More blueberry bushes, and some bad news

 I'm just kind of over it. Over a whole bunch right now. I punched a few stuffed animals at work over the work week, but that didn't help (don't worry, no stuffies were harmed.) Nothing made me feel better, and I shut myself alone in a storage room for ten minutes while breathing through a panic attack. But that was yesterday and the answer I need to prevent these situations from happening again will occur to me soon. 

We are now up to 6 trimmed blueberry bushes! I helped initially, but it was so rainy and slick that I slid right down a smooth bark branch that was on the ground and I fell in the mud. I landed on my right side, which has the fixed hip but still-to-be-fixed shoulder, and I jarred both of them. So I let Woodchuck work without me, while I got even more cold and took some pictures.

Before. A blueberry bush with a grapevine, multi-flora rose, and dogwood tree growing out of it.

After. We will have to use a chainsaw to cut down the tree, it was too big for our loppers.

We are close to losing at least two more bushes to the slumping pond. The last one he worked on on this trip out had no more than five feet of land left between it and water, and if he took one wrong step he was going to end up in the drink. We will be heading out there today once he's off of work, and I will be starting to move the trimmed debris out into the open so that when it's not as wet and muddy, he can mulch it with the tractor. He will be meeting with our neighbor to the North of us to give him a generator that needs a little work, but that he thought might be useful to him and his family if he wants to put a little effort into it. So while they are dealing with that, I'll be piling the debris. But I also know that hubby wants to approach the neighbor about buying this guys portion of the front CRP. Because here comes the bad news.

As I've most likely stated before, the person we bought our land from got a hold of Woodchuck late last year and said he was putting up the place next door in the Spring and would we be interested? Woodchuck told him to please get a hold of us closer to the time he was selling it and we'd see how far along we were on the land and what he would be asking for it, etc. Well, we'd noticed a work truck and trailer in the driveway the past several times we have been at the land and Woodchuck called the owner, and the guy said he wasn't selling he was just fixing things. 

But then soon after, the person renting the house walked over when we were unloading the car and said that he was selling it and she was fixing it and moving soon. Woodchuck and I looked at each other. What was the point of the seller lying to us? At any rate, Woodchuck called him again and they guy said he was selling but he rejected the price that we offered. He promised to stay in touch after an appraiser came out, and he kept that promise, but unfortunately the asking price is even higher now than before. We have to let go of the idea of buying it, which makes me really, really sad. For numerous reasons. Part of our ditch, the last part of it in fact, before it heads out under the road and to unknown places, isn't even owned by us. It was divided up and is with the land of this newly listed plot. There's a trailer on it, that we would be taking down, we just wanted the land and the garage that's coming off of the trailer. 

These are our closest neighbors at the land, and the land division is set up in a way that the back of their house faces our prairie because of the direction of boundary lines. It would have been nice to not worry about lack of privacy, less than courteous neighbors, and such. It really would have brought some peace of mind, as well as the ability to finish the ditch clearing. I am super bummed, and super worried, and hate the fact that money, or lack of, creates obstacles. We are beyond blessed with what we have, but fear keeps me wanting more. With my job barely covering tuition, and most months lacking to cover it, there's no possible way for me to even be able to help contribute to getting the money for it. 

And honestly, Woodchuck said that even if he was a millionaire, he wouldn't pay the guys price. That's Woodchuck livin' up to Woodchuck's way. Me? Fuck yeah, I'd negotiate still, but I'd pay more than I felt was fair just to not have to worry about neighbors in my retirement. And that's me livin' up to my way. Don't get me wrong, I WANT a healthy neighbor situation. I have literally never had it. Never that I can remember, even into childhood. And I guess the fact that I would drop tens of thousands of dollars on a piece of shit trailer and land that will chew me up and spit me out, is just a trauma response and me trying to control something based off of past experiences. It is hard to give in to that, hard to just put my plea out to the Universe to not let our golden years be filled with the daily stress of not being able to enjoy our home that we will have worked so hard for. Because we work really hard for this one that we are in now, even with all of its flaws and four colors and types of siding on the back, and we can't even open our windows and enjoy the sounds of nature and Spring because of our neighbors. And to this nature girl, that is like living in a cell.

