Stacked firewood

A few days before our recent rain and snow I got the rest of the cut branches stacked in the patio. I barely got it done before the rain started.  Last year and this Summer I left the cut branches out on the stacked logs by the garage.  This was to keep them in the sun and heat so they would dry better and faster.   But the last few weeks I've been moving them bit by bit, wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow, into the patio where they will be protected from the rain and snow.   Alway good to put dry wood in my woodstove in order to heat my house.

Here is the log pile from last year.   I added more branches this year before moving them to the patio.  The second photo is what the log pile looks like now after I moved the cut branches.

Again, I added more branches to the pile after this photo was taken.  So the log pile was even higher as I had to throw the cut branches to the top of the pile.

After this photo was taken last year I cut half of the pile into smaller pieces.  I cut the rest of the pile this Spring.

Now it is time to use the cut branches in my woodstove to heat my house.

First snow

It started snowing this morning.  First snow of the season.   Darn.  It couldn't have waited until November before first snow.   The temperature was in the low to mid 30s much of the day.  Much of the snow on the grass lasted all day.  It did melt off the road, and while still wet, I was able to ride my bicycle to get 19 more miles for the month.   760 miles this October barely made it the third highest milage total in 48 years of riding in an October.

Not much snow fell, so the cows could still eat from the hayfield and I didn't have to put out a bale for them.

Tamarack needles are turning yellow

It is Fall.  Time for the leaves to turn colors and fall. They have.  Now it is time for the Tamarack (western larch) tree needles to turn yellow and fall.

And here is the last tree branch pile, and the oldest pile, I have in my pastures.   Maybe next year I will cut up some of the larger branches and get rid of the rest.

Burnt almond color

You know I painted the barn this past Fall.  I currently am trying to paint the tool shed before the weather stops me.  Earlier this year did I realize I would be in the painting mode?  No.   But I am thinking about it now.  And maybe repainting the house.  Not this year.  Next.  

I am trying to remember when I last painted the house.  I didn't blog about it for whatever reason.  I had to look for photos from when I did the painting.  I found a few from back in 2009.  I didn't have much of a camera back then, so not many photos.

So, 15 years ago.  The house paint is still decent.  The garage, which was painted after the house that year, not as good.  So that is what is getting me to think about repainting the house and garage.

Back then the house was white.  And I painted the house an off-white?  I forgot the name of the paint color.

While I am fine with that color, it is time for a new color.    Earlier this week when I was out riding my bicycle in a subdivision I came across a house nearly done being painted.  I liked the color.  It was different, but not a crazy color.  I stopped and asked the guy there what was the name of the paint color.  Burnt almond.    He said it was a masculine color as guys like the color more than women do.   He got the paint from Home Depot and the brand was Behr.

burnt almond color behr exterior - Google Search

Yesterday Donna and I visited her daughter and I got to see the new barn she bought from Amish builders.  A very nicely built barn.   I forgot to take my camera for photos.  Afterwards Donna stopped by Home Depot so she could buy some paint stain.  I looked at the Behr paint samples to get a card for burnt almond.   The card didn't look like the house color.  Huh?   I asked the paint guy, and he asked what the paint's sheen was as that can make a difference in the sunlight. No idea.

Then Donna and I drove by the house.  The guy wasn't home.  Donna liked the color. And she said it was different.

Today I rode by the house again.  The guy wasn't there.  I brought the paint sample along with me.  From a distance it didn't look like the house color.  Then I held the sample right against the house paint.  Very close.  How?

As you can see in the photos from my camera the paint can change.  Or is it my camera doing that?

Anyway, next year my goal is to paint my house this color.

The house from a distance away.  (The housing subdivision is built around a golf course.   When my hiking friend Patti was still alive she lived in this subdivision.)

The charcoal black and white adds to the color I think.

These two photos were taken seconds apart.  Yet the color is slightly different.

The paint sample card held against the house.   As you can see in earlier photos the further away from the house the card doesn't match the color.

Yet the camera must be changing the color.

We'll see if I get the house painted next year or if some other project sidetracks this effort.