March this year came in for us like a lion with a windstorm that blew over a number of trees, some across roads in our woods. Molly from our home saw one large pine go down.

This was a large (about 24 inches diameter at chest height) pine that blew down during the March 1 storm. The trunk is visible to the right. This is the road that goes toward our southeast boundary, past the road to the Sheep Rocks.

The trunk of the tree lay across the road with parts of the top and other small trees on the road beyond.

This is the view from the other direction, back toward our home. We started cutting from this side to clear the road.

Clearing the branches means entering the tangle with a chain saw and being very, very careful.

We cut the trunk into 4 foot long sections and it took both of us to roll the heavy pieces off the road. The sections were so thick we had to cut from both sides — the bar on the largest chainsaw we use is 18 inches long.

This is the view of the cleared branches and stuff toward home. We spent about 3 hours clearing this section of the road. Downed trees on the county line road took another two mornings to clear. One of those trees what a large white oak so we were able to get some firewood out of this. We can’t burn pine, but the piles of limbs make good animal habitat.

We cut most of our firewood in the winter when the temperatures are cold. This firewood is for next winter, giving it about a year to dry. Usually the firewood comes from dead or fallen trees, as in the case of this large white oak.

The tree had gone over the previous summer, probably brought down by wind. You can see the broken roots at the left.

We cut the bolts at 15.5 inches long. We measure beforehand though nothing is too precise. We want the wood pieces when split to be about 16 inches long for our new wood stove. This tree was about 24 inches in diameter at chest height when it was standing, so the bolts are large and heavy.

We cut up almost the whole tree, including the limbs until they are smaller than about 3 inches in diameter. Even the small pieces can be used as kindling. The larger unsplit rounds make good logs to put on the fire to burn all night.

There are several different kinds of white oaks. The tree we were cutting is a chestnut oak and has distinctive deeply furrowed bark. White oak puts out almost as much heat when dry as hickory, more heat than red oak.

We stack and cover the cut and split wood so that it can dry before hauling it back home in the fall. This is a start on the stacked wood from this tree.

This May saw the emergence of a swarm of periodic cicadas. We have annual dog days cicadas which start to appear the end of July. The periodic cicadas only appear in 17 year cycles. This is the second time we saw them emerge.

They emerge from their homes in the soil at night and start to climb. After latching on a surface the cicada’s shell splits along the back and the adult climbs out. Not all cicadas successfully achieve transformation, like this one on a small maple next to a porch.

In the morning we’ll find adults often near the empty shells. Normally the cicada is black but now and again we find white ones.

A cicada near a shell. The shells are found clinging to tree trunks and under leaves.

And adult periodic cicada. Their lifespan is long, but they live only a short time as an adult.