Busy stuff!

I have really been contributing to greenhouses gases the last few days! More chainsaw duty-trying to get the girdled trees dropped in the goat pen so that they can finish stripping them and I can cut the wood up for firewood.

Whoever decided a bunch of goats should be called a herd, has never seen a bunch of goats in action when they hear a chainsaw running. Total pack mentality. First the dumber, slower ones place themselves where they think the prey (in this case, the falling tree) will head. The more aggressive ones try to help start the saw and stand near the intended victim. The ones that are already full from breakfast hang in the back and watch the fun.

I have only been brave enough to drop trees that I think won't kill the goats if it hits them. I have to have everything scoped out in advance-the whole area, because once a tree hits the ground, forget dropping another one in the same place safely, as the pack descends for the kill.

While the goats are eviscerating the first kill, I relocate with the running chainsaw in hand (it has gone back to cranky starts, so I don't shut it off until I'm done.) and try and get the next tree dropped before the more agressive ones realize I have moved with the Alpha-the saw-and follow.

I managed to work my way up to 5 or 6 inch diameter trunks, and finally decided to take out the 10 inch birch. I have been eyeballing that one for awhile, since it is a big tree for me. And, it is positoned poorly, right up against a boulder, and leaning in that direction. The only way to take it out was to cut it 3 feet up from the ground over the boulder.

The birch was definitely big enough to squish a goat.

I had distracted them with some smaller stuff elsewhere, and moved in for the kill. The birch was already girdled, due to die anyhow, and yet offered a few good pieces of almost ready to burn firewood. I started in cutting the wedge out the drop-side, and on the second cut the goats started to advance. *swears*.

Quickly I moved onto the back cut, and the saw, of course, started to bog down, wanting to stall in the cut. I pulled it back out of the cut and revved it up to bring it out of it, cursing and trying to hurry beofre the goats got into the drop zone. I did not want to leave it at that stage, in case a breeze came up-it might fall the wrong way.

Luck was on my side, the saw came back to life and I continued with the cut and dropped the beast -slowly, but right where I had wanted it to fall. The goats descended in their ravening pack. I moved back to where the goats had just been, and dropped a 5 inch diameter beech, girdled, but still with leaves. I nearly got the chain stuck in the back cut, and called it a day for dropping trees.

Later, after a bunch of other mundane chores, I drove over to a friends to borrow their lawnmower. I annihilated the meadow and reclaimed the lawn this afternoon. No way was I going to make last year's mistake and try and rake leaves in 6 inches of grass!

Looks pretty good for the first mow of the year. :)

I also asked my lawnmower-lending friend to adjust the loose chain on the chainsaw, so that is ready to get back to work for me soon. Rats, he showed me how to do it myself for next time. ;)
What an enabler...LOL.

I really needed to know, though, as the chain was quite loose and it is a safety issue.

That was enough gas exhaust for me for the day! I have started simmering a pot roast and need to go out into the garden and treasure-hunt some pototoes. I like to leave them in the ground as long as possible and dig them as we need them. I just finished off the end of a small row of lovely russets. Next up-not sure if I have reds or whites left? Could be more russets!

ramblings

yeah! after a month of scans, updates, upgrades, downloads, and finally some very kind online assistance, I think this machine is finally clean.

I was asking for trouble-everything was outdated and not updated-so I was probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time. The timing of the attack made me wonder if it wasn't personal, though. Two days before I had apparently made some controversial comments elsewhere regarding my opinion of relationship status.

In general, I said that if one was married it would be wrong to hide the fact. That's just my personal opinion. Even when I have been in merely LTR's I have always been upfront about being in a relationship-even if they were ready to crash and burn and temptation was inches away from my face. LOL.

Well, it caused an avalanche including several offline messages, shortly afterwhich I nearly lost the main computer. But I'm back and now know better. Next time I run my mouth, I will make sure everything is updated in triplicate beforehand. :P

And to clear the slate-I don't wear a wedding ring because I am not married. The only males that have been on my bed in the last three years were animals-and neutered. hehehe.