I didn't realize, or maybe in the back of my mind I did, how much I am fighting for peace every day and the chance to HONOR each gift of each day and those beautiful things that surround me, unhindered by the people around me who just want to bash through life. Clearly, I need a dose of nature and stat. I need the comfort and peace and beauty and kinship that I feel with it. For in nature there is a fierce gentleness. A connection to each thing around it in a symbiotic relationship, when in balance of course. And I feel that, I identify with that. When I am hard on myself when I need to get fierce and what I perceive as cold, it's because truly at the roots of me there is a peace that is being poked at. It's because I am sensitive that I have been such a warrior in my life. But I admit that I just want to live in peace and connection with the wild kingdom around me, because it is there that I truly feel at Home and alive, and me. And I feel that nature deserves my best fight for it. 💚

In freezing water

 I had that meeting with Woodchuck about trimming only one blueberry bush a week (see previous post) and it dragging too far out. He agreed with me and on our most recent trip to the land he trimmed two of them. As with everything else there, it's a GD mess. Why can't we just have blueberry bushes to trim? No, we have to have blueberry bushes that have native but aggressive red twig dogwoods growing intermixed in them. To remedy the situation completely I suspect that we would have had to cut the branches of everything down to just a foot or two tall, then I would have had to treat the dogwood cuts and hope that I didn't contaminate the blueberry. As it is, he cut all branches of the blueberry to about shoulder height, and I cut the dogwood closer to the ground. I'll have to keep going back and cutting them and hope over time that they will die off and if not, I'll have to figure something else out.

We now have three blueberry bushes trimmed! Look at the pile of debris all around it!

To do this task of trimming the bushes though, we have to stand in freezing water. I don't have the insulators anymore for my boots and only wore a thin pair of socks. It didn't take long for my toes to become ice cold and painful! So much so that I had to stop working, get out of the water, and go sit down so my toes weren't touching my boots for a bit. Note to self to wear thicker socks next time. 

This area is very wet and marshy. The pond is beginning to leak over into the area, plus it's where the watershed starts. We are thinking that it will behave like other areas that we cleared and opened to the sun more....that it will become more dry over time. Especially when we fix the pond. Don't even want to talk about that project right now. 😒

I do think that I've figured out where to build the sunset viewing platform! With all of the trees, this is about as good of a view as we will get, unless we want to stand on the watershed and even then there are trees blocking the actual final moment of setting. So why not be comfortable? The platform will also be used for yoga, mediation, and probably for when I work on dream catcher frames and webs. 

We missed a trip to the land this past week due to a road trip to see our youngest son at college. We took him stuff from home that he requested and then took him and his girlfriend out for dinner at a Japanese Habachi place. That was a long day for two aging peeps...several hours driving and my right hip was really bothering me from all of the sitting. We will see him in a couple of weeks for their Spring break and again for them to pass thru on their way to a Comic-con. 

Everything else in life is just as crazy right now. Work, health, appointments. We are trying to buy the land to either side of us out there, which has not panned out yet. I'm saying prayers in the back of my head while trying to not focus in too much on it and distract myself from other things throughout the day. 

Our next trip out is tomorrow! Trimming more blueberry bushes while today, I need to remind Woodchuck that he's to be cutting down trees along our driveway here at home. With a bum shoulder, I can't tell if he's putting it off until he gets that checked out, or if he just isn't into the project. There are many days when I think we need able-bodied peeps to help us out, and there just isn't anyone. We were super lucky to get the help we did with the barn and even then had to give in and hire a crew to do the roof and finish the framing and hang the overhead doors. There are a lot of times when I wonder just what the hell we were thinking when we took all of this on! 😬

In other news, we got accepted into the new Spring show Halfway to Halloween that's being put on by the same people who put on the Fall show we do, Bizarre Bazaar. I'm so happy, and so stressed! better get to working on the art now since it's fallen to the wayside with everything else going on! 

The blueberry bush project

 

I am not handling overwhelming situations very well. I realize that there's more to be done than one person can handle in one day. And yet I keep trying, even through the panic attacks that are coming because I have to keep stuffing down and just plowing ahead. Trying to keep myself in balance is one thing, and then having to take on keeping Woodchuck on task and also healthy is proving to be a little difficult and a lot overwhelming. I've repeated twice recently that we can't keep dragging projects out. Get in, knock it out, and move on. He does not see it the same as I do.

But we got on the same page recently when making a trip to the land. After a roller coaster few hours about a week ago, some friends were able to drop off the lights that were salvaged from an upgrade job at a local school gym. All but two fit in their vehicle and we were so grateful not only that they made trip to our house to drop them off, but also helped Woodchuck with a flat tire that day, and saved us a lot of money in lighting!

The two that were left were dropped off to me at my workplace a couple of days ago! These are LED and will be great for Woodchuck to be able to see while working in the barn. While the last exam of his eyes showed that the macular degeneration had stopped getting worse, we have noticed that his eyesight continues to get worse in his right eye. It continues to floor, and humble me, when he tells me, "Sweetheart, I can't see that." Insert lump in my throat here. 

