They call it a Slash.

 I did some more digging into logging forests and the messes that are left behind. The loggers only take the logs that will earn them money. The tops are cut off and left lay. Other trees are damaged by the logging and are left standing. Trees that are cut and discovered hollow are also just left to lay.

They call it Slash.

The mess can serve a purpose. The logs decay providing nutrients to the soil.  The debris can prevent erosion and will provide cover for animals. 

[To me this didn't seem as though it would prevent erosion...however....]

The tree tops apparently provide food for deer as they are browsers and will eat the ends of the branches.

Yet I keep thinking that the people who own the land are not conservationists. I doubt there will be any replanting of the trees, but one can hope that trees will grow back. Well trees would grow back IF there were seeds left behind or saplings untouched.

The damage done to the oaks may be permanent and spread as Oak Wilt is an issue in our area.

I imagine that in a few years, this forest will produce amazing fungi and slime molds as well as a some sort of transformation. 

Yesterday afternoon I got a text from Glen the Hunter. He leases the part of the forest I photo'd and the woods all the way through the valley. Glen is a bow hunter and only hunts the land for a few weekends a year. He parks often at the edge of our property to hunt. We made an agreeable arrangement for access to the meadow about 6 years ago.

He always texts me to let me know when he is coming to check cameras or when he is hunting. He is from the Kenosha area of Wisconsin where I used to live. He generally stops and visits a bit each year. 

I texted back, asking him to give me his opinion on the logging on the land he'd leased for hunting. At the end of the day I got a text back with an apology for not stopping out to visit. 

"It is a mess!" His ATV broke down while checking on cameras and he said they had a terrible time dragging it out. If one could read through the lines of short texts...he was as shocked as I was. A bit later he texted me back and said that the owner ... said they would 'clean it up'. The emoji sent with it was a figure shrugging. 

I replied that the only cleaning up of that magnitude would be by bulldozer. My opinion.

Glen then asked if I'd keep an eye out for property for sale, as he sold property in Kenosha and was looking for property in our area.

We talked a bit. I'll skip over most of it. Glen then offered to purchase my place and let me live here. Bold move by text, but his heart sounded like it was in it thinking he'd help me out by a huge influx of money.

This was the third time someone had expressed wanting to purchase my place this past week.

I of course wouldn't do such an arrangement. I would be a tenant in my own house and there would be too many variables that could occur.

I think Glen was rather shocked at the condition of the land that he has leased now for the past few years. He leased it because of the amazing forest. I doubt he will lease it after this year.

Last night I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn't help but think about the forest to the east of me.

Can you imagine the fire danger if we have a drought?
Yeah. I should just pretend the forest next to me no longer exists.

Slash can be cleaned up with forest mulchers which are machines with large grinders. It can also be cleaned up with bulldozers which pile the Slash for burning.

I highly doubt that the absentee owner of the land will put that kind of effort and money into cleaning up nearly 500 acres of forest after it is logged.

I learned something new today. 

Slash.

It seems an appropriate word for this kind of logging.

Never thought of it in this manner.

Thoughtful

 

Mindful.

Thoughtful.

Winter nights seem to give me more time to pay attention to things I wouldn't normally think of.

Mindfulness means a lot of different things. To me, I just felt that it meant to be more aware of others and their feelings.  Grandma always reminded us to be Mindful of our manners so I was a bit surprised to see that Mindfulness is meditation so that you can feel in the moment.

I looked up Thoughtful, it says to be more aware of others feelings.

Color me confused or old fashioned. I decided to chalk it up to Semantics. My definitions of thoughtful and mindful are similar. Apparently it isn't any more.

December's dreary days lead me to do more thinking. Yeah. I shouldn't be doing that. I mean thinking usually gets me in trouble. I think up scenarios all night with the preface of: What If?
In the summer I'm too tired to think of What If's since I'm physically busy all day.

I recently read Annie Dilliard's Novel The Maytrees. First off, this is a hard book to follow. Her writing jumps all over the place as if she were super high on caffeine when she wrote it. 

