Burn Pile

In 2020, a large cottonwood fell over next to Johnny’s house. Luckily it missed his house, but it made him nervous, and soon, those cottonwoods next to the barn were to come down. What do you do with humongous green trees? You put them in a pile. Green trees don’t burn… so you wait. And wait. And wait. Then, when temperatures are cool and snow is on the ground, you hope they’ve dried out enough to burn…

I was on duty. In case the wind came up or the grass dried out and took off burning… and I did, indeed, grow a little nervous. So I went and encouraged Vernon to come look and stand guard with me. At least, he could take off and go get the fire truck if things went south.

We stood and watched. Others stood and watched.

We backed farther away. The surrounding snow melted or was covered in ash.

A neighboring tree, with the punky scar of a lost limb began to smoke. What do you do when a huge standing cottonwood catches on fire? Nothing. Getting a fire truck to it would have been very tricky. I circled the tree and noticed old beaver damage. Woodpecker holes. Peeling layers of wood. Two punky areas where limbs once were. This tree wasn’t in good shape. Half of it was rotten. It probably should have been in the burn pile too. Smoke turned to flame. Soon the tree became a chimney, burning itself up.

Debate was held. If half of the tree was rotten, could the good half still survive? If it fell, would it fall towards the ditch because more heavier limbs faced that direction? Would it fall towards the shed, just because poo happens? Or would it fall towards the creek because that was the side being destroyed by fire?

As night descended, and the bonfire pile started to quiet down, the tree continued to burn. Vernon and Daniel debated. Daniel will continue to monitor it throughout the night… and I’ll let you know when I find out!

Find me here!

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