Ok, glad that's out of the way.

Willow and I went fishing again this evening. She landed a huge pickerel! It was about a foot long and put up a big fight! She landed it herself again. Then I had a reminder why I cut the line on the rare occasions the kids catch one-they are slimy things! I lost my grip on this one four times before I finally freed the hook, which was thankfully in the side of the mouth where I could grasp the shank. Pickerel have an alligator mouth of teeth!\

Finally I got a good grip on it and I could feel the heart beating while I clutched it in one hand and teased the hook out with the other. Then I let it slip back into the water. Willow is so happy I taught her how to fish!

A little while later she asked if she could reel in and recast. Her line was only about 8 feet from the edge of the sluice, so I said sure, and moved my attention off her line as she reeled it in. Well, right now, the water is right up to the top edge of the concrete, but not flowing,. The water is about 8 inches deep there and drops off gradually. All of a sudden it was a scene straight out of the movie "Jaws" and there was a giant tidal wave and splash of water and she started yelling, "you said the fish wasn't one there, but I got it!" and then her line went dead.

I think something large came up after her line as she was reeling in, and flipped as it got up to the shallows-probably the mother of that pickerel she landed before. LOL. Scared me!!!

The water was like glass-reflecting the red and yellow foliage ringing the pond. It is so beautiful!!! And my batteries still weren't recharged on the cam and I had no other AA lying about! So no pretty foliage picture or pickerel picture tonight! Now the batteries are charged for tomorrow, we have a Hurricane headed our way!

That is right, I got home in time for the weather and heard that Hurricane KYLE-are you reading this, Tanya? LOL is coming up the Atlantic to the Gulf of Maine. Predicted to make landfall as a category one. There goes the foliage! And fishing at the top of the sluice-as we are predicted to get at least several inches of rain this weekend.

Ramblings

Yesterday I decided to undertake the task of supporting the house. The house is supported by cedar posts that are four feet in the ground. At the time they went in, I tarred a ring around the posts where they protrude from the ground. That is the place where wood eating bacteria are the most prevelant-the first few inches of earth.

I told the old timer who sold me the posts, and he claimed that should make them last 40 years. That was ten years ago. Last fall I checked them and was greatly alarmed that they had started to rot out at that location.

I immediately brought in a carpenter friend for consultation, and he believed there was still a lot of strength in them, but it was neverless an issue I needed to address.

When the power was put in here, a new pole was placed at the road, and the company told me that I could do whatever I wanted with the old pole. I figured that old pole looked pretty good to back up the posts under the house.

So I called on my carpenter friend again to drop the post for me. Although I had seen him handle a chainsaw, he seemed a bit hesitant when we got down the road with my small saw. Just then a mutual aquaintence drove by. One of his side jobs happens to be logging, so we-me mostly- coerced him into dropping the pole for me. He used his own saw, much larger than mine, although grumbled about the possibility of hitting metal.

We had the pole roped off and the first helper and I put tension on the rope so it would fall the correct way, and not on the line or the road. It came down with a crash, and the top cracked. Still, there was quite a usuable length left, and we left it for another time.

Unfortunately I lost the help of my carpenter friend shortly after that-after ignoring my repeated rebuffs of his physical advances I finally had to use cruel words and nearly physically kick him out of my house one evening.

So the post job fell to me alone, and in true procrastinator fashion I finally decided to undertake part of the job yesterday. I braced off one of the three supporting beams with two more posts-lengths I managed to cut off the good part of the pole with my little chainsaw.

That was easier said than done. I needed to support the pole in such a way the piece I was cutting would drop free and not just cave in and trap the chainsaw. But I coulnd't budge the pole. I spent some minutes wishing a nice strong guy would show up and give me a hand, but the road has never been quieter.Finally I found some lengths of hemlock I could handle, and jammed them under the pole in such a way that I could cut it up without getting the saw stuck.

