Another project, and year, on its way out

 We have been super lucky this season with the weather. No snow and mild temps mean we can get more land work done. There is a horrible downside to the weather not being what it should, ecologically speaking, and honestly, I don't want the way it is right now to become our new norm. But we are going to utilize it while we can!

You may remember that Woodchuck wanted to take some of the felled trees from the front CRP and make a foot bridge across the back ditch. Our initial attempt at that was quite the failure, but hey! Learning curves are important, especially out there. We finally got the chance this week to try again. I worked the tractor like last time, and felt bad at the all of the physical labor he had to do while I sat there.

But then I think about how he wanted it this way this time and all of the other times that I am the one doing the manual labor while he is on his tractor. So it balances out. 😉

His vision for the foot bridge sounded beautiful! I'll wait.....

Ok, I'm just being a jerk right now. I understand that this is only the first step in the project. Now he has to work it with the chainsaw, strap things, blah, blah, blah. In other words, it's nowhere near complete and I should not judge it for how it looks right now. It will be interesting to see if it turns out like he envisioned it! But as of right now? I'm not walking across that.

We went our separate ways for a bit after the foot bridge. He box bladed the fire break path on the watershed again to try and remove the big dirt lumps and some vegetation. I went and raked the leaves away from the part of the back ditch because rain was on the way.

Before 👆

                                                                            After 👆

I always forget how hard that is to do that each season because of the higher banks, my physical issues, the roots on the edges, etc. And honestly, I didn't rake the leaves super far away from the banks. So if they dried out enough and we got a wind, they probably ended up right back in the ditch. 😒 But just that couple of minutes of raking set off a physical firestorm for me. I'm really worried how I will hold up going back to work after the first of the year, but I have to at least try! (my GP prescribed a medication to try and help with all of the inflammation. I start it tonight).

I went for a quick walk on the watershed while Woodchuck finished moving the unused logs off of the path we walk. After a full moon the night before, the sun was equally as amazing on this day!

                                                    Full moon shots from the night before 👆

                                                Sunshine shots from the next day at the land 👆

  Notice the rainbow halo ring and clouds too? Apparently an indication of ice crystals high up in the atmosphere and that a storm system is on its way within 24-48 hours, and sure enough, we got rain, with a big, heavy snow flake here or there.

And off we went feeling all accomplished. It would be our last chance on the land in 2023. 2024 brings working on even more big  projects like hopefully getting concrete in the barn, continuing to girdle trees in the second CRP, start cleaning up the front tree line between the front CRP and road, clean up a tree area next to the shipping container that is full of bittersweet, keep burning the felled log pile that we can't use for anything else, and so much more. Ever closer to retirement and being able to be out there full-time! 

We want to wish you a safe New Year, and here's to us all having a glorious 2024! I feel good things are coming! Thanks for being on this journey with us 💚

Punching Back with Peace

 This year, this hell of a year, is almost done. Whew! Don't get me wrong, we are always blessed and I have learned a lot, A LOT! along the way of it and I am not ready for it to be Christmas, but what I am looking for is a smoother ride in 2024.

After leaving my last full-time job in October, I stayed part-time at the resale shop getting the 28 hours a week that they capped us at and setting my eyes on the second lead position-which would have been full-time. I was jumping through all of their hoops to get it, while also being the team player and having the work ethic that I always have. I picked up everyone else's slack...like I always do...I came with a positive attitude.....like I always do...and it irritated the fuck out of the people around me who didn't work that way. Always hell bent on tearing people down, including myself, and after the year I've had, I just couldn't do it anymore. So I handed in my notice mid-November. Woodchuck has been happily working his ass off to cover tuition in the meantime. he truly enjoys having me home. I am enjoying this break, and am practicing being in the moment and not looking too far in advance. I don't have to figure my entire life out right now, and that is always a practice I need to be mindful of.

I bawled like a baby when I handed in my notice. I loved it there. I loved my job there. I adored the elderly volunteers (that I didn't even get to say goodbye to), but I refuse to be treated like shit anymore, by anyone, anywhere. No.more. And if that means I have to set someone straight in the grocery store, I will. If that means I have to let people go in my life, I have. And if that means that I have to stick to my boundaries with my family too, I am. No more feeling like shit because of how people treat or speak to me. I bawled like a baby for weeks after leaving the shop, but I knew to my very soul that it was the right thing to do. Not just for me and my spirit, but also because my mom and her husband are having health issues and with me being the closest one to them, I was going to need to step in and help out.

