too much snow around it yesterday. I had brought the battery from home and installed it. Set the choke and throttle and push start. Vroom! I got rid of two piles of branches and did three cartloads of chips. They lengthened the "paved" section of a trail by almost 20 feet.
Oh, yes! I should mention that the predicted overcast skies for Duluth were blue with big puffy clouds in Brimson. I should mention that on our drive back I did see rain showers way off to the south and west, but we only got a few drops on our windshield.
