Workin' in the Woods~

Woods from the backyard~

It had been So very long since we'd spent any time working up here...  The last few years I've been spending a lot of time in the saddle & it's not fair to my hard-working husband to have a honey do list loom every weekend.

At Frog Hollow~

After the drought this last Summer, then months of the wettest Winter on record, the creek had gone out of its bed in several places.  Butch went up & started working on that.  He got a fire going, so I decided to work in Tall Trees Grove, another area close to the yard where we'd had so many limbs come down & the lower branches on the Cedars had dried & dropped down.

Kitt in Tall Trees Grove - 1999

 I was happily cutting, hauling & pruning - when suddenly as I was cutting through a smaller cedar branch - my heavy - long handled loppers backfired & slammed back to hit me right between the eyes.  After the pain cleared, I was thinking; "Great!  A nice big bruise!"  For the few seconds until the blood started flowing...  Now, I have a nice 2" gash on my forehead :-( Let that be a lesson to me.  We'd just been discussing the use of protective gear when doing work with the BCH.  (Should have listened to you Chris!) 

Creek at our NW corner~

Not to be deterred, I went back out!  Between the two of us, we managed to clear out that section!  My goal is to have the worst of it cleared before the ferns start growing again.  When I think of all the wheelbarrows full of ground cedar bark we used to cover the trails - I wish I'd know then what I do now...  This state is tough on anything outside.  All that bark has now decomposed into the ground & you'd never know it was ever there.  Even small statuary made of concrete has disintegrated.

Weathered Signage~

The signage too, all hand done - is showing the effects of the 16+ years since it was installed.  As we sat out at the fire - late in the afternoon, we were picturing the McMansion that will probably, someday be built where our modest little home is now.  Until then - I still love every minute I'm working up there & hope the woods will remain intact - forever.  Letting nature take its course, the Cedars growing huge & the creek flowing free.