Does this chainsaw make me look angry? Asking for a friend

 I can feel the wind-down that comes with the transitioning to the later part of Summer. We had a week with no humidity (this past weekend was BEAUTIFUL) and I tried to get out and enjoy the patio as much as I could. We were trying to sneak in more quick trips to the land while we had it more comfortable, and to take stock of what it looks like right now before the excavator and mowers take over and transform what the pond area while look like. It's going to look, and smell, horrible initially, but you have to trust the process and professionals, and we know this needs to be done. 

The late Summer plants are starting to show now! The milkweed is starting to get its pods, the Boneset is starting to bloom. Native and medicinal. 👇

And I don't know what it is about Blue Vervain that strikes me so. I take a picture damn near every time I go out there. The color, the height, all of it makes me stop and notice it. Native and medicinal.👇

I also found something that I either hadn't found before or don't find often enough to remember. Old Field Balsam, a.k.a. Rabbit Tobacco, Sweet Everlasting, and other names. Apparently has a maple scent when dried and was used by the Native Americans/American Indians for things like coughs, colds, fevers, etc. I don't think that this will be damaged during the pond work, but I might cage it anyway to see how it fares and to make sure I can't find it again. Native and medicinal.👇

I did cage the Whorled Milkweed that was flowering and went back to check on it, and the other one that I found that wasn't blooming. These are coming up in a very messy area between the front CRP and road. I have attempted to clean up this area a couple of times, and the bittersweet is INSANE up here. At least the taking down of the honeysuckle helped clean it up a bit more, but there is definitely a lot of work to be done still. At quick glance, the Whorled milkweed flowers look similar to Yarrow, don't they? Whorled milkweed is native! 

I pushed mowed a lot of thick, wet grass over the past few days and am really paying for it in everything from my middle back up to the base of my skull, but taking breaks to find the flora at various times of year makes me forget about my pain. Common Evening Primrose. Native and medicinal. 👇

I have still been pulling at least one garbage bag of invasives each trip. Queen Anne's Lace being the biggest one I am getting right now. This crab spider was cheering me on! 👇

This grass spider asked if it could hitch a ride on my rider, but then decided to stay in the barn. 👇

But this mantis was chewing me out because of the patch of bittersweet taking over again. I'm trying, little friend, I'm trying. Stagmomantis California, the California Mantis, native. 👇

The contractor we hired for the pond work stopped by so we could pay him half, and I got pictures of the pond and what it looks like now (this was the only picture to turn out). I am still looking for work to help Woodchuck not have to finance all of this stuff on his own. I've applied to three places in the past few days. Most jobs that I am evenly remotely interested in expect you to be able to lift 50 pounds and I can't do that without assistance. For now, am still selling our belongings on eBay. I guess I am right where I am meant to be at this time! 👇

We had a beautiful experience with a hawk on one trip out. I heard her right when I got out of the car, and she was very, very close! As it turns out, she was in a large tree at the front ditch, calling out and chattering. She was within about 30 feet of us and what an amazing experience it was! She would fly back and forth from that tree to other nearby trees, and we could hear at least two others close by as well!

While the goal on one of the trips was for Woodchuck to finish mowing and I would pull invasives until that was done and then we would team up and start working on invasives in the back forest, that didn't happen. His back was sore, so I told him to just stay on the tractor and do his thing and I would do mine. So I grabbed my chainsaw, and Pink, and started working on a project of cutting the dead branches from the white pines, and picking up the branch debris from when the clearing took place. I am tired of tripping, rolling my ankles, getting slapped in the face. It was time. I only cut about 5.5-6 foot high. If you want them cut at the height for you, then you need to be there helping, is how I see it. This is a project that I can start and stop on, work on it when it's just a quick trip out, and chip away at it. I will also need to do the back forest as well, which is much larger than this front one. I only worked on several trees in this trip. I would load up the trailer on Pink and drive them over to the burn pile. When Woodchuck got done with his work, he came over to help transport the larger branches and to weight the burn pile down.👇

 I know it only looks like a couple of feet up, but again, it's about 5.5-6 feet up. Doing this also helps me see trees that can be taken down to help free up the hardwoods, take down any that look to be dead or dying or leaning too much and might fall on the house once that's built, etc. I don't want to cut trees down right now though, since it's still baby season for some species. Taking the dead limbs off will keep me busy enough! 👇

We ran to town to grab a few things from the grocery store, then came home and worked in the yard for a few hours. Woodchuck did a little weed whacking while I cut out mulberry and other things from where they shouldn't be growing. I was rewarded with seeing the beautiful blue jay feather. 👇

