Wood Cutting

We go wood cutting every fall so that we can heat the house with wood in our wood stove and save a little on heating fuel. I really prefer the warmth given out by an old fashioned wood stove in comparison to our natural gas furnace, or any other kind of furnace. It seems like the heat from the wood warms you up faster than any other kind.
So we went up into the Jemez Mountains yesterday and cut a load of wood. What we got was mostly pine. Dead and down, as it states on the permit that is required by the forest service. Anotherwords it must be a tree that had died and fallen down. You are not allowed to cut down a dead tree that is still standing. A dead standing tree is still useful to the forest. It's roots are still holding soil that might otherwise wash away. And the top it home to many birds and small animals.
Lee, my husband, and I always look forward to wood cutting. It give us an excuse to go to the mountains. It is lots of work, and I mean hard work, but always worth it. He does most of the chainsaw work and I lend a hand at loading. We usually get mostly pine, but if we can find a good, dry, hard chunk of oak, or spruce so much the better. And we don't object to throwing in a piece of two of aspen either, although aspen does burn faster.