Give me the machines!

 It feels like forever that we've been waiting for Spring to come, a true Spring. Here it is already May and I feel like we are still fighting the end of Winter. So many days of dreariness, of chilly or downright cold temps. The older I get the more impatient I get for warmer, sunnier days to take hold. But we can't wait for warmer temps to start on the land work, Mother E has her own clock and calendar that we need to follow. 

We headed to Das Zem this past Wednesday to start working on clearing up the ditches. I think Woodchuck is a little overwhelmed and scattered, and I am right there along with him. He thought we could use his new Brush Grubber to easily pull out the invasives overgrowing the ditch, but quite literally he got his ass handed to him. It was decided that I would be on the tractor, Ginny. It was decided for me, I might add. I get it, he didn't think I could handle the tension strength of the Brush Grubber and getting it on the branches, but we all know some previous emotions I've had about being on the tractor and a near miss of running him over because I had my foot on the gas, which is next to the break, but in between the back up and brake pedals. Tractors are confusing when you've only driven a car.

So we get started, and I'm doing really well I must say! But the bushes are much bigger and established than we expected and that Brush Grubber was no match for them, nor was our tractor. Nor was Woodchucks back! What ended up happening was each branch of the bush honeysuckle had to be pulled off on its own, with some of those having a dozen branches, it took awhile to just get a couple of them de-branched. Although I had a nice spot, it was bothering my newly fixed hip to have my leg out to the side, so I had to turn in the seat to be facing more of where my leg was going. I was still way more comfortable than Woodchuck though.

I should add here that earlier that morning he had about an hour long surgical procedure to remove a large cyst from the back of his head. As usual, the doctor said he had never seen one like that before. With 6 stitches in the back of his head, he was getting poked and prodded in the head, ears, face and neck by the bushes. I was waiting for it all to go horribly wrong and for him to bust those stitches open.....or fall down in the ditch. Luckily neither of those things happened. But after struggling with two bushes, we called it quits over here. It's clear that we will have to don waders and get down in the ditch, cut the branches off and treat the stumps. On to the next project!

We finally found what the Brush Grubber DID work well on. The line of bush honeysuckle lining the driveway and underneath the red maples. I forgot to get an after picture, but here's the before.

Here's what they looked like last year when all leafed out. To the very left of the picture. 👇

We headed up front and into the cold winds and poor Woodchuck looked like he was going to keel over. Bending over to attach the tool, then bending over to remove it, move the brush, and then attach the tool to the next bush. I offered many times to trade places, but he wasn't having it. When it got to the point where the piles were big and in the way and I thought he was going to collapse, I told him to take over on the tractor and move the brush to the burn area. I figured that he wouldn't argue with me then if I made it still about the work and not about him needing a break!

So while he made a couple of trips with the tractor, I walked around the area hand-pulling baby bushes and found this lovely, lone tulip that was *just* over the property line. Still beautiful to look at!

Once Woodchuck came back from dropping the piles of brush, we called it quits. My hip was tight and his back was hurting and we still needed to load up Pink to take her back home. No more 1.5 hours of push mowing! We don't have the physical stamina right now, nor the time.

 Some times I think we entered in to this being too old and injured and I keep pushing that thought away. We are worthy, we are deserving, we are capable. 💚 )O(

Rainy day treasures

 After running many errands in the morning, Woodchuck and I headed to the land on his day off this past week. Storms were in the forecast literally all day, so we weren't sure if we'd make it or for how long, but it ended up that the weather peeps were wrong and although drizzly and everything was soaking wet, we really lucked out while we were out there! The plan this trip was to start removing honeysuckle from the second CRP forest, assess how bad it was, see what else was going on in there, and to try one more time to plot the house and garage. It had been MONTHS since we stepped foot in those trees, and I wasn't expecting a whole lot of anything that would be time consuming. I need to stop thinking that way! 

I remember the first couple of times I walked in that forest, it seemed so...dead...to me, energetically speaking. Now it's usually reversed and it feels so wild and mystical! We found our first row in and right away were greeted with honeysuckle. So many that we filled the large bag before we even finished walking the first row! A new plan had to be formed, so we decided to stop with that and walk the forest to see what we were up against. 