My mother has stage 3 lung cancer and two weeks into her three week radiation treatments (the chemo didn't work to get all of the cancer, so they switched gears to radiation and would pivot back to chemo after that) at the beginning of November, she fell at a store and fractured her humerus. Because of that, she had to cancel her last week of radiation. She told us she didn't want to do anymore treatments, especially chemo, because she was tired. She meets with her Oncologist this week (only after much poking and prodding from myself and my sister) to find out what her future holds now. My stepdad hadn't been feeling well for quite awhile, ended up having three heart blockages and they had to abort the stent procedure and schedule him for bypass surgery. They found out that he'd had a silent heart attack somewhere along the way this year. Neither are physically well, both are also mentally declining and refusing to sell their homes and go into assisted living. We have become that frustrating horror story I've always heard about.

Both are on the mend though in some ways. My stepdad has his post op this week and if released to drive, they are giving me the boot as their helper. They keeping saying how inconvenient it is for me, etc. and honestly, it's not. It's not the helping them out, it's their stubbornness that is the difficult part to deal with. Just do what you are supposed to be doing to get as healthy as possible, stop arguing and acting like a defiant five year old because you want to do what you've always done...that, BTW, has led to you having cancer, falling and breaking your arm, a heart attack, 3 blockages all over 70%, and a decline in the quality of life. But what the hell do the rest of us know.

Woodchuck also had a second surgery a week after I left my job (this one was not for his shoulder). It was already planned, and honestly was a year or more in the making, it just so happened that timing wise, everything fell into place. That further tells me that I made the right decision in leaving my job when I did. He came through that surgery with flying colors as always! The man is a beast, and such an inspiration to me to be strong and keep going. 💓

So the plan right now is that I stay home through the holidays to continue to focus on myself as well, and then start trying to get back out in the workforce after the first of the year. I am punching back at this year by finding my peace. I am spending this time right now taking care of my parents when they allow it, figuring out my arm, cleaning and organizing the house, and doing a lot of soul searching. Oh, update on the arm! Turns out I most likely have SIRVA (shoulder injury related to vaccination administration). While the worst of it happened this past Spring with the tetanus booster (I had a SEVERE all over the body reaction to it), there's a strong possibility that my left arm never healed right from surgery because of the Covid vaccines I got (I haven't gotten anymore beyond the initial ones I needed to continue to work in 2020). Because I am showing symptoms in the right arm as well, though on a MUCH lesser scale, it all makes sense now. The damage could be permanent, though the shoulder surgeon said it could take a year to see what will go away and what won't, and I will need it put in my medical file that I had such a severe reaction to an immunization. 

I make this sound so easy, some pain, a visit to the surgeon, the possible SIRVA diagnosis. Of course not! Months of pain and other symptoms being bounced around in the medical field, see surgeon, surgeon sends me to spine specialist thinking that my neck is the cause of my arm issues, do images, go through weeks of physical therapy for neck and spine only as my arm and back get worse, follow up with spine specialist who says there's nothing wrong with my neck and spine and sends me back to the shoulder surgeon, all while I am still in excruciating pain. Shoulder surgeon says SIRVA and I am right back to square one helping myself.

So I am doing intense exercises at home to break through the pain and nerve and muscle dysfunction. Physical therapy exercises that I've been given along the way, Tai Chi, deep fascia rolling (OMG, that pain!!!!), meditation, extra protein each day, and I have even checked into hypnotherapy though I can't afford it right now with being out of work. I am also using the land as therapy. Of course, it always heals my spirit and makes me smile, but I am also doing specific things there to help my arm. And that leads me into the one of the biggest project updates!

We started the process of the forest thinning and tree girdling! After meeting with the forester on our land in November to show us how to determine what would get marked for girdling, tree identification (which has never been my strong suit), and what to expect in the next 4 to 5 years, we were on our own after about three hours of training! We really enjoyed our time with him and all of the knowledge he shared with us. I honestly thought, after the initial over the phone conversation about why we should thin the CRP, that I was going to be traumatized by what the forest will look like, by having to sacrifice beautiful trees, but once I really understood the purpose, and we got to it, I felt excited to see what the future forest will look like!