Sort of like me on some days when I jump around in conversation or home duties. 

The book is about a couple ... the novel explores their love, loyalty, friendship, and forgiveness. It explores the human heart. 
Usually books don't move me much. I read a lot of novels and don't even know why I decided to pick this one up. I was looking for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and found this book at the library.

When I finished the book I sat for a very long time just being thoughtful while looking at the lights and decorations in the room.

What better time of the day than a dark cold night to sit and think about everything in life. I asked myself questions in my head.
How did I get here?
Where will I go from here?
Has my life been meaningful?
Does it really matter?

Will I make a difference?

What will it be like when I am just a memory?

Interesting

Well that was very interesting regarding the 'Retreat' Motivational Thing. I will give it credit as the ladies who are working on it are really working hard. And their program that is offered will resonate with a certain clientele. 

Speaking of Retreats and other events, our area has had quite the uptick of folks moving in from California, Chicago, and other areas. Viroqua became a magnet for a change of culture and people. Good article here:

How Hippies Saved Viroqua

On main street you can find the most interesting store fronts from herbalist to palm reading, art, eclectic antiques, Gelato, and more.

There are always interesting 'offers' that make you scratch your head and go...hmmmm...

There is a farm that lets you pay a fee and join other women to hang out in Hammocks in their forest and um...well...for a fee of something like $60, you can do Nature Journaling. You can find your connections to the natural world and learn that women are um 'magical'.

Here is another one: Dear Friends, you can now apply for an apprenticeship. The magical plant herbalism apprenticeship is now open for enrollment for a fee of $1600. She offers her best selling book also and claims that she is an award winning author. 

I did search out her name and looked for her awards and didn't find them.

Can you say, Snake Oil Salesperson?

Maybe I can offer something too! 

For a small hourly fee, I can take guide you through my magical mystical wild woods with my Goat Sven as a loving and endearing companion. 

Actually, I can only offer what I have learned in life. But it isn't for sale, it is free. 

I try not to give advice because I never spend time in another person's shoes. 

"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for

...and the most you can do is live inside that hope."

Quote from Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams.

I am pretty pleased with how things turned out. Until I moved here and joined hubby, I was really afloat in that big outside world.

I find my days mostly pleasing.

Where else can you go and sit in the middle of a road and enjoy a sunrise??

Un Mother's Day

Don't get me wrong. I like Holidays but I don't really care for things that seem to me to be made up days.

Okay. It isn't a made up day. In the US Woodrow Wilson declared Mother's Day to be a National Holiday in 1914.
Anna Jarvis then spent years trying to abolish the Holiday because it became too commercialized. Her efforts failed and she died in 1948.

There is a lot more interesting history if you look up the History of Mother's Day. It even dates back to the Greek and Roman Era. I imagine it wasn't as commercialized as it is now. It probably included some sort of appreciation of a mom, a woman, and a fertile figure of some sort.

Now Mother's Day is a fanfare of marketing commercials. Restaurants are full on Sunday, flower shops and garden centers are mobbed. Card makers sell cards. I can recall trying to phone my mom many years ago [remember phones that you had to dial?] and getting a busy signal for the phone lines because they were overwhelmed by calls.

I let Mother's Day slide by now as my MIL is gone and I don't have to run out for cards and flowers to show my appreciation for her. I showed her my appreciation all year long by helping her out for years. Geographically we were close so it was easy to help her out. She was always grateful and kind to me. 

My own mother is alive and apparently well. She thrives on drama and I don't. Our last conversation ended quite badly as I apparently was quite busy with my husband's failing health and didn't bother to check up on her. I don't do guilt anymore and I don't try to make her happy.

She taught me well with her own mother-daughter relationship which was quite strained. Her family dynamics [big word for how everyone gets along] was and still is difficult to understand. 

Some mother - daughter relationships are toxic or difficult. That is just a fact. Our relationship has always been a bit strained and I tried so hard for many years to make her happy. 

I couldn't.

Do I love her? Of course. I have so many attributes that I have learned from her. Her incredible strength in the face of adversity. Her variety of skills are amazing. Cooking is not one I inherited. 