Last year we had made some wooden arrows and sprayed them fluorescent colors and put them at the corner points. There's a bit of a cut-out that doesn't belong to us and I was always confused which way to go. Woodchuck did NOT want to spend the time on that project, nor seemingly any project that I need done, but he made the comment on our walk that he was glad that I had foresight to have him put those up because it makes it MUCH easier to know where to go. Point for me!

We found LOTS of honeysuckle, which was disheartening, especially when they are larger than I can handle on my own, but I am not entirely surprised. I am irritated, however, that the peeps that own the rest of the CRP around us have done nothing to eradicate the invasives in their portions. Not only does it make it harder for me to keep that shit out of my part of the CRP, but it is mandated that they do so by the USDA as long as those CRP's are in the land program. But I have already seen from the state of our land that guys buy that stuff up, accept in the tax-exception terms, hunt them, and then don't do the work otherwise. I told Woodchuck that maybe that's my new business adventure. Charging people around me to go into their portions and clean them up. Nah. I've got my hands full with what we own.

Here's the first spot we worked on. The before 👇

The after 👇 Though I can still some green in there....

I found a Valentine's Day Mylar balloon along our walk, so I picked that up to carry it out. Also found a couple of bones and 3 turkey feathers.

So, we found more honeysuckle than I anticipated to, some multi-flora rose (luckily just babies right now), and the garlic mustard is starting to pop up. It will to be a weekly thing to get out there and walk the land to look for those things, and to catch the garlic mustard and pull it before it seeds. We also found a very large grapevine wrapped around a tree and Woodchuck wasn't leaving until it was out, and he also macheted the vine near the ground.

We marveled at how beautiful the land is, how lucky we are to own it now, some of the projects that we need to think about getting started on, and when. Unfortunately, with all of the rain and not being to clear out the ditches yet, the second ditch is now full and the drain pipe to the pond is blocked. We used branches to try and clear the opening as much as we could to get the water flowing again, but we already knew that every spot that holds water out there needs work. I hate relying so much on Woodchuck, but I just don't have anyone else that can help me.

For the first time, we saw a Hooded Merganser on the main pond, along with a nesting pair of geese. I couldn't get a picture of the Merganser, but this is what they look like.

What I thought was the female goose is actually the male! Woodchuck had to show me where she is nesting, so perfectly camouflaged! Male 👇

Can you spot the female on her nest? 👇

One added bonus gift from the land? Lots and lots and lots of wild garlic/onions, though they are usually mowed over before it can continue to grow. Every once in a while I pop one out and nibble 😉

Over the next couple of weeks I would love to get out to the land as much as possible. Once May hits, things likely are going to get crazy, especially at the beginning of the month. Woodchuck has some health issues going on right now, one of which we'll find out a longer term plan for on the 4th, then he has surgery for another issue on the 5th and I need to pick up the youngest boy from college on the 6th. I'm in the process of making a back-up plan for picking up the youngest on a different day, but our options are minimal due to the dorms closing on a specific date and when he has finals. I also want to get a large amount of art ready for the next art drop that will happen THIS month at my friends shoppe so that there's enough to get her through most of May without me having to fit in working on art. I have a feeling that month is going to run away with us, because how is it already May anyway?!?!

The ups and downs

 I can't complain, life has been good to us during these past few years, considering the state of the world. But this year? It's already been a whirlwind! And I've already been angry more than I would like. I can only imagine how the rest of the building process is going to go based off of these past several months. Did it work out? So far yes and I am trying to focus on that! So let's get caught up about the past couple of weeks.

