We are nearly to the 5 year mark of owning the land, and just after that anniversary, we *should* be moving to it. We are coming right along in moving forward, damn all that fear and anxiety of the unknowns of that while also dealing with all of the regular Spring stuff like flooding in the low areas and invasive plants waking up. I have an appointment next week with my surgeon and I will be picking his brain at just how much physically I am allowed to do right now, and what kind of movements are okay.
Things are becoming a whirlwind, so Woodchuck and I again are dividing and conquering. There are some things that he is taking the lead on, some that I am, and then we meet in the middle. My friends must have all known that I needed a little cheer section recently and gave me some adorable gifts! A crocheted cotton hair bandana and a little moth stuffy for my car dashboard from one friend.
And this lovely card, infused with flower seeds, from another! You plant the whole card as one piece, or you can tear it apart into pieces and bury the pieces around!
I was finally able to get back over to our sons house with Woodchuck to help him. Of course it was to help carry drywall, a large sheet where I had to lift that, limp from the garage to the house, walk backwards up a few stairs, and into the bathroom. But it was just that one sheet, and we did it! Woodchuck got the hole for the outlet slightly off and had to cut it larger. No biggie.
On one of the trips when I wasn't with him, Woodchuck found an old bottle in the wall, with some old razor blades. I plan on putting the bottle back in (the blades were not removed), along with a note of when the bathroom remodel was done!
He also found a very worrisome bundle of wires! Was my grandfather the one that wired these lights up, because this looks like his work! Flashback story time: when I was growing up, we spent A LOT of time at our grandparents house. In the kitchen, the microwave was on a cabinet just to the left of the fridge. If you grabbed both handles at the same time, you got shocked. My brother told me to grab them one time and I said no and he told me that the wiring had been fixed. I was young, very young, early Elementary school young, and I believed him and got shocked. 😂 All of the wiring that Grandpa did inside and outside looked like this.
On our next trip out the land, we started to see with different eyes. Getting closer to living out there, now bumped up in the timeline, makes it to where we can REALLY start envisioning it done. I believe in manifestation, whether it be intentional or unknowingly done. So we always look at the spot where the house will go and talk about where the porches and doors will line up to.
I am on my own on this trip out! Woodchuck needs to finish fixing the turn signal situation on the truck, and then he wants to change the oil in my car since I've overdue. So I came prepared with my phone for picture taking, and a couple of books. With how crazy the previous several days have been, I could use a bit of rest and nature! The day was warm-ish, but at this time of day (later afternoon), I am a bit chilled.
On my way by, I checked the slumping edge of the pond and found more holes starting. I'm tired of fixating on this stuff, and am giving myself permission to walk away in this moment and get some peace.
This tends to be the bench we use most. It gives us views of the watershed, the second forest at our back. Especially at this time of day, it is one of my favorite spots to feel closer to the sinking sun. I was hoping we would get great views of the sunset here, but the trees block it...and I'll take that. 😍 I brought two books because I was starting a new one, and in case I didn't like it, I brought a back up. 😂
The sun is starting to set and I haven't heard from Woodchuck yet, so I started to head back. I decided to see how bad the garlic mustard situation was going to be, and kind of wish that I hadn't! The seed bank can last for 10 years, and I am only half way there into eradicating it. I tried bending over, and picked enough to fill the gallon ziploc bag I had with me, but my hips were screaming the whole time. I will need to find another way to do my work this Spring!
I have been looking into this kind of tool, which seems like every company and their Grandpa has a version of it available! I inquired in an invasive plant group about a tool that maybe some body else has found? They are well-meaning, but I am getting a lot of comments to ask the boys scouts, schools, neighbors, friends, grandkids (I don't have any), spouse, etc. Folks, there is a reason that I have been doing this alone for the last five years! I found those repeated suggestions stressful, actually, but I do understand they are well meaning, and don't have the time to read through all of the other comments to see that others brought it up and I already responded about it. There is a different brand that I think I am going to go with, but this is the kind of design.
While Woodchuck and the electrician properly wired up the boys bathroom, my friend (the electricians wife) and I went for a walk in a county park that I used to work at. The challenge of wearing my Smart Watch every day, and closing all of the rings every day, is working out well. But. I'm wondering if I am doing too much? My hips ache all of the time now, but seemed to have started after having an incident with the right hip that was fixed a few years ago. It's been a couple of weeks now since that incident and it still hurts. I have an appointment to see my surgeon next week and am hoping he can shed some light on the situation. I am averaging 4-5 miles every day, and at least 10,000 steps. Again, I wonder if I am overdoing it so close to surgery. I can become obsessed with things like weight and how my body looks, so I am trying to be really careful about this. I decided to weigh myself only once a week, and if I am still too hard on myself, or too obsessed, I go down to once a month. I actually forget to weigh myself this week, it's been so crazy busy!