Although the pieces I cut off were just around three feet in length, the post is 8-10 inches in diameter and the things were beastly heavy.

I managed to end over end them off the power line and into the back of the car to get them up to the house. The Firebird and I took turns with the sledgehammer sliding them into place. The Willow had helped me measure, and I added 1/4 of an inch to each length to make sure they fit tight. And they did-we really had to pound on them to force them into place.

Two more beams are left to brace off-which will each require three posts as they are the longer beams. And most of the work will have to be done under the crawl space-which the Firebird is NOT going to enjoy!

NOT today, Zurg. ;)

While I was prepping the location for the posts yesterday, I found an ENORMOUS bullfrog. I was stunned. We have quite a toad colony around the house, but it seemed like an odd location for a bullfrog. (The batteries needed recharging on the cam so no pix.)

Anyhow, the frog had to be relocated due to the work, so I put him in a bucket and the Willow and I headed down into the marsh. I thought that would be a better place than the pond. We had to hike quite far into the marshgrass to find a small pool of water for him. We found huge moosetrack while we were there!!!! That did alarm me, as it is not far from the house, and moose will be going into rut anyday, if not already. I have seen a video of bull moose in rut attacking a car!!!So I really do NOT want to come across a bull moose in rut!!!!! EEKKK!

We released the bullfrog and headed back, and I remembered two years ago we brought home twenty or so bullfrog tadpoles from a friends vernal pool. They had about twenty billion tadpoles, so I did not feel too back about taking a few for the kids (and me).

Well, we had them right where I found that frog yesterday!!!!! I thought most of them had died, but a few a the end we took to a friends and released in his small pond. So, maybe that is how we got a bullfrog living next to the house in the damp spot....LOL.

After all that was done, I had promised to take Willow fishing. The Firebird didn't want to go, so he stayed home to listen for several phone calls I was expecting. I took the cell phone with me as back up.

Willow and I found that the water has dropped enough the dam is dried, so we decided she would fish from there. It was so lovely!!! It is very nice to be able to cast from the dam with the branches cut back. The early bright red maples are turning up the pond, and the sun was behind us, so it made a postcard view.

Right after we arrived the Firebird showed up to tell me I had missed a call-of course-and not wanting to head back to the house, I made the call from the dam on my cell phone. I guess it is easy to tell I am an old-timer, because I am still amazed that I could be sitting outside in such a wild location making a phone call!!

The fish weren't biting very well-until Willow got a big hit. I coached her through setting the hook and landing the fish all by herself. Her reel was screeching several times. She landed a big largemouth bass!!!! And the tiny hook was set perfectly-just a flip and the hook was out and the fish was freed. I was so proud of her. That was a big fish for that little tiny Barbie pole! LOL.

She was just reeling in her last cast when we saw the Firebird coming back. He had my cordless phone from the house!!!! I took it from him and there was blaring static-of course!_ and I shouted"call me back in ten minutes!!!" and couldn't even end the call it was so far out of range!!!

On the run back to the hosue, I explained to the Firebird it was a cordless phone, not a cellular phone, and it had a very short range from the handset in the house!!HE was very apologetic!! I found it ironic in the generational difference that I am amazed a cell phone works out there and he just assumed the cordless would too...LOL

I think the most amazing thing is that when I finally did get the call through, the caller told me he could hear me when the Firebird turned the cordless phone over to me at the top of the dam!!!

Another icon of "Can you hear me now??" HEHheheh.

Ramblings again

The saplings started school this week. I made sure to walk Peko down to the bus so he could see the kids get on and realize they were not going to be home. The first two days he strained on the leash to stand on his back legs while they entered the bus, and then after the bus pulled away, he cast about the end of the drive and into the woods, looking for them.

He seemed to think they had teleported nearby and could not understand where they had gone. By the second day, his ears perked up in the afternoon when the other town's bus went by earlier.

