{"id":599,"date":"2025-06-21T14:54:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T18:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/?p=599"},"modified":"2025-06-21T16:05:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T20:05:31","slug":"winter-to-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/2025\/06\/winter-to-spring\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter to Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This spring was a lot calmer than last year&#8217;s. We still had some winter and spring storms, but nothing like the one that hit on April 2, 2024. Work changes during the spring. In March and April, cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood for the season after next takes a great deal of my time and effort. By early May, that work ends and mowing grass begins. Warmer temperatures at night with spring begin the end of our mud season when our dirt roads are a mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"389\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/george-sawing-tree.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-598\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/george-sawing-tree.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/george-sawing-tree-300x259.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This photo was taken by Molly the previous firewood cutting season. The large red oak had been severely damaged in a windstorm in early 2023 and I felled it. I&#8217;m standing behind the trunk of the tree, which makes it seem much larger than the 24 inches diameter at chest height. I didn&#8217;t fell any trees in the 2024-2025 firewood cutting season. The April 2nd windstorm had already done that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/winter-sky-after-storm.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-595\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/winter-sky-after-storm.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/winter-sky-after-storm-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I took this photograph after a winter storm, which left a layer of ice on all the trees. I&#8217;m not sure it is possible to catch the way light glimmers on the ice-covered branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"237\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ice-on-trees.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-592\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ice-on-trees.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/ice-on-trees-300x158.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A close-up of the same photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/woods-april-18.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-596\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/woods-april-18.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/woods-april-18-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This photograph was taken from our yard looking west on April 18th. Some trees are starting to show a little green<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"309\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/panels-redbuds.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-593\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/panels-redbuds.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/panels-redbuds-300x206.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Redbud trees blooming behind a solar panel array.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"231\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/redbud-closeup.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-594\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/redbud-closeup.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/redbud-closeup-300x154.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A close-up of the flowers of the redbud tree. Spring has really started to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"351\" src=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/woods-may-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-597\" srcset=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/woods-may-5.jpg 450w, http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/woods-may-5-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The same view looking west as the previous photograph, this was taken May 5. The transition from brown to green woods is almost complete. I&#8217;m done cutting firewood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This spring was a lot calmer than last year&#8217;s. We still had some winter and spring storms, but nothing like the one that hit on April 2, 2024. Work changes during the spring. In March and April, cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood for the season after next takes a great deal of my time and [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary sootypaws-blog-read-more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/2025\/06\/winter-to-spring\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sootypaws.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}