On March 28th, Woodchuck and I took a trip out there the day that the driveway was finished. I donned my hip brace, but it was too muddy even for a cane to make sure I didn't slip or fall. Prepping land for construction is a messy, messy business and is not for the faint of heart when you take a wooded land and clear it for building. The driveway looks fine, but will have to be touched up again after building and having all of the heavy equipment and trucks going over it. Honesty alert here: I always see long driveways heading into trees and think, "How the hell did they afford that?! And have fun plowing!" and now look at me. 😏

 It was shocking to see the rest of the trees down and moved, leaving an open space where we plan to plop ourselves down for the rest of our lives. My sadness over what we'd done to the trees turned to anger as the little privacy we had left was gone. Completely gone. Looking back at that moment, I can't blame anyone now. How were we to know what it would look like? Had the trees been thinned out along the way by the previous owner, they would have grown and filled in the whole way down the tree. But because he didn't thin them, they only grew their needles and "fluffed out" at the upper most portions. I felt a sense of sadness for them, those trees. Still beautiful to me, they had never reached their grandiose and intended growth because they were crowded. I've had a lot of people ask me if they will grow now, at least the ones on the outer most row where there isn't another tree on its side closest to the opening? Truth is, I don't know. I'm still learning about all of this, but my guess would be no. I also felt bad for us too. We bought a forest to live in a forest, only to have to take most of it down to build, thus removing the forest AND our privacy. Here and there in the white pines is poplar and juvenile oaks, and I love them all.

The more we walked, the more upset I got. Woodchuck was silent. He was probably afraid to say anything and make it worse! As we walked, we heard the contractor still out working on the ingress/egress road and we made our way over there. I let them talk, and I continued to walk down towards the pond and to just keep feeling the chaotic energy from the land being disturbed. I can always feel when someone else besides us has been out there. Liken it to a stone thrown in a pond and the rippling that ensues. 

I made my way back to the contractor and hubby and the guy looks straight at me and says, "I swear this land is cursed....Anything that could go wrong, did." I smirked. Serves you right you s.o.b., for taking 7 months to finally get to this job that you took on and it still took you over a month to get it done when your original quote was 3 days. I don't feel bad that you had equipment issues, rain, mud, etc. and frankly, I applaud any land that fights back against its demise. Now climb your ass back in that machine and get that road done. And he did.

He cut it close. I was hoping everything would be done by nesting season (typically April 1), and although I've been reading about some early nesting taking place, he did finish it by the first of the month. When you remove entire big trees down to the even pulling the roots, you create pockets, voids, divets, and the land loses even more ability to "process" or hold water. Pair the removal of those trees with weeks of getting rain nearly every day and that road became 4 inches of gonna-eat-your-boot-and-make-you-like-it mud and puddles of water deep enough to go over my foot. But that is where the NRCS deemed fit for that road. The contractor called later that night and said he had to stop, his machine was just maker deeper ruts, and he wants the NRCS to look at it before he does anything else. We were told after the fact by the NRCS that the road needed to be close to 20 foot wide. Well, it'll fit a vehicle, so we crossed our fingers and waited for the day to come when we met them out there.

As usual, learning about what we have, and the plants, heals and soothes me, so that's what I focused on after the fact. We left for that day, vowing to come back in a couple of more days when we had the day off and more time to take it all in, and we were going to start plotting where the house and garage would go.

On March 30th we returned.

Once again it was rainy, but warmer and that felt so much better at least! Woodchuck had appointments in the morning, and it was raining, but then we had a window open up in the afternoon when he got home, so we hit the road. We spent two hours walking in circles on the cleared plot, measuring, flagging, only to find that it wasn't going to work and we'd do it all over again and again, and again. Two.freaking,hours. 

This where we thought we were putting the garage. 👇

And this is where we thought we would put the house. 👇

My phone camera skews things and makes them look bigger or smaller than they are, or farther away then they are. Based off of what we were told about the septic and boar holes, we couldn't get the house and garage to fit where we wanted them! I contacted the home designer right when I got home and told her to hold off moving forward because we may need to lessen the square footage or switch rooms around again. In the picture above, you can really see what I was talking about with how the white pines didn't green from halfway and down. Only the parts that got the sun were able to.

My hip was starting to hurt, my brain just couldn't try and figure out one more thing, we were both getting tired, and another storm was moving in. So we called it quits and just walked around for a little bit, taking in everything as it's waking up and the warm Spring breeze that you get before a Spring storm on a warm day.

We found a decent sized pussy willow that we didn't know we had in the area of the new road and downed trees. I've never tried rooting anything before, but we grabbed some branches and placed them in water and we'll see what they look like in a few weeks. We also got to see and hear an Eastern Towhee, a first for us both!

