It's definitely fall. A little sooner than usual, but the cooler temps and moisture are welcome. Normally at this time, we're packing up the trailer for the season and preparing to say goodbye to Shorthorse for a few months of winter. But this year, the momentum is in the other direction. We're packing up Yakima and preparing to settle in for good at Shorthorse.

Tree haircuts

We have 40 acres of trees that need pruning...for fire protection, aesthetics, a healthier forest, and a better view from the house.

I love pruning. You take a bunch of scraggly-looking, messy, tangled dead limbs off the lower third of a tree and suddenly you have this spectacular pine towering above you. It's like taking an old cocker spaniel that's lived outside all his life and never seen a groomer. He's matted, infested, smelly and tangled. You bathe him, clip him, clean him up, and suddenly he looks like a show dog.

Pruning with the 12-foot pole saw is the fun part. Disposing of the trimmed limbs is the drag. We've accumulated lots of burn piles for this winter. We're also using the chipper Don has mounted to the tractor, although it has a hard time handling the bigger, dry pine limbs.

Pruning is a healthy addiction, and that's fine since I have enough work here to support my habit for at least 20 years.