So this is what it's like to age. To not only watch yourself slowly change physically and cognitively, no matter your efforts to keep it at bay, but to watch those around you slowly decline. I am surrounded by it at work, with the vast majority of our long-term volunteers being over 80 years old. When I think back to how they were, and how their lives were, just under two years ago when I started working there, the difference is immense and seems like it should be ten years that has gone by. How much can change in such a short amount of time. It's terrifying, really.

We unloaded the lights into the barn and headed over to the area of blueberry bushes. This was our long-awaited moment of finally pruning those crazy biatches! Now, of course it's not their fault that they weren't given trims along the way! They now resemble a distant cousin of Cousin It. So much so in fact, that when I was conversing with the elderly volunteers while at work the other day, they didn't believe me that these are blueberry bushes! "Whaaaaat? That's a blueberry bush?!" "I've never seen a blueberry bush like that before!" "Come here and look at this thing, does that look like a blueberry bush to you?"

I promise you that these are blueberry bushes (being overran by Red Twig Dogwood). There are two varieties, though I can never remember both. They had not been trimmed on over ten years, but while they were still producing, I'm sure the yield and size of berry was below what it could have been had the previous owner kept up on it. Not to mention that we couldn't reach the top portion of the bushes and the land in that area is too marshy to utilize a step stool or ladder...though I did stand in my metal work cart the first year! What with Woodchuck and I both needing a shoulder surgery, the less we have to reach up right now the better!

The before picture. There's a blueberry bush in there!!!! The reddish new cane growth of a blueberry bush can be confusing when the red cane growth of a Red Twig Dogwood is also in the mix. Sadly, the dogwoods are intermixed inside the base growth of the blueberry bushes. Only time will tell how I can handle this situation. But for now, each BB bush will get quite the make-over and we will wait the couple of years for marked fruit production!

After! It's quite shocking and intimidating, but we were told by a local blueberry business to just get in there and cut the hell out of them. I left that up to Woodchuck, he's the pruner. I think it comes with his ability to see things in dimensions, which is why he's also a good wood carver and sculptor. His hands hold such magick that he just can't see himself! I make sure to always point it out to him! 💚

While he worked on pruning, I worked on cutting back the growth around each bush so he could get the whole the way around. I know I'm going to have my hands full with the dogwood for a long time to come! When cut, and not treated, it sends out numerous new canes (not unlike other species too). I did not have the treatment chemical with me, so it's something I'll have to go back and re-cut and then treat, while being careful not to contaminate the BB bushes themselves. 

In the mud again and happy. I am most fulfilled in nature, covered in bits and pieces of it, listening to the birds. My world becomes right again, every sorrow leaves me, every injury and pain healed. It's the least I can do in return for Mother E, to help her breathe easier, to spread her branches, uninhibited by choking invasives. Oh and, I finally changed my boot laces out! These boots have been with me for something like five years and have done a lot of fieldwork! Still going strong, and I think that was the first lace change to happen!

I wandered over to a small cluster of dead and dying trees that we haven't gotten to yet. They were overrun by Oriental Bittersweet. How can I love the looks of something while equally hating the damage it does? That's how I feel about Oriental Bittersweet. It's one of my favorite colors--two shades of orange--but I look at the damage it has done and the berries it has dropped on the ground and do a cringing growl. I even find the pattern of a mature vine mesmerizing.....as I cut its throat with loppers and tell it to get the fuck out of here. Yes, I really say that to it.

So the short-term goal is to get out there once a week and cut a bush. We still can't locate them all in the overgrowth, and know that some have gone into the pond since that has spread (slumped), but we were able to count seven that day. I told him, again, that we can't keep prolonging projects. Seven weeks, minimum, to prune bushes? And that's if we get out there once a week and don't have other things to work on while we were out there...which we do. Seven weeks takes us to April, and the work on the watershed needs to be done by April 1st. Factor in weather, injuries and illnesses, and there goes my panic again. We are just two aging people trying to get the land back to where it should be, and in a native state. I think I'm going to have to call a meeting soon between the two of us. Lots of alcohol may be consumed at said meeting, crying may happen, because, honestly put, I'm using alcohol to cope lately. Specifically double shots of Coffee Liquor followed with a beer. Don't judge me.

