Then: May 2009
We end up getting a lot more rain in May than April. Definitely mud season. Once we get a wood chipper, we plan to cover all the dirt areas with chippings which will take care of most of the muddy mess. For now, I am looking at the big pile of large pieces of bark and thinking those would make pretty paths through the muck. I lay them side by side by side, and we have ready-made wooden paths 16" wide. Pretty clever if I do say so myself.
But we don't have enough bark to cover our 4 mile road and it is a mess. We drive MAX down to work on our 2 miles, draining the large puddles and filling some with small chippings from around the splitter. As the weather allows, we have been cutting and splitting wood from the pile left by the loggers, only instead of stacking it in the grove, we are stacking it against the west end of the house. Much easier keep it stacked there.
RJ is up the first week of May and comes to dinner several times. Mike won't be out of school til the end of June, but RJ wants to get a lot of work done before then. He has so many great plans for his cabin.
We are starting to look for small trees to use as tipi poles since most of our original ones are in two or more pieces. We find and cut a few, and know where to get more. They have to be about 23-25 feet long and as straight as possible. Once they are cut, we will have to limb and peel them. The ideal tree is the Lodgepole Pine, so named because that is the tree that the Native Americans used for their tipis. They grow tall, thin and very straight. But we don't have any Up Here, so fir and Ponderosa Pine will have to do. Never done this before so I hope they turn out okay. Well, never done a lot of what we've been doing up here and so far everything seems to be just fine.
We have decided to get a playmate for Dinga. Being an Australian Cattle Dog, she tends to herd us. Mainly me. And when she is in a real PV (piss and vinegar) mood, it can be very irritating. In the book we bought on AuCaDo's there are several stories of them herding people, children and other animals. After all, it is what they were bred to do. We make a list of the attributes we want in our new pet, much the same as Dinga, and I go on the local Humane Society web site every couple days to see who's available. On the last day of the month, we see a little Blue Heeler/Terrier mix named Jesse who seems to be just perfect. We will go Down There June 1 to see if he just as they claim.
Now: July 1, 2011
An interesting note about the Lodgepole Pine is that the seeds only open in a fire, so there are less and less of them around because of the government's attitude towards forest fires. Seems they think they can take care of our forests better than Mother Nature can. The current situation in Arizona is a perfect example, but don't get me started on that.
We really cut a lot of wood early in 2009! We haven't even started cutting this year, just collecting. I finished trimming the trees on the south and east slopes this Spring and we hauled more than half of them down to the cutting pile. It really looks good now looking up through the woods. Nothing like the jungle it was in 2008.
JB mowed just about everything he needs to yesterday before our guests start arriving on Saturday. It was a beautiful but windy day again. In the afternoon we worked on putting up two sheets of steel on the west side of the shop. No, the deck is not completely done, but JB was anxious to see what it will look like with the sides up. We have to put the west side up anyway before we build the outside stairs to the deck. He may have a chance to work on the deck some more today. I will probably spend most of the day cleaning, baking and organizing for the weekend.
I had to get out and take some pictures of the wild roses that are blooming. There were only buds on Monday. A few bloomed on Tuesday, and now the blossoms are everywhere. And so is their scent. Did I mention the rose hip jam I made last fall? It is so good. I certainly plan to make some again this year.
And speaking of pictures, I know I mentioned I am a photography nut, and I have become fascinated with clouds. I can see them so clearly from Up Here and there are so many different kinds and shapes. Living Down There, they just seem to be shadows moving overhead, or omens of an approaching storm. Up Here they are an integral part of the landscape. I am sure I have as many pictures of clouds as I do of flowers.
We end up getting a lot more rain in May than April. Definitely mud season. Once we get a wood chipper, we plan to cover all the dirt areas with chippings which will take care of most of the muddy mess. For now, I am looking at the big pile of large pieces of bark and thinking those would make pretty paths through the muck. I lay them side by side by side, and we have ready-made wooden paths 16" wide. Pretty clever if I do say so myself.
But we don't have enough bark to cover our 4 mile road and it is a mess. We drive MAX down to work on our 2 miles, draining the large puddles and filling some with small chippings from around the splitter. As the weather allows, we have been cutting and splitting wood from the pile left by the loggers, only instead of stacking it in the grove, we are stacking it against the west end of the house. Much easier keep it stacked there.
RJ is up the first week of May and comes to dinner several times. Mike won't be out of school til the end of June, but RJ wants to get a lot of work done before then. He has so many great plans for his cabin.
We are starting to look for small trees to use as tipi poles since most of our original ones are in two or more pieces. We find and cut a few, and know where to get more. They have to be about 23-25 feet long and as straight as possible. Once they are cut, we will have to limb and peel them. The ideal tree is the Lodgepole Pine, so named because that is the tree that the Native Americans used for their tipis. They grow tall, thin and very straight. But we don't have any Up Here, so fir and Ponderosa Pine will have to do. Never done this before so I hope they turn out okay. Well, never done a lot of what we've been doing up here and so far everything seems to be just fine.
We have decided to get a playmate for Dinga. Being an Australian Cattle Dog, she tends to herd us. Mainly me. And when she is in a real PV (piss and vinegar) mood, it can be very irritating. In the book we bought on AuCaDo's there are several stories of them herding people, children and other animals. After all, it is what they were bred to do. We make a list of the attributes we want in our new pet, much the same as Dinga, and I go on the local Humane Society web site every couple days to see who's available. On the last day of the month, we see a little Blue Heeler/Terrier mix named Jesse who seems to be just perfect. We will go Down There June 1 to see if he just as they claim.
Now: July 1, 2011
An interesting note about the Lodgepole Pine is that the seeds only open in a fire, so there are less and less of them around because of the government's attitude towards forest fires. Seems they think they can take care of our forests better than Mother Nature can. The current situation in Arizona is a perfect example, but don't get me started on that.
We really cut a lot of wood early in 2009! We haven't even started cutting this year, just collecting. I finished trimming the trees on the south and east slopes this Spring and we hauled more than half of them down to the cutting pile. It really looks good now looking up through the woods. Nothing like the jungle it was in 2008.
JB mowed just about everything he needs to yesterday before our guests start arriving on Saturday. It was a beautiful but windy day again. In the afternoon we worked on putting up two sheets of steel on the west side of the shop. No, the deck is not completely done, but JB was anxious to see what it will look like with the sides up. We have to put the west side up anyway before we build the outside stairs to the deck. He may have a chance to work on the deck some more today. I will probably spend most of the day cleaning, baking and organizing for the weekend.
I had to get out and take some pictures of the wild roses that are blooming. There were only buds on Monday. A few bloomed on Tuesday, and now the blossoms are everywhere. And so is their scent. Did I mention the rose hip jam I made last fall? It is so good. I certainly plan to make some again this year.
And speaking of pictures, I know I mentioned I am a photography nut, and I have become fascinated with clouds. I can see them so clearly from Up Here and there are so many different kinds and shapes. Living Down There, they just seem to be shadows moving overhead, or omens of an approaching storm. Up Here they are an integral part of the landscape. I am sure I have as many pictures of clouds as I do of flowers.
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