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Each tree that was to be girdled was sprayed with a ring of light blue spray paint. They do not provide the paint for us to keep, but did for these demonstration purposes. We were to cut about an inch into the bark of the tree, making two rings about 6-8 inches apart. Many things go into determining which trees will get girdled, but the goal is to have a predominantly hardwood forest over time, and then if we want to have that logged, we would move forward with that process. There would only be an opportunity for one logging in the lifetime we have left, but if our children want to take this over, they would see it at least twice. I don't care much for the idea of logging it, especially since the land is a bit farther back and landlocked in how to efficiently reach it with large equipment, but if Woodchuck wants a little return on his investment, that is his call to make. I'm just about seeing it native hardwoods!

👆

This is a great example of what we are trying to save! This little oak tree is having it's canopy dominated by the white pines surrounding it. You can just see around it the light blue spray paint rings of the trees we will girdle to open that canopy up above it and let it thrive! When it comes to girdling the white pines, we have to remove the dead branches first in order to make sure that we can easily and safely walk around the tree while using the chainsaw to cut. We can only do several trees in a trip because my arm gives out, and I get dizzy walking in circles around trees one after the other, lol.

👆

We run into situation like this where one tree (and in this case a hardwood (poplar)) has three growths coming up. Which one to keep? We always want the healthiest and straightest, and if possible, the tallest. Girth can also come into play, but when two are about the same, we use the other factors to decide. For secondary growths that are thin, we just cut those completely off with the chainsaw but at an angle. Straight cuts across would let water stand on the top and we don't want that because of rot that could then affect the part of the tree we want to keep.

On top of girdling, we also box bladed the fire break path on the watershed! What?! I know! Two major projects finished or started! Again, I thought I would be a bit distraught at the sight of the path, and the possibility that we were harming ground nests, etc. But I kept faith that what we were doing what was of the utmost importance to prevent future issues. We were not comfortable with the idea of a controlled burn, and moving around the watershed is.....quite the workout....with all of the vegetation. Getting where we needed to, even in the off season is a good cardio routine! 

We started one day with the North fire break path and I was able to take out some invasives along the way!

We have found that even the deer like to walk the path of least resistance 😂

👆

This, folks, is what oriental/Asian bittersweet does to trees. I am still seeing it being used in seasonal decor which spreads its seeds far and wide. Please, I know the berries are a beautiful color, but they are deadly to our native tree species.

Yes, I know the color is beautiful, but these are one of many nope-berries! We must eradicate them from our ecosystem where they are not native.

                                                    This one has been growing for awhile! 

👆

The thorns of the Autumn Olive are no joke and they will f- you up! Thick gloves/clothing, and eye protection is a must!

Thanks to the forester we downloaded the Avenza app with the map of our land and used that to box blade the West fire break path. This one is one of the hardest boundaries to eyeball due to so many trees and a longer length. Woodchuck manned the tractor while I went on foot from marker to marker, using the map that followed my movements, so he could follow my path. We were able to not take down any native trees!!!! Replaced worn out/broken/faded watershed preserve signs along the way, and reveling in the fact that we are taking care of such a beautiful place. I refrain when I can from saying "we own it". We are one with it, caretakers for it, keepers of the land. 💚

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                                                           An autumn olive on its way out! 

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                                These signs need to be upgraded and this is the perfect time do it! 

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Much better! Now metal instead of plastic, though purple would have been a better color IMO to stand out and also re-iterate the no trespassing, but these look nice! We put up at least 5 signs so far!

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We are making such a positive difference on the land!

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One of my favorite views is of all of the oaks on the watershed!

                                                                                   👆

                                    And to look up at all of the beautiful skies while standing on it!

The next time we went out to the land, we walked the path, hanging up signage that we didn't get to before, and then went on the South border while following the Avenza app. The corner boundary of this side has continously been a pain in the ass to find, thick vegetation to push through to get there, and a marker that is shorter than most of the vegetation around and hard to see, as well as the boundary goes on a bit of an angle. But find it we did! Also noting some places that we need to work on clearing to make the boundary more defined and easier to see and access. 