In other news, we have been accepted into the new Spring show called Halfway to Halloween that's being put on by the same team that puts on the Bizarre Bazaar that we do each Fall. While pressured to make new items, I am looking forward to losing myself in the art and magick I feel in it. I miss it so now that I'm back to work and working my ass off to pay a college tuition that I keep coming up short for each month. All we can do is our best. All I intend on doing is loving, living, spreading magick and creating a haven for us to retire to. I wish the same for you too. 💕

Arctic Freeze and looking ahead to end of Winter projects

 Well, we were on a good roll, and I am so glad that we made use of the nicer days we had in between the arctic freezes we've had this Winter. Right now it is just too cold for us to be working on the land. Day time temps are in the 20's and that doesn't include the windchill! I have today off, and am sick (allergies, not contagious) and want to see a friend, but I am not leaving this house unless it's an emergency.

On our latest trip out to the land, we used the milder temps to get out on to the watershed. We did better markings on property lines along the longer distances, using t-posts, no trespassing signs and survey tape. This will help Woodchuck when he decides when and how to make a path along the West and South boundaries!

 We also marked all of the non-native/invasive trees that need to come out. We estimated about 15 Autumn Olives, (AO), a few honeysuckle, and at least one monster multi-flora rose (MFR). Those are all marked with survey tape, and I did harvest a few more rose hips from the MFR, though the wildlife seemed to have enjoyed most of them-as it should be.

Woodchuck gets turned around easily on the watershed. He hasn't been there as much as I have, I know it like the back of my hand now, and he was WAY off on where he thought the property marker on the South side was. Unfortunately, a new owner a couple of places down has decided to place his many, many chickens along that border side of the watershed. While I am grateful that he's feeding the many wild animals that may be able to get them (sarcasm), he has two dogs on watch out there 24/7 and what was my ONLY prerequisite for buying that land? NO.BARKING.DOGS. I've listened to several of them within a couple of feet my current home for 23 years and I am SO done with it. I want to hear breezes in the trees and birds singing, or heaven willing, nothing at all!!!! But I cannot be that lucky. At the land, we will now have 5 barking dogs surrounding us, though admittedly not within inches of us like we do here. The whole time we were on the watershed, those doggies were doing their job of staying noisy.

But I guided him on where the property should be, and sure enough I was able to find it. We own farther over than he remembered, so that was a nice thing to be able to surprise him with! We'll get another taller marker like we've got on other corners out there, so it will be easier to see. Many of the watershed signs are also broken, so I got a hold of the NRCS and they have new ones for us. I sure wish they were made with a more eco-friendly material though! Same with the survey tape. It's visibility works well for Woodchuck, but after being exposed to the elements, it becomes brittle.

 We keep seeing something peeking out just above the surface of the watershed pond. It could be a thick reed from the phragmite, but it also looks curved like an antler. He never took the one boat over there, thinking that he was going to sell it, but I think that has fallen through and we are curious enough to want to see what that item is that we'll take it out on the water the next chance we get. It's not a big pond by any means, but we don't know how deep it is, and are sure that it's very mucky at the bottom no matter the depth. I would use my waders, but we don't need to place a call to the fire department to come pull me out of the muck. I wonder if Woodchuck's tractor would do that well? 😏

We walked around that pond, commenting on all of the antler rubs on the willow trees. He agreed that we should leave most of those stands, to provide shelter and a known pathway for the deer. No need to wipe them all out! There's only a couple that we need to remove to make the ingress/egress complete and I'd like to find a way to utilize that wood so it doesn't just get thrown in the massive burn pile that was never taken care of from the tree removal before. The NRCS will be out in the Spring to see the progress we've made, and work stops on April 1st due to ground nesting birds coming back to the area. So we only have a couple of months to get that stuff done. We still only have one day a week to work out there, and that's not promised every week with other stuff we need to get done and weather conditions. But when talking about the setback of building the house, we look at the brighter side and focus on the aspect that maybe we will be able to get a lot of the big stuff done before we move out there, that way when we are living there full-time, it will be more of an upkeep situation with the land, being able to rest and enjoy it, and less of the huge projects.

I also decided that I wanted to cut seed heads off of the phragmite. Woodchuck didn't seem all that enthused, but he followed me into the wilderness anyway. This was the first time I've ever had a chance to do this step with phragmite, having only ever taken seed heads off of teasel at a different public land place years ago as part of a volunteer program I participated in. I was SO excited to be doing this, this kind of thing is my jam. Originally Woodchuck was holding the garbage bag and I was cutting the seed heads with my favorite Fiskar cutters, but he wasn't content with that, and the bag kept getting caught on things and tearing holes in it--which of course defeats the purpose of having the seeds in the bag (so they don't spread). So I took over the bag and would set it down in as open a spot as I could find (there really weren't any), and then he leaned a few phragmite stems over (some were 12 foot tall!) to me and then I would cut the heads off and bag them. 

