Another casualty of wind

The wind storm we had in mid-December was not as bad as the one we had in 2010. Still, there are lots of branches down all over, including in our yard, but mostly in the woods around the vineyards. Even some small trees went over, like this one.

A small tree blew down onto the vines. Someone will be up there soon with a chainsaw.

I've been picking up branches in our yard and across the street in our neighbors' yard for a while now. I use what I gather as kindling to start the daily fire in the wood stove. A lot of what I pick up is from the many birch trees around, and that stuff burns hot and quick.

I usually have a good collection of the stuff at the start of the season, as I pick it up all during spring and summer, but the stack never lasts me through the whole winter; I'm usually gathering more sticks and twigs in January and February.