We found some honeysuckle that still had some berries on them (I missed my good window to really cut those off and black bag them so they didn't fall to the ground) and worked on those. I have to hit hard moving forward getting the honeysuckle out of the CRP that we are girdling right now, as the more open canopy and incoming sunlight will only help them to grow even more. 😒Our goals always seem to be the same there, don't they? Me fighting the invasives, Woodchuck on his tractor, lol. But all for the same end-goal and each of us working in areas of our strengths. We say daily how much we are looking forward to being out there full-time with each other. I have a feeling that something will be in the works with our kids being nearby too. At first when we bought the land, I was resistant to that idea, but now, a few years later, it's somewhat of a comforting idea. To have them near, to teach them how to care for the land and work it to where they can live from it while sustaining it. Who knows what the future holds!

While I am out of work, I am now easing back into the art after taking a few months away from it. I am working on what I want to work on with no thoughts of what might sell. Some gifts are in the works, some things I've started years ago, some things that are just for fun. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen now as well, being a good little kitchen witch.

                                                                                    👆

I am working on this ornament for Woodchuck for Yulemas. We used to make each other an ornament every year, but we are working so much that that has fallen to the wayside. Retirement is always in our sight nowadays and he even has his calendar marked with when that will happen! This ornament will be made with a premade wood cut-out, river birch paper (naturally felled to the ground as shown in the picture when I picked it up from the grass) that I've glued to the wooden piece, deer antler button that Woodchuck made me years ago for another project that I'll tie to the ornament, a tiny acorn I've picked up along the way(not pictured), and some other items. I'll try to remember to post a picture when it's done!

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I also utilized some blue spruce branches to make a cleaner. We were heartbroken to have to cut it down  in the front CRP to clear the path for NIPSCO to run the lines to the pole barn. It has laid in the forest for months and I recently have seen where you can take pine needles and white vinegar, fill a jar and let it steep for a couple of weeks, strain, and then you have a natural cleaner. I do also want to utilize the branches in other ways too, but this was a start!

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Although I have left my job at the resale shop, I still adore some of the people I worked with and still consider them friends. I have stayed in touch with the elderly volunteers through cards, and recently made this dried orange slice fox for a friend that still works there. We've known each other since elementary school! This craft project is also all over the internet right now, and although my orange slices are slightly over-dehydrated and this ended up being much harder than I expected to have it actually look like a fox, I know she will adore it all the same. 

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I also made this little crocheted gnome! I changed the beard to how I wanted it, because....honestly....I couldn't get the beard in the crochet pattern figured out! All cotton yarns on the body and hat, a little bell, and a moss covered mushie. 

We are struggling to get our art seen, so if you could help us out we would greatly appreciate it! We know financial times are hard (man, do we know it!), so even if you could just help us get traffic to the Etsy shop, that would help to keep us on the map! 

                                                www.soapwoodartstudio.etsy.com

In case I don't make it back on here with updates before the new year, we wish you a Blessed Yulemas filled with wonder and magic! Do what lights you up and feeds your soul. Life is too short to do otherwise! )O( 💕

As Summer color gives way to Fall hues

 It feels like to me that Spring and Summer lasted two months collectively before we had a couple of weeks of beautiful Indian Summer and straight into gloomy, wet, and chilly Fall! But honestly, I am grateful for it all! What a wonderful area we live in to experience to much diversity in weather and seasons. 

Woodchuck continues to do well after his shoulder surgery! He says some days are better than others, but he continues to do his at home therapy exercises every other day. My shoulder has yet to be figured out. Most are suspecting a pinched nerve, though I am still not letting go of the possibility of a tear somewhere. A spine and back x-ray was done and I was found to have some bulging and slipped discs, bone spurs, a tumor, and an infection somewhere. Physical therapy provides no relief and sometimes only makes it worse. They are only focusing on my neck, so I've started focusing on my back, especially the lower back and my anterior pelvic tilt. That has provided the most relief! 