Today he seemed to understand that they left on the bus. He is very glad to see them come home again!

I have been doing the morning chores solo and leaving him in the house while I grain and hay the goats. I am just too worried about having the goats tied and then freaking out over the dog. So I listen to Peko bark, and howl, while I am doing the goats. I think it is because he can see me from the window.

Yesterday I had some chores to run, including dropping the chainsaw off for maintenence. I took Peko with me. The only place he barked was at the grain store. I had a bit of a dilemma because the grain goes in the back, but I didn't want him to jump out of the car. So my grain dealer said she would load and I could restrain the dog.

This has been a regular stop for him, and she always gives him a few dog biscuits. Well, after she put the first sack of grain in the back, he just leaned over the back seat waggin his tail, and she handed him his biscuits and said, "That is what he was looking for!!"

I replied, "N, you must be friends with all your client's dogs!"

She admitted she has a lot of friends. LOL

I haven't left the dog home alone YET. I am pretty sure now he wont go through a window *knocks on wood*, but I am not too sure how he will be with one of the cats, Ruby. She likes to attack him, and he doesn't like it too much. This morning she attacked him and then was staring at him, and he growled at her. Othertimes they sleep on the bed together, but Ruby is a moody little thing.

I have been asked by the farm to do some fence work, and I claimed this week off. I am not too sure what to do with the dog while I am working though. Boss said I could bring him with and put him in the goat pen, but I am pretty sure he could clear a four foot fence. I guess what I will do is leave him at home.

I dropped a CD of pix off for developing last week, and called today and they said it was $90.00!!!!!!! WHAT!?!?!?! Ifeel like a total idiot, as I could have used that 90 in many other ways!!!! So I guess I have no choice but to put in some time at the farm to pay for my photo madness.

ramblings

We had a visitor last week. Or perhaps the week before. Time flies around here. Tempus Fugit.

We have so little traffic on the road several hundred feet away, that oftentimes it sounds as if someone is pulling in the drive. Not lately, of course, with the condition of the drive-even a well tuned automobile makes an obvious ruckus pulling in.

The Firebird sounded the alert, and the local boys have me well trained.

They sit in the dooryard and beep their horn-perhaps this is a legacy of years of bullmastiffs, but if an unexpected visitor arrives, I trot out dutifully to see what they want.

This time I was caught offguard (well, at least I wasn't in pj's)-but offguard in the sense that the visitor was out of the vehicle and headed up the side drive. He kept coming even after seeing my approach.

My first impression was military; clean cut, small but well built. He oozed proper manners and brandished a brand new Maine road atlas. (mine is well loved and in shreds and well past the point of replacement). He was obviously "not from around here".

He pointed at the boat icon at the head of the pond on the map, and gestured down the drive with his map..."do you know who owns this path?"

"That is a twenty foot public right of way to ------- pond, " I informed him. "You are welcome to put in, but they prefer if you park along the road."

He looked a bit puzzled, and repeated, "yes, but who OWNS it?"

I told him the name of the family, and which house, and specifically to talk to the neighbor with the bulldog disposition, and he confirmed the name and the house and thanked me and left.

Of course in this neck of the woods, that was food for thought for several days. I deduce he is from out of state, perhaps California, and maybe not military, but perhaps a lawyer. How many folks of average intelligence realize that a public right of way/access is still owned by someone?

Or perhaps he meant the trail beyond the boat landing-that is still private property. At least it qualifies as a trail now that it has been trimmed-to me a path is the ghost of a deer trail indicated by an opening through the branches, which usually splits off into even more questionable paths as it meanders through the woodland. Maybe I have paths and trails confused. A trail is something you can ride a horse on-a path to me usually means a footpath. Hence my indignant response with, "twenty-foot right of way." LOL.