Phragmite seeds are like dandelion seeds. Cute, fluffy, but easy drop and blow away. And phragmite is not a plant that you want spreading (yes. I can hear those of you who don't like dandelions. They are NOT weeds and are a very critical food source for bees and the first arriving Spring insects). The whole idea with cutting seed heads off is to reduce anymore seeds from falling/blowing off, thus reducing the ground seed bank. Over time of continually going out and cutting off seed heads, and/or treating the phragmite, each year will see less and less growth until, eventually, they can be eradicated from our land. It has been really hard for me to not stop along roadside stands of these things and cut those heads off and bag them up. I don't see road crews making efforts with the phragmite or the teasel and I'm not sure why nothing has been done by them, or why they have not reached out to other agencies for help. 

While these that we cut are technically on land, they are on marshy land between the watershed pond and our blueberry bushes. The previous owner planted the blueberries RIGHT up to the watershed boundary. I can't blame him, there is very little land there not on government programs and that we can do whatever we want with. I can understand wanting to utilize and enjoy every inch of it! This land sits low, is muddy, holds water, and is ultimate fun for someone like me who likes being in those kind of wild places! I was climbing on downed trees to get to more phragmite, sinking in mud, and coo'ing over the vibrant greens of the mosses in this patch of my wilderness! I am one girl who's happiest when being covered in land stuff such as mud, dirt, etc. Not only do I get the healing of nature, but show that I have let nothing stand in my way of fighting for it. 💚

While I could have kept going, Woodchuck was ready to call it quits. He estimates that we cut off at least 40 seed heads, and that's good progress for our first time out there! While we intend on stopping out there tomorrow to take a leisurely walk around, we most likely won't work. Anything that had been wet and mushy before will now be icy and slippery. Maybe we will try and see what that thing is on the watershed pond though! Very soon we will be meeting our friends out there who haven't seen the land yet, and who secured some nice LED lights for us from a school gym that was upgrading. Woodchuck will use them in the barn. We also need to think about trimming the blueberry bushes, which we should be able to handle even in the mud and ice of the marshy land they are planted on.

We did also use our l day off last week, in the snow, to cut the front tree line here at home that people were complaining about. While we needed to cut close to 3 feet off to be in complete compliance with the ordinance, that would have taken the whole sides of the trees off. So we cut a foot and a half off and many of the highway department employees were driving past that day and saw us. So hopefully seeing the effort we made will be enough for everyone who had an issue. 🖕

Yet to be done: cutting down the black locust trees on the railroad property between our driveway and the train tracks, and then watch the Tree of Heaven to see if our efforts finally killed them. In the meantime, I have a burn pit full of white cedar cuttings that I am looking forward to burning and smudging the hell out of this place and anyone surrounding us. They will burn quickly, and will smell great, but it will be a show! 😇🔥

Woah 2023, calm the f- down!

 Those who know me well know that I enter a new year with many trepidations. As much as I would like all loose ends tied up by the end of one year, I know from past experience that bullshit from December will carry over. The past couple of months have been so full of bullshit in fact that my motto for the new year has been about matching energies and not caring as much about a situation than the person who is supposed to care about it does. 

While December saw the youngest of our boys home from college for nearly a month over Christmas break, he worked a total of two days while home on that break. The flu knocked him on his ass for two weeks, and our workplace was slow. So the last week he was home found him having to get in all of his appointments that he had to cancel prior, and got him also receiving his first (and hopefully last) speeding ticket. Hopefully that knocks the chip off of his shoulder a little while it puts a dent in his bank account.

Woodchucks brother was hospitalized with various medical issues, but the main one was cirrhosis of the liver. He was soon released to a nursing facility where his care was subpar and his health continued to decline. My big, burly husband went to visit his little brother and washed his hair, shaved him, trimmed his nails, took him treats. Woodchuck was working hard every day to find a better and closer place for him to be transferred to so he could see him more often and make sure he was being taken care of, but his brother caught Covid while in the nursing facility and was unable to have visitors or go anywhere for 10 days. Many places also did not have any beds open and he was quickly declining. His brother called him one evening saying that he couldn't breathe and his nurse wouldn't answer his calls (a constant issue). One thing led to another and an ambulance was called and he was transported back to the hospital, where he started receiving much better care and was diagnosed with pneumonia. 