I started a new full time job in mid-August after we took our youngest back to college, and left that job a week ago. I promised myself that I would only put myself in places that felt good. While I stayed there longer than I should have, I got out before I had invested too much more time. I am grateful for the lessons and that job covered expenses for the first semester of our sons Senior year of college. I will continue to look for a second job while working my original part-time job at a resale shop. Leaving my full time job also made it possible to be with Woodchuck while he was on his most recent weeks vacation. Our week was CRAMMED full of projects, errands, and several medical appointments between the two of us. It was so nice to not feel the pressure of the job and to just be with him!

Projects at the land are picking back up, with snow in the forecast this coming week. Woodchuck has built a shooting range back drop of sorts (it's not done yet). Not where I would have focused the energy right now, but I wasn't going to stop him, lol, he deserves to do things of his own. I am hoping to also use it for knife throwing and shooting a bow and arrow, since I am not comfortable handling guns.

I worked on removing invasives from around the pear and river birch trees, then moved on to an already dead tree that was killed by multiflora rose and was surrounded by many other invasive plants at the base. The before and after.....

                        We will leave the tree for now! It can still be utilized by birds, insects, etc. 

The weather was amazing for the week of our vacation and the time we spent working on the land. I even took the time to cut off all of the honeysuckle berries from the bush I cut down, just to keep me there outside longer and to prevent the seeds from being spread. I black bagged them as usual and picked up as many that fell to the ground that I could find.

                                            We got all of the work lights hung in the barn! 

And we started burning the pile of removed trees that had been sitting for a year! It didn't go as smoothly as it could have, but nobody was seriously hurt and at least we made some headway. We will continue to break it down into manageable piles and burn it little by little.

Yesterday, we took a road trip to Rochester, Indiana to a modular home building facility to see if that would be a more affordable way to build. It was a very interesting tour of the actual workshop, and a couple of the model homes! The first model home we walked through was very similar in floor plan to the one that we designed, even if the outside was very, very different. I think we could have tweaked materials to get the aesthetic on the outside we were looking for, but honestly, it was going to cost just as much, and most likely more, to go with the modular facility than to just go with our original design. 

We have some other things to check into before zeroing in on the way to proceed. It's honestly getting harder and harder to leave the land when we are there, we are both looking forward to spending so much more time out there. We didn't even get to camp this year!

Woodchuck will be calling the forester this week to set up a day to meet with us at the land in November and walk the CRP forests to mark trees that we will be girdling to start thinning. The health of the second CRP continues to decline and trees are snapping in half. I am honestly really looking forward to learning more about this process and to see the positive changes it will bring, even if it will change the look of the forest as we know it and fell in love with. It is all for the betterment of it, and to let the native trees grow and thrive again. Once we have that plan down, we will spend this Winter girdling, as well as continuing to remove invasives from inside the forests. During our most recent walk there, I found a large patch of honeysuckle in the second forest that I will need his help with. If he doesn't want to help, I will break it down into manageable pieces for me to work on by myself. But it will get done.

I have a very good feeling about 2024 for us. I had already been saying it to Woodchuck the past month or so, and when I was walking out of the imaging department, the tech said, "It's going to be your year next year, Heather, make sure you celebrate every day." I told her that I would if she did too, because we all deserve it every day. I leave you now with some colors from the land 💛💛💛

The Lessons

 I've been wanting to write for a couple of weeks now, and when I logged in I was surprised to see that it only has been over a month since I wrote last. It feels like much longer! 

This Summer, this year, has been something else and I'm already exhausted just barely past the halfway mark of the year. The stores are putting out their Halloween and Fall items, and the resale shop that I work at is switching over to putting out Winter clothing. All while we've had 90 degrees days. It's just so hard for me to even want to TOUCH a sweater right now. 😬

Woodchuck continues to excel in his shoulder surgery recovery and we meet back up with his surgeon tomorrow to see how progress is going. Me? My fixed shoulder has something going on with it. It started as a painful tight pinching feeling and now has progressed to numb fingers and forearm and a sore tricep at times. I'm still continuing to do all of my therapy at home for my shoulder and hip and pelvic floor muscles. I went from working two jobs 6 days a week to an abrupt departure from the seasonal full-time job on July 19th. 