                                                            Here is what they look like 👇

I also found enough volunteer baby white pines from an area along the front CRP and road to fill in this front corner along the driveway that was cleared of dead trees. These babies will grow tall and lush and filled in because we won't plant too close to each other.

It will really help to fill in and give some privacy, but also help to utilize what we already have on the land and that would normally just get trashed because they are in an area of other dead trees and invasives that we eventually need to clear out. I mentioned in the last posting about some rows of sunflowers then between the newest white pines and the road. That option is still on the table and one that Woodchuck really likes! 

It started raining, we were withering, and it was time to go home. We would return again the following week for meet with the NRCS and pond biologist.

April 6th, we returned.

We showed up early, during more rain, so that Woodchuck could dig out the culvert that was collapsed when the contractor pulled out a dead tree from at the top of it. I questioned, numerous times, why we were left to fix that issue when we did not cause it. I got various answers, silence and ultimately, he climbed down in there in the rain and dug it out himself.

I offered to stick around to make sure he didn't get stuck or injured, but he refused, so I went wandering on my own. I went down by the pond, completely flooded on a couple of banks...but what else is new.

And we have a goose nesting on the tree trunk that the previous owner couldn't get pulled out when he made the pond.

And all of my pussy willows are covered in ice, but I was told that's not a bad thing.

Speaking of, I can't identify (yet) pussy willows at any other time of year. The cats (that's what I call them, but they are technically called Catkins) that they have this time of year make them very easy for me to see what they are. We have one in the ditch and two nearly in pond, plus the one I am trying to root that was knocked over to make the ingress/egress road.

I checked on Woodchuck here and there and it was getting close to the time of the NRCS to arrive, so I grabbed my grabber and a 5 gallon bucket and headed to the front to pick up garbage that people throw or it gets blown into the trees there. I filled the bucket twice, plus had to carry some back to the garbage bag because the bucket was full.

Then the NRCS and pond biologist showed up at the exact same time, because of course! Woodchuck told me that we had a couple of hours after the NRCS came before the biologist showed up, but he's a little liar pants. 23 years and I still haven't broken him of fibbing. Guess I'll just have to break his knee caps now. I mean, talk to him again about it!

So he went with the biologist to the pond and I went with the NRCS to the ingress/egress and watershed. She took pictures of the road and will be bringing flags soon to flag it for the surveyor. We got on to the edge of the watershed and talked about how we'll (Woodchuck and I) make it even more accessible to enter it. And then we talked about the phragmite that I found and how I will take care of that with an idea that I had last year, and when is the best time to do it. Then it was time to start pointing out the invasives and the natives. And I got some surprises along the way!

We have dozens, DOZENS of pussy willows out there! Not just surrounding the watershed pond, but also out on the watershed itself. Again, I couldn't ever tell what they were because of not seeing the catkins. A small spot of aspens, a small bundle of birch (my grandmothers favorite tree and therefore very close to my heart), coneflower, native grasses, juvenile oak trees, some baby junipers, etc. But sadly, the invasive species will always show up to the party. Multi-flora rose (MFR), and lots and lots of autumn olive (AO), and lots and lots more of horsetail (though native, it's a noxious weed and will completely take over). So a plan will be created once we get approval, and then we will be able to go out there and start the process of getting rid of them, and it's not going to be a quick and easy fix. There's was also a lot of confusion of what I had identified as the AO because these had thorns and I don't usually see them that way. Woodchuck laughed and said that he got torn up by them last year when we cleared that area behind the fishing shack. They most definitely can have thorns, he said. I learn something new every day!!!

Coneflower family of flower on the watershed ☝

Woodchuck started calling my phone because we forgot our walkies, and I assumed that meant that he was looking for me. I was drenched and now getting cold anyway. 5 hours on the land that day and most of that was spent in the rain. So we made our way back and found him already changed into warm, dry clothing and ready to hit the road. But before we leave the land, I check on the hole of the woodchuck and it looks like someone is awake now...that's fresh sand!

