25 Acre Woods Digest (2021-08-25): A Brief Stay At The Homestead ...

Where we left off, your humble correspondent was enjoying some quiet time in Maine, after navigating the Evergreen Ever Clear up to Maine, unloading it, and with the clan collectively getting things organized.

Kudos to Our Sponsor for organizing the house. 

Also, glad we installed those extra support columns in the garage a couple of weeks ago. Our new attic.

Then it was back to Providence at the start of August for our last hurrah at 196 Transit. Michelle stayed for two weeks of Summer Camp (annual strategy off-sites at College Unbound). 

The going-away party must’ve been something. Check out the broken marble mantelpiece. 

Or maybe I just stepped in the wrong place when spackling? So much for the security deposit, eh?

Your humble correspondent then continued southward down to Bethesda to convince the Grand Matriarch to visit Maine help the Grand Matriarch prepare for The March to MaplewoodTM. Sounds better than “The September to Maplewood,” no? 

Barbara and Steve had already been there for days doing the heavy lifting. 

I got to work on filing. Yay!

This was living in hog heaven for me. 

25 Acres True Story: After my summer internship for b-school, my boss gave me a “Table of Contents” hand stamp as my going away gift. He saw that I liked to put all the things in each of their places.

But was it all such fun-and-games?

Pretty much.

That is until “Forced March” Kevin lured me into a 30-mile bike trip. Late start: 6:30am.

And I didn’t get to use the electric bike.

Actually, this was pretty great. Out to the Mormon Temple, take a right turn, and follow Rock Creek Park. 

That is, until the mean streets of the city.

Last year, I go 2500 miles on the Bald Eagle Triangle Tour and wipe out once. Last week, I go 1% of that with Kevin and match that. 

Luckily I was riding with a doctor. 

Back to Maine! You must be wondering about the new feature. What’s the Wood-O-Meter saying? 

Here’s the update you’ve all been thinking of sending me a note asking for an update about but then got too busy cutting your fingernails and whatnot and forgot to do it. 

In 8/21 edition, we’ve added a lighter green to mark the change from last time. That graphics team … amazing!

Doesn’t look like a big change, eh?

Don’t be fooled by misleading metrics! 

The Wood-O-Meter only measures the last step: Split firewood, stacked for storage. 

The big news is that the local power company came by to take down a monster tree by the road that had cracked and was leaning towards the power line.

Said monster gave 2-3x as much wood as the largest tree I’ve ever cut (which itself gave 2-3x as much as the next-largest). 

So, the Lower Woodyard now sports a record-breaking inventory of rounds waiting to be split.

In fact, congratulations are in order.

To recognize progress made, Our Sponsor has promoted me. 

Even with this, firewood was but a sidelight last week.

Instead, we turned our attention to the impact of climate change on the 25 Acres.

Maine has had rain. And is getting more. Our most beautiful driveway is suffering erosion.

So, it was a trenchant week. Well, that and a trenching week too. 

Sadly, our photographer got so caught up digging that he neglected the maine job and no pictures are available.

Inspiration! We were struck to realize that digging ditches provides a fabulous workout. Core! Back! Legs!

Faithful Readers: Be the first to subscribe to our new workout series.

Yes, you too can feel the burn while improving your homestead.

Equipment is now available in The 25 Acres Online Shoppe.

Still, both the woodpile and the garden will need to wait. Time to get back on the road. Here's the first leg of our route until the first contestant gets kicked off the island.