Another quick one

What a day. Nothing major, just a long slog.

Conditions were right for a controlled burn today. We have several piles of trees, tree limbs, and lumber debris. Most places have them. When conditions are right you strike a match and release the murder carbon directally into the atmosphere.

You have to be careful with fire. Especially out here in the sticks where there's a lot of grassland and it's been an abundant grass year.

Snow on the ground around the site is good, as is a lack of wind. It's not always easy to get the right conditions to coincide with your ability to spend a whole day at the chore. I've been wanting to burn this pile for several years. In that time it went from just a little tyke of a pile to a serious pile.

The day began with a trip to the local Fire Chief's salvage yard. It's a volunteer department and he's a salvage guy. Been going to the same place to get a burn permit for the last 20 years.

But he got voted out last month! There's a new fire chief!

Of course I know him and where his business is, so not that big of a deal.

Burn permit in hand, I got busy.

First I lit it off.



Once it was going good I used the Bobcat to push stuff in and pull stuff out to keep things going the way I wanted.



Eight hours later it was mostly burned down. I banked the area with snow and dumped a good bit of snow on smoldering branches.



It was a hot, dirty, all-day job.



Glad it's done.

Cattle and chickens are fine. I sneaked away from the fire long enough to fix the stock tank float.

It was a very pretty day but I didn't take in much of the beauty as I was toiling longer and harder than usual. It's what I get paid for. I'm blessed that I can do stuff like this; that I have the knowledge and experience and that I'm not afraid of hard physical labor or of getting dirty. Nona made me roll down the windows on the way home this evening. She's a good dog but she'll only put up with so much bullshit!

Be well and enjoy the blessings of liberty.