9 October 2009

At sunrise the stump pile was legitimately ¼ gone. Started a second burn on the lake side of the pile (which today was the windward side) that quickly became a much sought inferno. By lunchtime the pile was half gone, but most of the largest stumps were largely unburnt. Getting 16 cubic yards of junk wood onto the fire one handful at a time takes a long time. Thought I learned earlier this summer not to wear nylon fabric running shoes when working around a bonfire. Apparently the earlier lesson wasn’t painful enough to stick. Glad I was wearing wool socks when the latest burn-through occurred. About 4 o’clock Bob LaPorte came by to retrieve his excavator and give me his bill for the retaining wall work. I tacked on an extra hour of excavator time, which he will use to bury whatever is left of the stump pile when the fire goes out. Lynne and Perry showed up the same time Bob was here to drop off Molly (their ancient canine companion) for the weekend. When all had left, it started raining, so Molly and I retreated to the RV, with the stump / junk wood pile more than ¾ consumed.