The road that the land is located on is one of the main roads into a lake town North bound. Woodchuck wanted to stop and talk with the fire chief about helping us to burn the trees that were taken down so that we weren't waiting on the contractor to get it done. And a reminder here that we are keeping some of the good wood trees to utilize in projects on the land. Those trees to be burned are now laying on my prairie, where we will eventually plant the garden, but will sooner camp again. So we hit the road, after I changed into something dry and warm, and found the chief and then tried to find some place to eat that wasn't a bar that allowed smoking. Ended up at a pizza place in the downtown area, and both of us with hair in our separate pizzas. 😝 They didn't even serve alcohol, and we both really could have used a beer at that moment.

We left there and headed back to the town the land is located in to a store that I LOVE to shop at and now have Woodchuck hooked on too. We got our food bargains, then headed back to home to stop at the library to look for books on building pole barns. Who knew that would prove hard to find! Woodchuck built one once, and that was right before we got together, soooo.....23+ years ago! He needs a little refresher 😉

Once we got home I contacted the home designer and told her to go ahead and move forward, that we approved the main floor design--aside from the direction of the stairs to the upper floor. So now we wait again on that part of things too. Overall though, a lot was accomplished in that one week! Meeting with NRCS, a pond biologist, got the culvert flowing again, the land is done being prepped, the ingress/egress is created, we are on the radar of the fire department to burn those trees (should be happening in May). When we go out there again tomorrow, we will be plotting the placement of the house and garage. Even if it takes us two more hours. 😵

Count down to the first step being done

 So last I left you Woodchuck and gone out to the land on a day off to help the contractor. That was a Wednesday and just over a week ago. Things have grown even more frustrating since. The contractor told Woodchuck that it would all be done two days later on Friday. The downed trees would be moved to the prairie via a created opening in the back of the CRP, the driveway would be cut, graded, the film laid, the rock delivered and spread out, and the rest of the cut areas would be graded as well. 

So we went out there on a Sunday (two days after it was supposed to be done), disobeying physical therapists orders to stay off the land (I mean, come on! I'm not going hiking on the more wild parts, I just want to see if the work has been done!), and nope. It wasn't done. In fact, Woodchuck said it looked like the contractor left Wednesday when he himself did and hadn't done anything else since. So hubby called him and left messages, sent texts, and no reply for days. Now keep in mind that we also have not heard back from the home designer either after I sent her the information for a first revision on the main floor plan. It's been over two weeks now, and she doesn't even respond to the emails, letting me know that she got the info. How are these people still in business?!?! I am finding that other peoples communication issues is the root of the majority of my daily frustrations.

Then Woodchuck gets a text from the contractor stating that he'll be out there on a certain day, with a crew, to finish up. Ok. Let's see about that. So we went there on this past Wednesday and although work had been done....the job still wasn't finished. I gimped around in the mud, grumbling about too many trees gone, loss of privacy, the damn job still not being done and how I get to contact him this time. I sent him a text right there, telling him we were on the land and the NRCS was coming within two weeks and it needs to get done by then so we can all access the land. No reply. And now I'm infuriated.

 Keep in mind that this guy quoted for him to start the job in September of 2021 and it would take 3 days. We are now at the end of March 2022 and it's still not done. The kicker? I reminded him in February before I went in for surgery that the NRCS was coming out in March and it HAD to be done by then. He just doesn't care and I find that kind of blow off of my time and commitment highly infuriating! And he can't stay in touch, return calls? We have been more than patient, we have listened to his timeline and watched it get pushed farther back for months. We want this part of the job done and then we will cut ties with him and not use him for the other jobs we were going to use him on, and I will NOT recommend him to others. I can only imagine how the other clients are feeling about him right now too, since he's bouncing around between all of us. When hubby told him he was mad enough to track him down, the guy responded that he's not the only one.

I couldn't run a business were I was letting people down like this, and having so many of them pissed at me. He's shooting himself in the foot, running his business like this. He's taking on too many jobs at once and doesn't have the crew to get it done. So taking on too much business now is only going to have us not recommending him and then eventually lead to him not getting jobs. But I digress. Let's look at the progress that HAS been made!

                                                                         Before 👆

                                                                                After 👆

This is the main CRP, where we paid the USDA (back taxes) to remove a specified amount of land from the land program so we could build. It was really the only viable spot to build, otherwise we would have chosen another spot where we didn't have to remove trees.