So, I spent a tense few days wondering if this was an attempt at a purchase of the property. Visions of million dollar homes and deforestation danced across my vision. My ace in the hole was the woman I directed him to speak with. When her husband died, they were split up, and he left his out-of-state oldest daughter from a previous marraige in charge of his affairs, and the neighbor confided in me, as he was on his deathbed, that she was afraid she might be kicked out.

We have had minimal contact since that conversation well over a year ago-the man passed last summer-so I have no real idea in whose name the property is in. However, C is still there with the brood, and if she does not own it directly, I am sure she would not have directed an out-of-state purchaser to the out-of-state daughter. And if she owns it herself, I doubt that she would part with it, although money does talk to us poor folk. Or perhaps that polite, well- groomed healthy male specimen was sent to soften up the old bulldog(S). ;)

A few days after that, I saw a trio of vehicles parked along the road, and several others tucked in for a gathering. The trio stayed the weekend-either camping on the pond or perhaps on the property in question. So I was relieved to surmise in the end it was most probably a case of requesting permission to use the property and not purchase it.

I couldn't help but notice this weekend that another trio of vehicles had parked right up to the pond blocking the right of way. I was incredulous. A holiday weekend and they are blocking the right of way!?! Bear in mind that this is no way affects me personally-I don't have a canoe or kayak (bummer)-nor do I own the property. But I see the few folks that use the pond kindly, and the ones that are not so kind, and I was angry for the folks that had hoped to put in for a paddle over the beautiful weekend.

I have watched many lug their canoes and kayaks down the right of way, and trying to get past three suvs and trucks with a load would be impossible. Nevermind the fact that if any of them were leaking oil, it was going to leach directly in the pond. They were there Friday night, all day Saturday, Saturday night, and by Sunday I decided to act.

We walked the dog down to the pond, and actually it was a spur of the moment thing or I would have brought pen and paper and left a note. I saw a superman insignia in the dust on the hood of the front suv, and inspiration struck.

With my forefinger I wrote, "You are blocking a public right away. RUDE. :( "

Later that afternoon on subsequent dog pees I saw three vehicles pulled along the road that put in kayaks or canoes. I wondered how they felt when they had to drag by the vehicles in the way, and if they saw my dust doodlings. Then I did feel a bit guilty, as each subsequent paddler might suspect the previous one .....

shortly after the third had arrived,,, there was some commotion and the three blocking vehicles left (the saplings riding bikes informed me)...and I wondered if the poor innocent paddlers had waved at the ROW blockers, and if the ROW blockers upon return cursed them, the unguilty. Geez-I really don't have much excitement around here, do I?
LOL

I just feel very protective of the pond, as it is such a lovely unspoilt place. ON a recent trip to the city, we travelled through a place where there are cottages right up to the water-and visible along the pond. And that water was as green as jade, and as murky. That is what development does. Run off and leaky septics (or overflowing in heavy rain) cause algae blooms. They are disgusting. Our pond is as clear as glass.

I embrace the fisher folk and nature lovers who respect it for what it is. I am not too crazy about motorboats on the pond-too often I have seen a glaze of oil or gas on the water after one manages to put in. That is one of the nice things about the condition of the right of way-it almost demands hand carry only.

So, time will tell what will happen to the pond. IN ten years it has pretty much remained unchanged-the dam has taken some damage but looks solid overall. The worst thing that ever happened was the deceased landowner, in his last winter here, when he was laying the logs out to mark the right of way, dragged an old shanty down the pond and smashed it to bits with his tractor to discourage folks from parking there. It was a terrible eyesore, and I still pick up bits of glass from the one window. Some of the framing I hauled home and built the goose house-another intrepid visitor lugged out the aluminum siding when the price of junk metal got high. All that remains are a few odd bits that someone else and myself chucked over the logs-and they will be rotted in another few years. So for now, paradise is secure. Drop me a line and I'll give you the grand tour-including the path streamside. You might note the name of the stream on your brand new Maine Atlas. ;)