Then I got down on my hands and knees and started cleaning up around the green house. The fairy lilies are popping up, and the patio pavers were covered with mounds of dirt and old grass clumps. The rocks I have found along the way were no longer visible, and some of the pavers were not laying flat any more. So it all came out and I cleaned it up and fixed it right. I also found a few holes in the greenhouse siding that the weed whacker made and asked Woodchuck to plug them up when he fills the hole in the side of the shed too. Once it cools off, I will clean out the inside of the green house. 👇

I got the bright idea to make another fountain. Woodchuck bought a tiny solar powered one a few years back, we used it one Summer and then it got put away. So I grabbed a metal bucket, some broken pavers, and lots of the granite rocks that I've collected along the way! It was a bit farther from the table than I would have liked, which meant we didn't get to hear the water, but it used up things we had around, and maybe provided a cooling spot for the birds. 👇

Unfortunately, I found out the next day that this wasn't going to work with this bucket. We had set the bucket in a large planter that has a basil plant in it, and we were wondering why the sidewalk under and around the planter was wet. We thought originally that it was from the wind blowing the water from the fountain, and dropped the fountain lower, but when I got home from the grocery store the next day, the water level had dropped significantly! I filled it, and within an hour, it dropped again! So the bucket wasn't holding water. Lesson learned to check that first next time 😁 Woodchuck took it all apart, found another bucket, water tested it, and I will start over. I am glad that I had this idea at this moment though, because when I grabbed the watering can, there was a cabbage white butterfly laying completely splayed out in it! I know these get a bad rap, but this one was lucky enough to fall in MY can and therefore, was saved. I didn't realize it was alive until I felt it grab a finger and then it would move a leg here and there. I just let him catch a ride and dry those wings off until he was ready to fly! 👇

While I worked on the original idea of the fountain, he edged the sidewalk. I wanted to do it, it hasn't been done in a very long time, but he refused. It was something he used to do often when we bought the house, and it was a nice flashback to see it done again. 💙 When he was done, he used the leaf blower to blow all of the dirt around, I mean off, the sidewalk. I'm a sweeper myself, but I know he loves to use his tools 👇

I am continuing to go through pamphlets and pictures to put in the new house binder. Woodchuck changed his mind about the exterior stone, which was nice because it's a blend of the kind of stones that we both like, and we got to see what it would all look like next to the barn colors we used. The cement siding looks gray in the photos, but is actually a lovely green.👇

I am thinking about the Bone White for the whole interior. I am over each room being a different color, and I think this would pick up the natural lighting well. 👇

In the meantime, I continue to be the Domestic Gremlin that I am. Laundry, dishes, vacuuming, mowing, grocery shopping, selling on eBay, etc. And I continue to try and live my dream of working on, and selling, my art. The Domestic Gremlin thing is working out better, unfortunately. I always thought that my art had meaning, feeling, healing. But then I question that in times like these. My mushie-themed art release for August did not go well at all, and after a couple of days of being depressed and questioning my place in it all (damn full moon energy!), I just have to move on from that place. I will eventually have to make some hard decisions once we get closer to moving, and I will have to let go of the supplies that I felt drawn to at one time, and still feel they are usable. But for now, I keep working on the art, and trying to sell it. My recent work in progress in the workshop as has been this Evil Eye dream catcher (it will have webbing on the sides of the eyeball), and it has turned out to be MUCH more work than I anticipated. Made from willow from my land, cotton yarn, a metal ring, suede lacing, glass and acrylic pony beads, cotton cording, and cruelty-free, found feathers. I found these feathers in my forest, some wild animal had made a snack of a crow! This is a powerful piece when you combine the evil eye and crow feathers. 👇

I signed up to do the market this Sunday, and of course the heat and humidity have returned for it. I am still in the hole concerning those markets, and quickly running out of money in the business since I had to purchase some supplies recently. I continue to believe that this will work out, that I will receive the abundance the Universe has for me, and to share the healing energy of my art with those around me. )O(

Remember, you can find the mushie art in the new shoppe, and I will be taking any unsold items with me to the market this Sunday.

                                                        www.offorestandheather.bigcartel.com

You can still some other various pieces in the Etsy shop, and most of those will be at the market with me as well. 

                                                        www.offorestandheather.etsy.com

Thank you for being on this journey with us! Hopefully in a posting in the near future, we will have figured out doors and windows for the house, and maybe the roofing?! So much to think of! 😱