My husband used to ask what I wanted for Mother's Day. I would answer: Nothing. Just some time to do what I loved. Photography and Hiking, or riding.

I usually hear from my sons and that is plenty for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers:

Life is Precious

 "Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible. But in the end they always fall." ~ Mahatma Ghandi

There, that how I feel about the current situation in the United States. That is, aside from the Covid-19 Pandemic that many still think are not a big deal.
And to those that say it is not a big deal, how would they feel if/when it effects them or a family member. And that family member is wiped from the face of the earth. Or a person contracts Covid and they are a Long Hauler with life long issues.

The best my husband can hope for, is to avoid contracting Covid for as long as possible and hope for better treatments. Or as he said to me. Let me go if I get it. 

I'm taking this time this fall and winter to appreciate our close relationship and friendship. Our future is never certain nor is it written in stone. 

218,000 lives gone in how many months? Seven? Eight? 

Don't live in fear or let Covid run your life. 

I hear that often. 
But I also don't drive without caution, I wear a seatbelt. 
I ride my equine with a helmet.
I ride my bicycle safely.

I live my life responsibly because if I am gone, who is left to take care of my husband?

I consider his life to be precious to me. I like his company even when we don't agree on things.
I love his aphasia from his stroke, he comes up with mixes of words that make absolute sense. I love his humor. I love his company even though he can drive me crazy.

So go to your bars, flaunt your maskless faces. Live your life as you may. But don't ask me to be sorry if the big Covid comes into your life and causes pain and suffering. 

I can't believe I wrote that. But there it is. 

As someone said, "It is what it is."

I don't think I can ever use that line again without some sense of horror and disgust.

Life is Precious.

Journeys

Sometimes I wonder about this journey I've embarked on. There are so many unexpected twists and turns.
Things can go smooth and easy like travelling a well paved road.

Other times it is just a rollercoaster ride where the car has flown from the track and you wonder where you will land.

There are hills.
Valleys.

Road blocks. Unexpected dips and joyful highs.

So I just go.

One foot
in
front
of
the
other.

Professional Photographer?

I've been asked now to do 3 weddings.  And I have done them as they were for people I really knew well and I was able to do 'things my way'.
Doing portraits of people have not been my 'thing' so to speak.
I don't have all the proper equipment [think speed lights, back drops, a studio].

I have done a photo - shoot for my neighbor when she wanted photos last year for Christmas cards and presents to all the grandparents.

But to go professional, I've been advised by a pro...  that you need to give up your free time, be available at the drop of a hat.
You must be willing to work all hours and put photography FIRST in your life and everything else second.

I comment on this today because I've seen 2 people that have 'gone pro' just recently.  I've looked for their portfolios and don't see any previous work.
It is like one day they are a housewife and the next day they get a camera...and go Pro.

I do like taking photos of my family and of the grandkids.  But that is on my time and with what I have.
My husband pushes at me to 'become a Pro' "You are good enough"  "You need to sell your work and promote it!"
That is not me.
I'm not a promoter.  
I'll do weddings in the future as a favor or work with another photographer and be their second.  

But I'm not going to dive into Pro-dom as I see so many people that pick up a DSLR do.

I do my nature and landscape photography for myself, because I enjoy it immensely.

Oh and if you do want to check out my artwork and other things, I do have a portfolio that can be browsed at Mulewings PhotoArt~ ... my Zenfolio account.
I have a few different types of photos there.  My Nature Gallery is the first thing you would see and then there is a Wedding Album, a Graphic Art Album, an Artsy Creations Album, and a Baby Album.

The money to be made in photography is not in nature photography but 'people' photography.

It just makes me scratch my head sometimes when people just buy a DSLR and suddenly decide that they are now professionals.

Granted, I have taken some absolutely award winning shots with my Ugly Pink Plastic Sanyo camera.
So you don't need the absolute best equipment to do great.
You need a good eye and lots of practice along with knowledge.

Me Pro?  No.  
But I'll continue to do things for fun and enjoy my photography.