                                                                        Before ☝ This is at the front of the land, between the road and the main CRP, and to the right of where the driveway will be. Lots of dead trees that we were going to take down ourselves, but Woodchuck's chain saw locked up.

                                                                        
                                                                            After 👆

One super important thing right now is the ingress/egress road.

                                                        Before ☝ though not a great picture. It's the trees forward and to the left that will have a road cut through them.

                                                                            After ☝

The contractor moved the shipping container for us, over behind the fishing shack. This is the area where the invasive were SO thick that even wildlife could not get through it. Woodchuck and I cleared that out last year.

                                                            All before pictures ☝

                                                            All after pictures 👆

My heart was happy though that Shadow McGhee came out of our forest to greet us! I had feared the worst when I saw something black and white had been hit on the highway and then he wasn't coming to greet us anymore after that. A couple of times over the Winter I found cat paw prints in the snow, but again, he never came out to see us (I don't blame him, it's cold out there!). Our sons would love for us to bring him home with us! Such a good boy! 😍

I did find some new things that I hadn't noticed before on these two trips out! Hazels growing along the main ditch and they were heavy with pollen! Woodchuck has agreed to leave them. 

I also found a pussy willow growing IN the ditch that we are going to try and pull, or take cuttings from. I have ADORED pussy willows since I was a child, and although I loved any tree even then, we had some of the pussy willows growing next to the duplex we lived in and I would climb into them (they were obviously trimmed to stay more bush-like) and pet the cats! So now I need to save the elderberries from falling in the pond, the blueberry bushes from the the leaking side of the pond, the pussy willow from the ditch, mark the hazels so that hopefully the guys don't mow them down (maybe move them? I don't know yet), and remember the line of Charlie Brown Christmas trees we transplanted last year? SO glad that we did that, because were from the front area of dead trees that the contactor just cleared out. I'm thinking we may eventually move those, or find other little starts to plant at the front that he cleared because you can see right through the white pines to where the house will be built. Those white pines will fill in the view nicely, and frankly, there were supposed to have been trees planted all the way to the road by the previous owner. We also would like to put sunflowers in too! I nice wall of color, BUT, we are concerned that people will stop off of the road and pick them. I don't mind sharing some, but they would be there for the pollinators, as well as to provide some privacy. We'll see how people-y I feel when the time comes!

I'm just trying not to get ahead of myself and get overwhelmed, which is easy to do out there! The main thing is to get this contractor done with his job and the hell out of the picture. Once he's done, and once the house designer finishes are drawings, we can be focused then on building the pole barn. And I for one cannot wait to be out in nature and doing what I do! Fighting invasive and nurturing the natives. Now that we've disturbed the soil in so many spots, there's no telling what is going to come up now! 👀 Stay tuned!!!! Until then, enjoy the orchestra of Spring Peepers on the ponds 💚

Feeling the cabin fever and the Spring pull

 So Woodchuck went out to the land yesterday to help the contractor. I could not go, due to doctor and physical therapists orders, and it was heartbreaking! Having to rely on seeing things in pictures, like you guys have to do, is just not cutting it for me. Not only do I want to see how things are progressing, but I am missing things as they are waking up. What kind of ephemerals do we have there? What kind invasives are popping up, especially now that the land has been disturbed? AGH! The weekly online classes that I am attending, though helpful in that I always learn at least one new thing, only make me more antsy to get out there. I literally feel like a race horse being held back at the starting gate.

But, at least some work is getting done out there, even though it's not the kind I do. From what I understand, all of the front CRP trees that we designated for cutting are down now and will be moved out to the prairie to be sorted. The piles of debris that we made cleaning up between the prairie and fishing shack have been or will be moved out to the prairie too and into one pile for eventual burning.

The picture above shows the piles of debris starting to be made into one on the prairie. They'll eventually be burned.

 The shipping container, once on the very edge entrance to the front CRP has now been moved to that very area. The trees that needed to come down from the ingress/egress are now so, and will be moved to the prairie to be sorted. Whatever we keep will be stacked.

