1st of April are we fooled?

I think March can be as tough as November because we are in that in between stage where we are dealing with some rather drab colors in nature. 

And now we move to April which begins the real season of spring surprises.

But for now? I take the ugly parts of the day and do that never ending job of cleaning up what I didn't take care of in the fall.
I looked back on what I've done in the past few years in March and it is the same fight. Clean up burdock, Motherwort, pile, burn, rake up as many seeds from the sour dock and do the same. 
Hack down elderberry tree sprouts -- more come up from suckers... and generally clean areas up so I don't have equine full of burs when I can start rotating them.

One of the spots that I didn't work on last year proved to be extra nasty come this past fall.

If I had a herd of goats and proper fencing, I'd send them through here a few times a year and let them clean up the nasty weeds.

The Dexter cattle did a good job at that. But we had too many and we all know what overgrazing does to the land.

Charlie and I worked on this one little spot. Well, Charlie supervised, I worked.

I make small piles and wait for an early morning without wind then burn the small brush piles.

Just to the right of where this photo was taken the Buckthorn woods start. The only thing that will rid me of those nasty trees is a bulldozer, then forestry planting and a lot of work bringing the forest back to its glory days. 

This section is only about an acre or so, but it is on a steep hill.

Face it. It is wild.

I have one thought on it. If I were to invest in doing all of that, I'd never live to see the benefit. One more thing to leave to the next generation of owners after I am gone.

I have to admit defeat and let that area go. I am only one person who has no business operating heavy machinery or chainsaws. I don't have the time nor the energy. I feel like I am failing as a steward for my land.

I obsess about it each year. However, I've decided to fix fencing and enjoy my property and all it has to offer. 

I will pick my battles.

This year I have one less grazing animal. Three of our equine are over 25 years old. So it is mostly retirement time for them.

My neighbor is a forester and I am looking forward to a tour of our land with him [and his wife]. 

I'll keep trails open and mark the best places to gather eatable mushrooms, dig parsnip roots, pick berries, and enjoy the beauty of nature.

This is a mental battle I do each spring with good meaning and ideas.

As soon as the wildflowers start though, I feel good again.

Right now? It is snowing and coming down hard. 

Sven thinks it is just fine.

As daylight seeps into the grey morning here, I am putting on my coveralls and heading out to enjoy Mother Nature's Joke on us.

Last night over an inch of rain. This morning, heavy snowfall. Tomorrow? Looks like a beautiful day.

I'll take it!

Little Happy Dances

Above is a snap of me sitting with Charlie on the porch. There is the little weed whacker that my hubby bought me for my birthday a few years ago.

At that time I wasn't as strong as I am now in my shoulders and arms so it was a chore to use it for any length of time and I was always sore afterwards.

[Yep, I'm giving CrossFit a bit of a nod here. Not only has it helped but my first happy dance of the day was in CrossFit class. I had a PR of 82 lbs in the Back Squat. I know that may mean nothing to most folks but to me it was huge! My first back squats were with a pvc pipe and I actually graduated to a weighted bar. It wasn't until this past few months that I actually added real weights. 
Anyway when I finished my little PR, I did a joyful happy dance and rang the bell.]

Well, I decided it was time to get after those pesky straggles of long grass that Sven couldn't keep under control. So I fired up the Weed Eater and went after the grasses.
Whoops! The little trimmer string wouldn't advance.

Uh oh. I know last year I just asked the boss to help me. So I poked my head in the house and asked Rich, "Do you recall how to do the string 'thingy' on the weed whacker?"
He looked at me and shrugged, "Nope. Sorry."
There was a time that he'd take charge and I'd be the go-fer. I'd get the tools and he'd take care of what needed being done.

Hmm.
I recalled seeing the manual to this Toro Trimmer in the *Manual Drawer*. It is a dresser drawer in the basement that has every manual that ever passed through this property. I rummaged through until I found the Toro Trimmer Manual. I made about 10 trips to the spot where Rich keeps tools [this area will get organized eventually!] and came back with two wrench things that I could work with. The instructions were nearly as clear as mud.
So I looked at the pictures and followed them, but was stumped when I couldn't get the bump nob off.

So I used my Smarty Phone to look up similar issues. How odd. A Yahoo Question and Answer discussion came up with the solution. The manual said to turn the bump knob counter clockwise [Lefty Loosey], the discussion said that was wrong. Clockwise.

And they were right!

I followed the suggestions to clean the spring the knobby thing, and all the other parts. While I was at it I cleaned up the shield and dabbed a bit of oil on the other suggested parts.
Then I proceeded to follow the written instructions on how to re-string the trimmer and put it back together.
I started it and went at the weeds. Imagine a sort little happy dance while whacking down long grass, thistles, and burdock. Giddy again.

Success! I set it down after I was finished and went to put the manual away. On the very next page it had some instructions on how to clean an air filter. Oh, I don't ever recall having that cleaned.

Looks like I have some more work to do.

I never imagined I'd be happy over being able to just string a little trimmer.

Blue paint & a Saw

Adventures in fencing.

What is a perfect time to go out and see what needs to be done to make the woods above the creek usable as pasture?
A storm had destroyed most of the electric fencing down near the creek in 2007 and then again in 2012. In 2015, it was our intention to finally
clean up the barbed wire fenceline and replace sections of it for the Dexter Cattle.
2015 was the year that Throat Cancer put everything on hold.

Oh, we'd get to it 'next' year. 2016 saw us remodeling the house and I kept thinking about that pasture and how nice it would be to have the cattle or the equine in it.

2017. Rich had his stroke. Dreams of working on the pasture went to the back burner as we tended to downsizing the equine. Our dreams changed and we decided to concentrate on organizing and figuring out what came next.

Thank goodness things seemed to settle down in 2018. I started to think about those woods again.

This summer I even temporarily fenced in a small section of the woods just to see how well the mules would do clearing the underbrush.

Donkeys are much better and so are Dexter Cattle, but the donkeys had been sold and the Dexters were all sold in the fall.

The temperatures were hovering around the mid thirties and the winds promised to pick up later. I grabbed a can of blue spray paint and a saw. I was going to walk the line fence and mark the areas with paint that needed work.

I marked missing clips and X'd a few trees that could be hand sawed down. Big X's went on the large log that was laying across the barbed wire fence. I peered at it. I'd need a chain saw or an axe to clear the fence and fix it. The good news was that this was the only spot that needed barbed wire attention.
I could run a singe line on the inside of the fence that would prevent the mules from reaching through the fence.
I made it to the creek and sprayed some lines on a tree to mark where I wanted the new 'creek' gate to go.

I walked above the creek and noted that all my work last spring of clearing was still pretty good. I'd given it all up when it got too hot and nasty last summer.

I spritzed some saplings that needed to get chopped down and swiped at the berry briers that I'd have to come back and clear. I didn't want to use a killing brush spray but there were so many of them.

Again I wished I had at least a donkey or two left. They delighted in eating multiflora rose and briers.
Goats?
Hmm.

I kept walking and marking. I cut down a fair sized pile of brush and had to stop when I heard the winds overhead begin to howl.
Off across the north hillside I heard a tree crack and crash with a huge thump that shook the ground.

It was time to head back home.

I entered the house after dropping my dirty boots off on the porch. I closed the door softly as not to disturb Rich.

That pasture was doable.
Now I had a good winter project to work on.

And it sure wouldn't be sweaty and buggy.

I fell asleep on the couch for a short nap with Charlie and dreamed of spray painting blue X's on trees... and chopping down briers.