Long story short, we were being treated very, very badly by our boss. I was spending days out in the field crying, my co-workers were calling off and morale was in the dumps and we were becoming scared of the boss. One on one talks with her failed to change the treatment and after one explosive (the boss) morning, I tried to remove myself from the property and situation and she prevented me from leaving. I tend to learn my lessons the hard way. I tend to stay too long in unhealthy situations. I had a plan to take care of my family. I reminded myself every day that the job was temporary and that I could do this! Until I just couldn't anymore. Until it got so bad and I felt so accosted, that I had to walk away from nearly the only income I have. The job at the resale shop is one day a week right now, and she was not willing to give more hours at this time

So, because I was so physically trashed and mentally and emotionally drained, Woodchuck and I decided that I would take a couple of weeks off to recover before jumping back into full-time work. Because myself and my co-workers all left the job at the same time, we missed out on significant income and what was our only or main incomes. That means I didn't have the amount of money saved up for our sons tuition that I thought I would have at this point. Plus, there was an issue in the business office and the raise I was supposed to have been given was not enacted and I had to send emails about that today as well. There's much more to it, but there are some investigations happening into the situations we had to put up with, and I don't want to say too much until it's all said and done.

The purpose of this anyway was to voice my frustration with humans right now. And with myself. I really liked my co-workers, and now that we don't see each other every day and we've had to quickly switch gears, it's been a bit harder for us to stay in touch with each other. That's pretty much how it goes, right? Out of sight, out of mind. Eventually more and more time will pass between correspondences and before you know it I won't hear from them again unless I initiate it and some times not even then. People are busy, don't you know? 

We had so many deep conversations out there in nature, while learning about and nurturing what was growing around us. I am so grateful for the time I had there with them, and all of the things that I learned that I can put to use out on our land. I made a comment to my co-worker that I worked with often that I often see the good things in people, and eventually get burned by the bad things in them. And this situation ended up being no different. But I was me through and through and I was hardworking and kind and patient. That is never a loss.

It struck me though one day while I was out in the pumpkin and squash patch that humans act like they are so superior. Who are we, really, to make some of the decisions that we do? I was thinning the squash plants and then doing a stand count of what was left. These plants were not little, these plants were very large and established and it killed me to pull any of them. I even outwardly verbalized my apologies to them! Here they did exactly what they were supposed to do, and they were beautiful and strong! And because there was one too many, I had to pull it. We do that with each other too, don't we? Critique and judge appearances and then decide who stays and who goes. It's all very sad in my opinion. I do understand the importance of thinning, but to have waited that long while they plants grew happily together, forming bonds that we probably can't even comprehend, and then to be hauled out of the ground and tossed aside. It just smacks wrong.

My knees, ankles and toes are still deeply bruised and most times I can't squat down to ground level now because of the pain in my knees from several hours a day crawling around on the ground, or a handful of hours standing and squatting and bending at the knees non-stop. Woodchuck and I are spending some much needed time together while I am trying to heal. We went to the movies one day in the late morning, we went to the fair and stayed for 6 hours! I think that's the most fun we've had at the fair since the kids were little! We saw a Midget Wrestling show while there and then last week we went to the lake and it was so calm and beautiful and quiet that we played frisbee in the water and I practiced swimming since I haven't done much of that since my shoulder surgery three years ago. One day after I dropped him off at physical therapy, I went for a walk with a co-worker at my part-time job and then went to a park that I played at a lot as a child. I cried and cried while walking under the trees that have been there since I played there and I wondered if they remembered me. We've also been focusing on our art and getting ready for the Bizarre Bazaar! It's been scary financially, but we are doing fun things together that don't cost a lot and we are having a great time together and that is just as important to me! 💕

All we've done at the land along the way is mow. Woodchuck directs the youngest on the tractor while I pick up garbage and walk around to check on everything. It's been too hot to want to work outside in that capacity right now, and on the days that we were there it was raining and I couldn't do any of the cutting and treating of the invasive plants anyway. But the youngest will be going back to college in a couple of weeks, and I will be starting a new full-time job, and soon after (at the end of the month) Woodchuck will be released to go back to work himself. Before we know it, we will be working on the land in the same capacity as before and making progress again. I remind myself that we are doing what we can, and that's all that any of us can ask.