In the picture above, the contractor followed the flags put down by the NRCS to mark what will be the ingress/egress road to get over to the watershed. This picture was only from the first day of working on it. The road goes behind our front CRP, through this area, around the Northern edge of the pond (the pond is to the top left in this photo), and around to the Western edge of the pond where the watershed can be accessed from. 

I found out yesterday that the land around ours is selling off again. If we had an unlimited source of money to build and keep buying land, I would have done so, but that is not possible. I love the idea of keeping that land as it is, and to provide a safe haven for the wildlife from hunters. But for now, at least, that will need to come from the land we do have. I admit that I am terrified of going through there what we have gone through here with neighbors over the past 20+ years. I just want to enjoy my land, listen to nature, and be left alone. All we can do is keep hoping that the Universe would not play such a cruel joke on us to have that land and have our enjoyment of it infringed upon by those around us. Fingers crossed!

We are starting to think about where to plant things or move things. I have some elderberry that needs to be moved before it falls into the pond, and I think I have the perfect spot in mind that will still keep its feet wet, but remove the danger of losing it the spreading pond banks. I have to wait for the work in that area to be done so that they don't get run over or damaged after being moved. Woodchuck was thinking about trying to take our grapevines from home here, but after watching some videos and reading up, he thinks it might be better to start all over again. Either way, we are thinking those can go over by the blueberry bushes. And the prairie? Well, it's in full sun right now for nearly all of the day, but that will change over the years as the white pines grow that we transplanted to separate us from the neighbors and allow for some privacy. We can always transplant them again if they are recreating too much shade over time, but for now they are little whips. Our garden will be going out on the prairie area, unless I want to keep all of the food stuff in one spot and put it over by the blueberries and grapes. It's pretty wet over there though. I find that part of things highly overwhelming and really the last thing that I want to do, to figure out where plants will go, but I also understand that Woodchuck wants to get some things established. It's easy to think of too many things at once! He was thinking about fruit trees too, but ugh, I can't handle that right now!

So what still needs to be done right now? Well, there are some dead trees at the front of the CRP between it and the road that are dead and need to come down still. They were the ones that we tried to do ourselves before I went in for surgery, but one cut and his chainsaw locked up. He's fixed that now, and also bought a second one. A driveway!!! The stone will be delivered tomorrow for that and it should all be leveled out by the end of the weekend. And it better be, because that's when I intend on breaking some rules and heading out there to take a look! I'll be super careful and walk slowly. I told Woodchuck he can empty out my work wagon and pull me around in that 😂 Seeing things in pictures makes me worry. Am I going to regret what we've done when I see it in person? Even though we took every precaution that we could to not take more out and down than we absolutely had to, I'm sure it's going to look so very different. I'll get some more pictures then! 

Eventually, but soon, we'll need to think about burning the ditches. They are so overgrown with crap that we can't see the condition of the culvert And some time over the next month or so, the NRCS will need to come out there. Best to get it done earlier, before everything starts to wake up and explode and getting out there will be nearly impossible in the current state of how things are overgrown.

We've priced some things that we want to get now, such as building a pole barn, but prices are too insane! We are also waiting for the revised first draft of the main floor plan from the designer we hired. We went in a different direction than we anticipated with some of the rooms, because, frankly put, we were having a hard time fitting everything we wanted where we wanted it! Compromises had to be made and I have no idea where we are putting all of the art stuff, and the guys' workout equipment. I wouldn't mind a little She Shed of sorts by the house, but I wouldn't call it a She Shed. How about, The Den of a Creative Forest Witch? Too long. Eh, I'll figure something out. But having something outside means 1) when I'm old, I still have to walk over to a separate building in the Winter. 2) I would have to think about controlling the climate inside for me to be comfortable working in there in all weather 3) there are going to be some things that can't stay in there without the temperature being consistent. So much to think of! But the workout equipment? I have a horrible feeling that I'm going to have a punching bag, weight racks and stinky, grunting men lifting them in the living of the new house. 😳

The gimpy landowner

 Surgery went well! I'm gimpy but relatively pain-free, and I have no complaints other than to whine about the stitches. SO. TIGHT. But I get those out tomorrow, and frankly, I am more nervous about that than I was for the surgery. Tomorrow will be my first time driving in nearly two weeks, and I still have to wear a leg brace to sleep in and when I am up moving around. I also have crutches and I'd really like to throw those down on the driveway and drive over them a few times! My right shoulder, which hasn't been fixed yet, is trashed from them.