His decline didn't stop though, and he was put into ICU soon after admission. Woodchuck went to see him, though nobody was allowed in the room and they had to watch him through a window. My heart goes out to anyone who has to watch someone die, and watch them die from the other side of a wall. Within a few days after that, he was gone. Woodchucks father died on New Years Day, his mother died around 6 years ago right before Christmas, and now his brother passed between the two holidays. I just couldn't imagine! Though I did jokingly tell him that I know now the time of year to expect his passing as well. 😬

While he had the week off from work to deal with the passing, he made an appointment at the bank to inquire about a construction loan to start building the house. This is nothing either one of us has dealt with before, though some friends were giving me some info about how theirs went. As it turns out, the bank quoted $350,000 and a 9 month time period to get the house built. Not only is that figure a pipe dream for us, that time frame doesn't work with the initial plan of building in phases over the next three years, moving into the house the third year and having Woodchuck commute the fourth year, which would be his last year before retiring. That is just too far of a commute to do for four years and really?! Have banks worked with contractors before?! Getting things done in 9 months seems a little unreasonable. But what the hell do I know.

So, we will not be starting to build this year and we are ok with that. There's no reason and no time for boo-hoo'ing about it. We are still blessed and it is not like building is off the table completely, it's just getting pushed back and it's not like we don't have plenty of work to do in the meantime! Woodchuck will be contacting another house design firm since we had some less than stellar moments with the one we used. That was to be expected since she came recommended by the contractor he used to clear the trees and make the ingress/egress road and you all remember the issues we had with him?

Well that has flared back up as well.

We received a letter last week from the stone company we used. The first loads were ordered by the contractor we used (who was a friend of Woodchucks. Notice I said WAS). Woodchuck paid him cash to pay the stone company, and he was also supposed to spread the stone out for our driveway. He did order the stone, he did spread the stone, but we found out that he never finished paying the stone company and they've been trying to collect from him for nearly a year now! They are also threatening a lien on our land.

I wasn't surprised. The guy was a dick to us for months trying to get that work done and Woodchuck wouldn't listen to me to square up and cut ties with him. So Woodchuck got a hold of him and the guy said he would have his secretary send a check out right away and that he was out of the state until this past weekend and would get a hold of us when he got back. Guess who's ghosting us now? So now we have to figure that situation out.

I also recently got my eyes checked, after waiting an extra year to do so because we have crappy vision insurance and even worse options of places that accept it. Keep in mind that Woodchuck was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration last year and goes once a month to get injections in his eye to try and stop the progression and save the eyesight that he has left. After my exam the eye doctor asked if I had ever been told that my pressures were high and I said yes, once before and he said that now I'm being told twice and need to see a specialist. So off I go to the place that Woodchuck goes to, which was the place I went to for years until we got the shitty insurance that they don't accept. I am what he called a "glaucoma suspect" and I will go in every few months initially for some baseline tests and then around twice a year after that. I told him that I can't have both us lose our sight! And ironically, it's the right eye for both of us. 

Early last week I got a knock on my door early one morning before leaving for work and it was an employee of the county garage here in town. Really nice guy, said that they got complaints that our tree line at the front is blocking the eyesight for people stopping at the stop sign on the corner and looking East. He said his boss was going to have them come out and just trim them without talking to us and I told him that they would have had a very, very, very angry little woman on their hands if they had done that. I mean, why even? Why interact with the homeowners that way when you can do what he did and  say no, we aren't going to just show up and cut them! I'll stop and talk with the homeowners first. We talked for a bit and I told him that those trees now cost $1000 each to replace and that's for a 12 inch sapling. Our trees are 22 years old, we planted them when we bought the house. I told him we'd talk with Arborists again (we did last year too when that drunk driver drove into them). He said he'd be back the next morning to talk with both Woodchuck and myself and see what we came up with.

Unfortunately, those trees aren't meant to be trimmed. If you trim them, it has to be minimal. All of their greenery is on the outer parts of the branches, so if you cut that away, you just have bare branches and what looks like a dead tree. And after talking again with the guy, he said that we needed to plant no closer than 20 feet from the center of the road. Which we did. But the growth of the trees came out about 3 foot, so there's only 17 feet of easement now. It didn't help that last Summer they widened the road when they repaved it and now the road is even closer to our trees, which makes it hard to mow. So now he was going to go back to his boss and see if they can get an arborist over to look at the trees and come up with a game plan. 

I have to say here that his boss said the complaints are all over Facebook and in the community group that was started for this town. I know the moderator for that group and she said there was literally TWO comments made about our trees, one of them from the crazy neighbors next door that we don't get along with. We've been here 22 years and it's been never ending with entitled hillbillies who constantly want to do what they want to do and infringe on us but wouldn't tolerate being infringed on themselves.

 We are so looking forward to becoming hermits on our land.