So in spite of all of my sadness and disappointment in how the plan for the Summer went down in flames, life carries on and we make the best of what we have. I am always proud of the efforts I make to take care of my family and I am grateful that I have them. 💗

Lost in the woods.....literally

 Time has flown and we are already halfway thru this year. How is this even possible? Halfway gone and am I really making any progress on my goals of this year? Our timeline for things changed quickly when we found out that Woodchuck needed shoulder surgery and we only had a couple of weeks to tie up loose ends at the land and get him prepared for it. He had a couple of things out there that he wanted to get done and I wanted one more day in the forest to keep chipping away at the invasives. While out there this year too I've noticed the health of the CRP declining, likely due to lack of thinning. The tops of the trees are heavy with greenery while the rest of the tree down is lacking sunlight and green. They are starting to snap in half.

On my last trip out there to knock out as much invasive removal as I could, I got lost. Woodchuck didn't finish putting signage up, and the illness that I suffered from early to mid-April has left me unable to think well, concentrate, or remember anything. And I didn't make a turn where I was supposed to, and I ended up in a neighbors portion of the woods and I didn't realize it. I mean, I wondered along the way, because the invasives were horrible and I was wondering how I could missed them, but then I'd see something and think, "Oh, this looks familiar! I'm good, I'm in my portion!" I worked someone else's portion of the CRP all day before having it confirmed by Woodchuck that I was lost and not in our forest. I was so mad at myself for not figuring it out on my own earlier, and I was irritated with him for not finishing the signage. I wasted my last day doing the work someone else was refusing to, and not even on my own land. But I couldn't dwell on that, it is what it is.

What I did manage to get done in OUR part was right along the CRP edge where I took down many honeysuckles, autumn olives, multiflora rose, bittersweet and grapevine. Here's a before and after of one spot where at least three trees were being threatened with death by one invasive (which was a large multi-flora rose).

The second ditch had begun to dry out....but the tadpoles were finding any amount of water they could find.

We are in a severe drought again. Bad. Very bad. And I want to go over and kick every person in the shin who insists on burning right now....or who throws cigarette butts down on dry vegetation. We've been under air quality alerts the past couple of weeks as well, and the haze at times is reminiscent of being in an solar eclipse (there are also wildfires in Canada and we are getting some of the smoke). Every time I checked the ditch, it became drier and drier. As I type this, today was our best chance for rain. 100% chance of 8 hours of storms. Three hours after it was initially supposed to start, we got a drizzle and now it's on and off showers through the day. I have a list made for land goals for the rest of this year and if we continue in the drought, continuing work in the back ditch while it's dry is in my sites. 

Remember our pond treating escapade? Well, it didn't work. The main pond is still a swamp. I haven't checked the watershed one, though Woodchuck says "it's crystal clear". That's what he said about this one too and I think our definition and criteria for "crystal clear" are different. 😂 

We made one last trip out there before his surgery so that he could get the tractor ready for when the youngest takes over mowing out there, and I wanted to mark some plants that I didn't want mowed down or stepped on. One of the most precious to date is this Thwayblade orchid that I found in my second CRP. There is only one so far that I've found!!! It is so tiny and I don't know how I even saw it 💜

It was time to leave and to prepare for something other than land work and projects. Woodchuck was in a lot of pain and was ready to have the shoulder fixed. He didn't go as long with his injury as I did with mine, and his injury was different, but our surgeries were the same. We had a lot of talks leading up to it about what to expect and that he was to behave. I had JUST accepted a second job offer when we found out that he needed surgery and that it would be happening soon, and I was worried about taking a couple of days off the week after I started there. But my boss was very understanding. I thought about only taking the day of surgery off, like Woodchuck did for mine, but I have to make decisions based off of the kind of person I am, not the kind of person he is. So I took three days off between my two jobs and the fourth day was a Sunday.

He is understanding extremely well now what I went through and my surgery was much harder on me physically. He's understanding the physical pain, the antsy-ness of having to just sit around for the most part (we do go for walks when I get home from work or we run errands), and the lack of true rest that comes from having to sleep upright in the recliner to keep the pressure off of the shoulder. 

