By virtue of two heavy snowstorms in October and a heavy windstorm on December 31, we have plenty of firewood.
(We also have a broken fence and lawn tractor gate, courtesy of the limb that came down in that last storm.)
We have whittled the workload down, slowly, over the last two and a half months.
We are down to about 1/6 the total cleanup. (There's still a ten foot limb in the yard and some storm-related detritus to rake up and haul, but for the most part, the yard has returned as close as we can get it to the state it was when we moved in a year ago.)
It has helped that several days in the last week has been 50-60 degree days.
In Colorado.
In January.
Most of the firewood still needs split so it will (a) fit into our fireplace, and (b) so it will ignite easier.
Today, we did a bit more than just haul wheelbarrowfuls of branches, twigs, and leaf detritus. I also pruned back the dead hollyhocks at the front of the house, cleared out the area where the lilies are planted, and got rid of some of autumn's leftover leaves that accumulated on the sidewalk.
I acted like it was a spring day, not a day toward the beginning of winter.
I have the rose thorn scratches on my arm to prove it.
In my frenzy of yardwork, I noticed that there are green sprouts everywhere: the Japanese irises are peeking up; the lilies are sprouting their dandelion-like leaves; the Vinca are spreading.
The other day, even, as I was loading a wheelbarrow up with logs (from my parents' house, where branches also came down in those heavy snows) I noticed that there, under the logs resting on the ground, were two-leaf sprouts already showing.
Keep in mind there are still clumps of crunchy snow and patches of ice on the ground. From the location where I was moving the aforementioned logs, some of the logs closest to the ground were still frozen to the ground and I could not remove them.
I'm sure I'll remember that it's winter tomorrow: the high is expected to be only 27 degrees.
...guess who's hiding in the house tomorrow?