The two weeks leading up to surgery, I did an hour and half or more of exercises a day. Sit and Be Fit-a seated program for elderly or limited mobility peeps, Classical Stretch-a blend of deep stretches and movements that strengthen and provide flexibility, and seated yoga. And lots of walking! I wanted to be strong, but flexible, going in. And about a week before my surgery we got some hard medical news about Woodchuck, but he is undergoing treatments, which he started two days after the diagnosis because it was just that bad. He'll go once a month for the next 3 months and we'll see how the prognosis is.

I was at the facility and home within 4 hours, and never needed to take any pain meds once I was home. From what I know right now, it was the suspected hip impingement and the doctor told Woodchuck that he fixed it and this will take care of all of my pain. I started physical therapy 4 days after surgery and go there 2-3 times a week. Biggest thing is to remember no bending at the waist and no movement past 90 degrees on the right leg. Woodchuck was a great nurse during his time home with me and we re-watched the Harry Potter movies! It gave us a nice taste of what it will be like once he retires, minus the surgery recoveries! 

Sadly, there isn't much more to update about the land. Contractor struggles have ensued and ultimatums have been issued. You don't want me as your project manager, unless you actually want something done, that is. So Woodchuck and I are now both dealing with the guy in the hopes that with a little pressure from us both, he will finally come through. Last we heard, he was supposed to have been out there yesterday, after repeatedly not showing up when he said he would, but we don't have another update yet. Hubby stopped out there last Friday on his way home from picking up our youngest from college and left a fiery message for the contractor about nothing else being done. We are now 7 months behind schedule because of one person. In the words of Earl of Lemongrab: unacceptaaaabbbllle! (This character was on Adventure Time, BTW).

So while we continue to wrestle with the contractor to prep the land, we are pricing a pole barn (holy bleep, the price of lumber continues to make things ridiculous!), price the ICF block that Woodchuck wants to use to frame out the house (along with a bit of wood too), and we JUST got our first draft of the home design back from the designer for the main floor of the house. We didn't know what to expect! She did tell us that she never expects the first design to be approved and we can revise as much as we want. There are some things we like and things we don't. Trying to talk with Woodchuck about it though over text and phone just isn't ideal, so we'll talk more about it tonight when he's home.

I've started taking some online classes through Purdue about invasives. I missed last week due to surgery and I'm not sure yet about tonight. Yo, my ass hurts from sitting so much and I can't wait to walk around regularly again! I already knew a lot of what they are teaching anyway due to my awesome friend that I trained under. I am not looking forward to seeing what will be growing soon on the land that has been disturbed for building. I will probably have my hands full with the usuals and then some that weren't popping up before! That's part of the reason I don't want to go out there quite yet, because I'll want to work and that's a no-no for proper recovery.

As far as the job front, I am still out of it and that's ok! I am still having a blast working on art and preparing stock for my friends shoppe, but now also for the Bizarre Bazaar that we have officially been accepted back into this Fall! Frankly, we need months to prepare the pieces, and I like taking the detour from the Boho and natural pieces I typically make to dive headlong into the realm of LaStrange. It really is so freeing! My new pieces have freaked some people out, and made others laugh....which the laughter was my intended reaction, so I'm glad that it's coming through properly! Being held at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso, Indiana.

I would love to work at a couple of local places, but one isn't hiring and the other I think I would only slow them down. I don't want to push myself too much too fast and undo what has been fixed and irritate what hasn't. But dang, I really miss getting a paycheck and moving around and I would love to work in nature again! Between being grounded physically and Winter, I'm getting a little fluffy. I just remind myself that the focus right now is not on weight loss (though I also don't want to go packing it on either!), it's on recovery. Once I'm recovered, I'll work at toning back up and losing the little bit of cushion my body saw fit to pad me with this Winter ;) If I am meant to work again this year, and where I am meant to land, will find me. I can still feel it, and that is still enough for me. 💚 )O(