I have been working a lot to try and stay on top of tuition payments. There's just over one more year to go for that. Once the boy graduates I'll be having to think about shoulder surgery to fix the other shoulder! It's been so painful the past few months.

 My workplace recently made me keyholder again, with illnesses (Covid) having the majority of the staff out and the store closing here and there due to lack of staff and nobody to run it. I worked 45 hours last week to help cover and to get through a project I took on to revamp our used book section. That was one of the most satisfying things I've done there yet! And the customers are already loving it as well! Our volunteer that works on them has been out for a couple of months, calling only last week to let us know that she was injured during the last snowstorm. I'm glad I made the decision that I did to do them then, I always worry about taking work away from the volunteers but also finding enough to keep myself busy as well.

So Woodchuck and I went to the land recently for our first work day of the new year. With many options to choose from on where to begin, we decided to work on the West edge of the pond, clearing the invasive plants there and working slowly to get over to the phragmite that is land rooted. Again, and as usual, I don't feel like we made much progress. My shoulder was killing me, which left Woodchuck doing most of the grunt work, and since it's Winter and we haven't worked the land as much, we are "soft", lol. It didn't take much to wear us out!

We took down a lot of honeysuckle, some autumn olive, Woodchuck cut a dogwood of some sort before I could stop him, as well as some of my staghorn sumac (I swear he doesn't like that tree, he cuts them down all of the time!). We also cut many poison ivy and grapevines wrapping the oaks on that part of the pond. 

The above picture is looking between two oaks towards the pond. The goal was to clear between those two trees all the way to the pond before moving on to the next section. I thought we could get two sections done, but we only got one.

This picture is looking South towards where the phragmite are land rooted, though that land is very marshy and is part of the watershed preserve.

Progress shot! The front stuff between the two trees is down, now to move back towards the pond.

And done for the day! We didn't have the chemical needed to treat the stumps, so we cut them high so we can easily find them again and will go back another day to cut them low and treat them. Now that we were done cutting, it was time for a walk on the watershed! We found the corner markers again and made a note that we need to tie new survey tape to them. The winds out there tear that stuff apart easily. We tried to get a better idea of the path that will be mowed along two edges of the watershed. It will act as a fire break, property marker, and make it easier for us to walk it. We have lots of oaks out there, which I love. They don't lose all of their leaves and you can hear them rattling and rustling in the winds. I also love the sound of walking through them! 

We also have a very large rose bush by our property marker. This was the second rose I found on this day that was NOT a multi-flora rose and that was so refreshing to see! There were just a few rose hips left and I asked it for permission to take some. You know me, I always love leaving things for the wildlife! But it looks like they had a good snack of them.

I also took a gander at the blueberry bushes, and we will giving them their first trim in probably at least ten years very soon! 

So yeah, it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks for sure, but nothing that I can't handle with some strict boundaries, stern words for the assholes that show up to cause issues, and a good cry here and there. I hope your new year is faring well for you so far! Now get out there and grab the day by the balls!

Looking back, looking forward

 I have to admit that I didn't handle the new years eve crap well. It was a crazy busy week leading up to it, and the death of Woodchuck's brother just a couple of days ago, has saddened us all. I've been running myself into the ground lately, and getting exposed to illnesses at work, being in public, and our youngest son having the flu while home from college. I feel pretty damn rough, but I know it could be worse. What was supposed to be spent together, this first day of a new year, finds us apart yet again as Woodchucks work schedule was changed with only a few days notice. There were plans for a charcuterie board to be enjoyed throughout the day while I also baked some bacon crackers, and a Guinness Stew, and a trip to the land was also on the itinerary. But it is what it is and this day too shall pass like all of the others.

We got so much done on the land in 2022 and I am so proud of us! I'm a work horse and would like to see myself getting more done, but I know that with the weather and time we had, we made the best use of it that we could. It will be easier once we are living out there to work things into the schedule. Our last work trip out there had us filling in stone around the door bases, putting handles on the garage doors, finding Woodchuck a little white pine tree for his breakroom at work, and parking Ginny the Tractor in her new home.

 So what do we have to look forward to doing out there in this new year?

Our next work trip out there will be for starting to formulate a plan for working towards the watershed. We need to clear out the area between the blueberry bushes and phragmite and get an idea of the boundaries of where the watershed begins in that area. We also need to clean out around the NorthWest side of the pond. Lots of Autumn Olive there! And then also start the trek into the watershed to work on getting the invasive plants out of there, no trespassing signage up at all entry points, and eventually mow a firebreak path along two edges of it. We will also start the process of building the house this year! We anticipate lots of issues with contractors, so we are starting early. The time line is to start it this year and be able to move into it in three years.

