Last fall I made arrangements with the guy I have been cutting firewood on for a couple years to save the last of the wood pile for me for this fall. Well, a couple weeks ago I called him up to see about cutting wood, ” I sold it all to a guy this spring”. That was not what I wanted to hear, and while the thought of cutting my wood in the mountains in the snow incurred a certain amount of panic, angry I was not. He’s an old duffer, probably forgot or needed some quick cash for what else- fishing. Can’t blame him for that but its going to cut into my fall fishing schedule in a big way.
So today under a big blue sky, with cold weather closing in soon I lit out for the hills to start on my wood cutting. Wood is getting hard to find these days and the time to do it equally scarce but I managed to get a good load without serious injury or spending most of the day trying to find something worthy of a good stove. I must admit that, while I do love woodcutting, it was funner when I was a little more nimble and had better eyesight.
While clammering around in the timber I found myself in a thicket of Huckleberry bushes with berries still intact. So after the heavy lifting was done, the saw off and the quiet sounds of the forest returned, I went Huckleberry picking. While the early season bounty was long gone there was enough to eat a few handfuls and bring back some for Vanilla yogurt/Huckleberry desert after dinner.
You know where these babies are headed!
Yesterday, while doing a little work in the back yard I noticed that the Cedar Waxwings hadn’t totally demolished the Chokecherries so I went after them while there was still some left. They are a little more tart than some people like but once they get a frost or close to it they seem to sweeten up some. Lately, by the time we have a frost the birds have pretty much gorged themselves but this year things are moving a little quicker and there are still a few around.
For now, foraging is the name of the game and fishing will be little more than a daydream till the woods in. Hopefully there will be time for fly fishing in semi-warmth before real cool weather sets in.