I think I was more nervous than he was! I didn't want him to have the same difficulties that I had. I was constantly fighting back tears in the waiting area. I like that they move quickly from the time that you get there and it helped immensely that we were at the surgery center and not the hospital itself. Woodchuck and I had a friendly competition about the nerve block. Mine was terrible, excruciatingly painful. I still remember what it felt like. And when I got "sick" a few months ago, the spot that they put the nerve block in was one of dozens previous injured or messed with areas that was hurting. Turns out that I'm just a wuss and he breezed right through his nerve block AND EVEN WATCHED THE SCREEN AS THEY PUT IT IN. Weirdo.

An hour later he was done and he was so awake and moving well so quickly, they let me see him sooner than was expected! But I noticed that his coloring wasn't normal for him, and I couldn't say anything yet because they were all about getting him to the next phase of recovery and there was lots of talking and movement and I didn't want to interrupt. They moved him from the bed to a recliner and that is when I knew I couldn't wait. He kept saying he was tired, he couldn't stay awake while the nurse was talking to him, and he was ashen color. I told the nurse something was wrong and she noticed his heart rate had plummeted.

She took his blood pressure and pulse rate dozens of times before finally consulting the anesthesiologist who came in and grimaced when she told him Woodchucks numbers. They reinserted an i.v. and gave him fluids and he was asking for coffee too, and he started doing much better after that. We were told to monitor his numbers at home for the evening as well. Flash forward to his first shower, and he knew even more how I felt having a hunk of meat arm hanging at your side for it. 

One steri-strip never held on, but it looked amazingly well! It was at that time too that he realized the surgery center put his sling on him wrong, which means it had been worn wrong for two days. 😒He got the bionic sling that holds his arm slightly away from his body to take that pressure off of the healing areas. He tore his rotator cuff, another spot, and had arthritis. When I had my surgery, I got the Walgreens, blue fabric, cheap-ass sling that held my arm against my body and between that and the stuff used during surgery I ended up a with a MASSIVE rash under my arm and down my side for weeks. But I am glad that this going better for him than it did for me!

My new job has been amazingly hard in so many ways, but I am loving it! Mentally, as we are taught that every.little,detail.matters and should be recorded since we are working at an agriculture research farm! And there's LOTS of things to learn and to keep track of. Physically, I will not be surprised if I don't need to bump up getting my left hip fixed to later this year once this seasonal job ends. I can't even touch my leg there it is so tender and sore. I'm crawling around or sitting on the ground for hours weeding, doing heavy lifting, lots of squatting and bending over and doing it full time. Between this new job and the store I work at, I'm working 6 days a week now, 47 hours. Then taking care of the housework (to the best of my abilities), Woodchuck, errands, etc. But a girl has to do what a girl has to do to take care of the family. I'll deal with my injuries once this is all over.

On the farm recently, a milkweed plant was pulled from a greenhouse where we were going to be planting cucumbers. My co-workers and I left it, mowed around it, not realizing it would be in the way and pulled by the boss. She mentioned that I could take it if I wanted to (neither one of us knows much about the plant and how it might survive if transplanted.) Turns out there was a Monarch caterpillar on it and I was at a loss of how to proceed! How do I take care of this little creature and help it to survive?! I tried transplanting the milkweed, but it wilted immediately. The boss said there was milkweed in the other greenhouse, so I grabbed the tallest one on the next work day and brought it home, only to have it wilt as well. 

Woodchuck said he saw lots of milkweed at our land, but I couldn't remember (because brain is not functioning still) and I needed it to be in a place where there was more than one plant of it, and where it wouldn't get mowed down, stomped on, or get herbicides on it. So instead of going for a walk last night after I got off from work from the store, we drove to Das Zem to take Marvin the Monarch Caterpillar to his new home. There were several milkweeds along the front ditch, all nestled in the ferns. I thought that might be a lovely place for a Monarch to emerge. Good luck, Marvin!!!!

Woodchuck has been taking over making phone calls while he is home recovering and I had asked him to call the forester that came to meet with us at our land previously. Long story short, we got some shocking information about what we need to do with the forest and we are still trying to wrap our heads around it. I'll blog about that more next time, I am still waiting on some information to get sent to me about it from the USDA and NRCS. We can kiss the 5 year plan we had to prep the land for building a house and living out there goodbye and double it! 💋