I keep forgetting that we have a large pile of tree branches that I should be burning on a still, cold day when there is snow on the ground. This slash pile is sitting up the side stream a little ways, well clear of over-hanging trees and far from any buildings. It would take it at least an hour or two to burn, and require watching, the whole time hoping a breeze doesn't kick up and move hot embers around.

We are supposed to get an open burning permit from the county in advance and notify the fire department on the day we decide to burn. The permit process takes several weeks and might require onsite inspection by the local fire department. Then, on burn day there is supposed to be 3 inches of snow on the ground and winds less than 7 mph, the fire department has to be alerted, and all has to be extinguished by nightfall. The fire department doesn't necessarily come to attend the fire, they just need to be told.

If we didn't get a permit and nothing went wrong and nobody found out about it, no problem, but if something went wrong, meaning a forest fire, I don't have to tell you. I think the fine is $10,000 even if there is no forest fire.

I keep forgetting about this project, and my rationalization is that I don't like to be here alone with a large bonfire, as fun as those kind of things are.

Yesterday would have been the perfect day for it, but I didn't even think of it until bedtime. Sometimes in that situation I would wrap up warm and get started at 10 o'clock at night, but that would mean staying up past midnight until the fire had burned out, and I wasn't in the mood. It was zero degrees out, which influenced me.

Wouldn't you know it, the local forecast for this week includes winds, with gusts up to 22 mph after dark. This is the warmer weather moving in. Right now it's 4 below zero, and by Wednesday it's supposed to be in the 50s. So the fire is out of the question as far as I'm concerned, but I feel a little guilty for not getting it done because we don't get a lot of snow around here this time of year.

I will wait for this weekend and see what Mr. Troutbend wants to do. He likes a good bonfire as much as anyone. If we do nothing, we will eventually get a wood chipper (like in the movie Fargo) and reduce the pile to little pieces that we could haul off or burn in the fireplace, probably what is going to end up happening.