That is one mighty big burl! There were smaller ones farther down the tree too. Look at all of that beautiful tree resin!
Some times I'll see animals in the water, but not today. I sure wish they would do something about the invasive plants! I have been walking past the same honeysuckles for nearly 9 years now! When I inquired about removing them myself, I was brushed off and told that someone else does it. But, um, actually they don't. I found out by working at the county parks that it's all a numbers game. It's about
how many visitors come to the nature center every day that it's open, how many attend the programs offered, how the outside amenities are utilized. But I digress.
So we went from a beautiful, warmer day to right around freezing the next. Woodchuck wanted to walk on the land since he was busy working in the barn last time. It was windy, freezing, cloudy and, of course, as soon as we got the land, it started sprinkling. I absolutely don't care. I played out in it as a child, and I will play out in it as an adult!
The flood water continues to rise. It is up into the grass, heading to the shooting range area for my bow and arrow, and will only continue to wear away at the new bank created on the actual pond. This needs to be fixed ASAP.
The watershed is only a couple of inches from overflowing on this side too.
Maybe I knew it before and forgot, but this is goat willow. And it is not native. Adding that to the list to research. Sigh. I seem to remember asking about it once in a native/invasive group and someone said that they'd rather have the goat willow than no willow at all.
We also found the spice berry bush, since I finally remembered last year to mark its location on the map we use while out there. This one, on the watershed, always has cocoons on it, but the one in the forest doesn't. I checked with a native plant group and if the bush in the forest had been smaller, I could have transplanted it. So it's just going to stay where it's at and nature can work her magick. I hope one day to see something emerge, but I need to research more when that happens.
I found this tiny nest that was probably dislodged in the high winds we keep having. I tucked it into a nook of a pink oak tree that was nearby.
Woodchuck found these galls!
Pretty much the only green thing out here is the path of clover and most invasives, lol.
I did find one stinging nettle plant, which is native!
I also found several more Oothecas.
So beautiful, and yet such a pain in the ass, lol. I get that it's not the fault of the pond! It wasn't done correctly by the previous owner (and we found out no permits were applied for the pond, or the ditches.) We took on someone else's lazy project and now we have to fix it, simple as that. Whomever gets the land after us will have a wonderful place that is, hopefully, fairly worry-free and fixed, lol.
We've started all processes of getting the new house situation rolling. We've signed all of the initial documents with the facility building the house, we've started the process of getting the construction loan, but Woodchuck is struggling with that and I need to step in tomorrow to help, and we went this past Monday to get the building permit. They changed the address, so that creates more footwork for us to get it changed with all of the agencies that had the first one. They deny ever issuing us the first address. Story of my life that I have to interact with people who make mistakes and not take ownership of that. I also thought we had 30 days from the time they send us the invoice to pay for the permit (I read that on their website, but maybe it was outdated information), but they sent the invoice last night, minus two porches that need to be on it (that will change what we pay), and said it was due the next day. I am not paying it until they have it with the two other porches. We had a whole conversation about that while at their office, and maybe I misunderstood her, or maybe she misunderstood me, but I want it resolved from the beginning so that I don't find out along the way that it wasn't done right and we get blamed for it and fined.
It's been that kind of stuff NON-STOP this year. Nearly every agency, organization, situation, has had us (mostly me, since I don't work outside of the home anymore), making calls, sending emails, providing document proof because someone didn't do their job right. The insurance company for my surgery because they denied coverage. I am due a refund from the hip brace company and have the proof that an extra payment was made and they keep telling me I paid what I owed. I was able to get on a payment plan for my surgery, but we had to pay for Woodchucks the morning of the surgery when he checked in. The IRS says we never filed taxes in 2020, and is charging us $5,000, but our tax preparer provided the proof that we did file. We always file! So on and so forth. It is exhausting and maddening. All while trying to do everything else in a day that we need to.
I am grateful that we can still keep up with all of this, but admit that it's getting harder. I am loving the process of purging the house of STUFF, because STUFF takes up too much time, energy, and is a distraction. I've always been a clutter person. My house is cleaning and picked up in the center, with clutter around the edges and on flat surfaces such as the kitchen table (which Woodchuck also clutters) and my desk. I have my hands in A LOT of pots. It is something I hope to get better at keeping under control in the new house, especially with less stuff.
Today is all about working with the banking lender to get documents to her, get more housework done, continue to purge/pack/clean, and wait for the big storms to come in later this afternoon/evening. Thanks for being on this journey with us!
