Feb 12-13, '10

Sally was in Pennsylvania for Rosen Movement training, so this was a boys weekend -- Tender and I.

Deer
There were three deer in the front yard upon arrival. Late that afternoon, I startled two more off when driving up the hill. They are definitely getting too comfortable around the house, where they will be a real nuisance once the fruit trees, baby trees, and garden start growing.

More Snow
We had gotten about 5 inches on Monday in town, but with the temperature at 33 degrees about half of it had melted. That didn't seem to be the case at the farm, where there was still lots of snow in spite of a couple of days with temps above freezing. This snow sliding off the roof drug the external cell phone antennae off, so I had to just stick it in the snow on the roof.

Beaver
I could immediately tell that the pond was not full and overflowing, which delighted me. After filling the bird feeders, Tender and I drove down the hill to check it out. I stopped on this side of the creeks, since the rest of the road had been so muddy the week before -- I knew it wouldn't be any better this weekend. We hiked across the pasture and found the culverts completely clear -- not a stick, or twigg, or grass, or any mud clogging them. I was so happy. We then hiked around to check out the burned out den, and no sign of beaver activity there either. I could actually tell that they had not been dragging their bodies up and down the trails they had leading up the hill into the woods (and fresh trees). I later realized I need to check up the creek to ensure they are not still on my property -- but water was flowing good into the pond (and out). I don't know why the trapper discouraged my burning the den idea, since it seemed to work and was so easy.

Lopped Cedars
I brought my loppers, so decided to continue this never ending task. Working the field just north of plume creek above where I had parked, I lopped just over 900 trees. There were more, which I came back and got the next morning -- another 500. Other than the big ones, that area is now pretty clean.

Hickory Limbs
I also had my Stihl chain saw in the truck, since I didn't know if I would need to cut more cedars as fuel to burn out another beaver den. Looking at the downed limbs from the huge hickory there on my eastern property line, I decided to go ahead and clean them up. I figure this tree is at least 200 years old. Ben said all the big trees are on the property lines because neither owner knew if it belonged to them or not and didn't cut them. I hope this giant survives, as it lost lots of limbs in our Jan, 2009 ice storm. I just cut the ones that fell on my side of the fence, thinking the Clark's may want the others -- but I really doubt it. The fence is a mess. I hope his cows don't come across. Guess I'll need to patch it up as best I can.

This pile of limbs turned out to be two thirds of a truck load. Saturday morning I hauled them out of this pen thinking I would move them to the barn another day. But the ground there was solid, so I just backed the truck up, loaded the limbs, and took them up to the barn . After unloading them, I loaded the truck with dry wood to take to Lou and Joe in Tulsa -- since I'm flying out of there Wednesday to visit Amanda.

Poulan
Saturday I brought the Poulan saw. Seeing the broken limbs on the Walnut opposite the pen from the hickory, I decided to get them cut. I've tried to adjust the carburator twice, and obviously still haven't gotten it right since it would lose power. Some day I hope to get this art down. I got the limbs cut but didn't pile them up. After lunch I went ahead and sharpened the Poulan and the Stihl.

More Cedars
Before heading home, I decided to take a walk up to the top with Tender. Of course I took my loppers, and ended up whacking another 400 cedars up there. Tender didn't mind the leisurely pace.