Short Cut
I came the new short cut and got an exact mileage measurement of 8.5 miles, 5.5 of which was one lane dirt road. Returning that way was 24 minutes from the cattle guard driving aggressively. I'll next compare these to the route through Eureka. The service berry blooming through the forest was beautiful.
Pond Culverts
I
was eager to see what damage the beaver had done during the week, so the first thing I did was head for the pond. I took my loppers and chainsaw and parked at the bottom of the hill not wanting to drive the low wet part of the road. I lopped 60 cedars just crossing the field to the pond. I was very surprised to find just a few limbs and mud clogging the culverts. The beaver had been there, but had not really done much. This long log is what I had pulled out the week before. I was pleased, but puzzled. It started raining as I began to scout around the pond for a den. As I ventured into the overgrown area on the north side, a 30 inch tan snake took off for the pond right in front of me. The first snake of the season, and the first of three we saw this weekend. He slithered into the water and disappeared, leaving my heart racing. With the rain picking up I decided the heck with going around the pond and headed back for the truck. I was pretty soaked by the time I reached it.Burn
With it raining and me already wet, I thought I would burn the cedars I had cut in the pen below the barn. I couldn't find a small pack of matches so I took some strike anywhere kitchen matches and put them in a plastic bag (not wanting to take the whole box and get them wet). I also grabbed some newspaper (which I stuffed under my jacket), a file (thinking I could use it to strike the matches), and a hand saw, and headed down. But I couldn't get a match to light in the wet conditions. I was frustrated, but given the rain we got in the next hour I am glad I couldn't get a fire started.
Barn Culvert
The
project I could do in the rain was right there at the barn. I hadn't thought of it until I walked right by it -- bury the culvert I had brought out the previous weekend. It was going between the enclosed concrete part of the barn and the open dirt side, both sides covered from the rain. So I went back to the garage and got my shovel and adz. Removing the old bridge and digging out the ditch I already had turned out to be pretty easy. 
Within about an hour I had the culvert buried and water from the continuing rain, sometime very heavy, was running through it. So good to have that done. To kill a little more time while waiting for Sally, I split some of the hickory limbs I had set aside there.Garden
Sally was anxious to work in the garden, but it was too wet and continued to sprinkle off and on until dark. Overnight we received lots more rain (I'd wished I had put out the rain gauge), but it was done by morning. Saturday Sally planted some radishes and garlic and picked some of the lettuce that had survived the winter and was no longer bitter. Our other plantings were doing good with tiny beet sprouts and spinach already showing. The thick summer spinach which comes back volunteer every year was also beginning to sprout.
Morning Walk
There was lots of fog Saturday morning and the ground was soaked with lots of puddles.
On the way back from the pond Sally found the tale, or rear end, of a snake. All I could figure is that I ran over it the day before -- but I couldn't find the other part. This one was obviously not poisonous and I regretted accidentally killing it.Work
I removed and bagged the insulation from the top of the well house. Found one deceased mouse in the process. It was obvious there had been water in the bottom and that the sump pump had been working, but I went ahead and cleaned up the intakes and tested it.
I had noticed the cell phone antennae had slid down the roof, so I re-tapped it. In the process I noticed some of the screws in the sheet metal roof were lose, so I went up and tightened all I could find. In the process I noticed the caulk was all loose around the septic line vent pipe. So I re-caulked that even though the silicon caulk was partially dried up and I had to slit the side and putty it on with my knife. After coming down, I began to look for some leaves to clean my knife. Low and behold I almost stepped on another snake. This one hissed at me and flattened his head out. I thought it looked like a copper head. Being right next to the house and thinking it was poisonous, I went and got a shovel and killed it. Later consulting an Arkansas snake guide book I couldn't tell what kind any of the three snakes I had seen were.
After Sally left, I took my chainsaw and began cutting my way up plume creek. Its such a pretty creek, I've have dreams of cleaning up all the downed trees and making a trail up it. But what a mess. I almost made it all the way to our property line when a big cedar pinched the bar. After finally getting it lose, I was cutting the next and largest cedar. But when I got through it and it fell it somehow threw the chain. I'll have to come back to finish cutting, and then I will need to drag the limbs to the side -- ideally burning the cedars.
Lastly, before leaving I mixed a couple of gallons of herbicide and began spraying the knapweed which was beginning to grow. We have quite an infestation of this invasive weed, and since learning what it is last year, I've decided to go after it. I'll check back and see if the spray was effective and then slowly expand the attack.
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