Thank you so much for being on this magickal journey with us! Here's to an even more magickal, joyful and healthy 2023 for us all. 💚 )O(

Project completion and seasonal contemplation

 We are now able to put a checkmark next to the latest big project on the list. It is done! We have a complete barn now. Exhale. Woodchuck hired the same crew that finished the framing and did the roofing to put the doors up. He has been better about admitting when it is the right time to hire someone else to do a project. But let's not talk about he took the flesh tip of his finger off chopping up fire wood. SMH.

We have been back a few times now to finish up the little things on the barn. To peel off the stupid plastic barrier on the trim that he thought we were supposed to leave on, to put the wood and stone under the doors to close up the gaps until we get concrete poured, to put the handles on the doors, and to finally park the tractor in its new home. What an amazing feeling of accomplishment!

We were lucky to have such mild weather this Fall to help us gain more time to work on these kinds of projects. We were also very lucky to have made more progress on the front ditch, cutting down and pulling out large trees, driving copper nails in to the stumps that were left from invasive plant species. I'm getting lots of practice on the tractor!

 The ditch is now full of water, the pond completely refilled. There's a part of me that wishes we could have gotten even more done, but I know that we did a lot and have to remind myself that there will always be things to work on and it can't all be done at once. 

With each trip out there I have left feasts for the wildlife! Those cute little pumpkins and squashes that are used for Fall decor were cracked open to expose the tasty insides that some animal seems to enjoy the taste of. The smell of fresh pumpkin and squash is intoxicating to myself as well! I also saved up some veggie scraps and scattered those between the shipping container and blueberry bushes. The crows have been going nuts when we show up, so I can only hope now they recognize us and have accepted us in to the magick of the land. 

It is hard for me to focus on projects while out there at this time of year. The dying back of vegetation and thinning of what is impenetrable during warmer months captivates me. I stand still for what feels like hours, scanning visually and intently listening. Every chirp, caw, or twig snap catches my attention and I breathe in all of the amazing scents that comes with crisp, cool air. It's a whole other world at this time! Of course I love it too when it has snowed and I can look for all of the various tracks of animals, but even those distract me from the amazing and magickal world that Fall brings. There is something about tracks in mud that I find adorable, though finding them in glittering snow never disappoints me.

Our next immediate plan for the land? To start making our way out on to the watershed to start removing the invasives. I haven't decided yet if I want to go immediately to the watershed, or work our way to it starting with the the other side of the blueberry bushes and cleaning that out to make our way to the watershed pond. I kind of feel like that is a good option, and then we could cut the seed tops off of the phragmite in that area. But we'll decide closer to the time when we are ready to do that and dampness of the land will also make that decision. The next couple of Sundays will be busy with holiday stuff, so we likely won't start working on the land again until after the new year. I hate waiting that long!

We took a walk in to the first row of the second CRP yesterday, for Woodchuck to pick out a Yulemas tree for his breakroom. There's something so heart warming about a big, burly Neanderthal male finding a tiny little tree that he likes. We brought it home and he "planted" it in a pot while smoking a whole chicken for us to use for upcoming meals.

As far as regular life outside of the land, I am finding myself in complete burnout mode. I have spent weeks with every day, all day on the road. The all too familiar feeling of burnout and being overwhelmed slowly started creeping in and I didn't do anything fast enough to stave off hitting the brick wall. Trying to be there for family members who need help right now, working, going back into physical therapy, dealing with the holidays here, the land projects....I am meant for short-distance sprints, not long-distance cross-country. And so I find myself home today on my day off, in crying jags, seeing all of the things that I want to do but am already watching the hours tick off on the clock way too fast. I have also not been able to work on art and creations the way my spirit needs me to in order to stay balanced, and I feel like a wreck inside. I really miss having more time at home to create. But that doesn't pay the college tuition! I need to get better at the balance part.

My house is slowly coming back to better after always being neglected. Things are getting put away where they are meant to be, art ideas are swirling again, and I have finally forced myself to sit down and update you. I guess that means I'm feeding the balance recently and should feel good about that! But there's still that feeling of depletion that comes with this time of year. Of disappointment in people. Of dreaming of more magickal surroundings and situations than the basic sparkle I manage to create lately given the circumstances. Such a feeling of longing and a little bit of sadness. I think I just miss myself and Peace. I've never been one for the rat race and hustle and bustle of the holidays. Only I can control that for myself. Only I can make better decisions for myself and well-being.

I hope for you to have peace and well-being as well. Happiness, contentment, and no guilt for pulling back when you need to. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to hugging a tree. I miss my woods. 💚🌲