In early November 2014, Shirley and I, along with Reba (Kiva RV Park’s manager) and a tent camper, had the delightful experience of collecting dead wood from the “salt flats” near Kiva. This area is in a depression and grows a ton of salt cedar trees. These are a scrubby looking tree that contaminate the ground by depositing salt into the soil. This makes it very difficult for anything else to grow. However, a die-hard mesquite tree or two is also lurking around.
A lot of the wood could be obtained by just breaking the dead wood off, and down into smaller pieces. But some was a little bigger around than could be comfortably broken by hand. Then the Black & Decker Alligator chainsaw (aka, “jaws”) came into play. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a fully charged battery, and didn’t bring a swap-out battery, either. So, Jaws’ playtime was relatively short.
Four women scrabbling through dead trees, hoping not to surprise a snake or two, yelling out when we find a good spot for gathering wood, is a ton of fun.
And the Autumn evening fires that we built while roasting marshmallows and sipping wine, were so very nice. Salt cedar wood makes a very hot fire that burns fast. Perfect for keeping us warm on a chilly evening. I’m getting mesmerized by the memory of staring into the flames. So peaceful and wonderful. All the scratches and minor bruises earned while collecting the wood were a small price to pay.