31 Days of October, Day 1

October! One of my favorite months of the year, it’s when our daughter was born and my sister’s birthday.

October brings cooler temps and brilliantly colored leaves and blustery winds and bonfires and sweaters and camping and hiking and all sorts of things that make it just about perfect.

It’s get-outside-and-enjoy as much as possible. Since today is the first day of October, it’s a good time to  share the fun of being outdoors although today that time was short. Mondays are normally busy with Bearing Drift and phone calls and other things, and today was no exception.

But we had a big load of split firewood delivered Saturday, and today Mr. Mitchell was splitting it into woodstove-sized pieces. It was warm and breezy and the wood was in the shade so I was out pulling weeds and ready to help stack.

Who knew there was a particular way to stack wood? Four across, then four perpendicular; repeat. That allows the soaking wet wood to dry out, and today’s sunshine and 80-degree temperature helped.

Mr. Mitchell is particular about his woodpile. Normally we just stack it but since it was so wet, he wanted to be sure it was just right, giving it an opportunity to dry out. It was a good pile of wood … all white and red oak … so there will be warm fires this winter.

We’re checking off our list of fall chores before cold weather hits. It’s autumn in the Shenandoah Valley….

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” -L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

 

Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell