Do you wanna go out for coffee?

 ~~ and see an incredible sunrise?

Olive replied ~~ Coffee? Sunrise? I'm down with that!

I picked her up at 4 am and drove  through thick fog.  I parked on a dead end gravel road.

We snapped on our headlamps and I led the way. We chatted and hiked up and up and up the steep trail. When we got to another section, I turned through some trees. I found the footpath and said to Olive, "there you go, we just did the easy part."

She laughed.

15 minutes later, the sky had a predawn glow to it and we walked out on the bluff.

Behind me, Olive gasped. 

Yes. I do too, each time I go to this place.

You can't help it.

The sun began to come over the horizon and we watched a sun pillar. It remained in the sky for a long time.

And..

we sat and had coffee and just listened to the Barred Owls calling and the birds awakening in the foggy forest below us.

We spent about an hour just watching the fog move and reflect the currents of air over the river and through the forests.

And here is a shot of the two of us...yeah, I look like a dork. But who cares???

I feel very odd without my signature baseball cap...

We parked at 900 feet according to the topo map. We had coffee at 1200 feet.

I asked Olive if it was worth getting up at that time.

Her answer: Totally.

Beware if I ever ask you to go 'out' for coffee to watch a sunrise!

We were back home before anyone in either of our households were awake!

The Woods and New Tool

For me
the door to the woods
is the door to the temple. ~Mary Oliver, Upstream

Now that the big gun deer season is over I can pretty much wander again freely. I had no idea how cooped up I was feeling until I was able to get out again.

This morning the ice was collecting on the grass next to the creek and there was a fairly heavy frost on the plants above it.

One just has to have a love/hate relationship with Multiflora Rose. The red rose 'hips' are quite beautiful as are the leaves with frost.

The thorns however are nasty!

By yesterday afternoon the temperatures rose up into the 40's.

I burned my small buckthorn piles.

This area was choked with dead buckthorn trees that I simply tipped over and stacked them. The area was so dense with dead branches that it was almost impossible to walk through. 

Normally I don't do intensive labor in the pasture, but this area is pretty unique.

It is a rock formation. Below is the view from the top of the rock outcrop. So far I have cleaned the area of all the nasty weeds and deadfalls. The dead tree that my coat is hanging on will get chopped up when someone with a chainsaw comes along. Perhaps I can just push it down eventually too.

My burn piles are very small and very controlled. I don't burn with any winds and this week we had 3 days of calm.

This isn't far from the house, yet it feels isolated. I can sit here on a log and read if I want. I can sit and just listen and watch the woods too. 

In the black dirt I'm hoping to plant shade grass and see if I can't get some ferns to grow too.

I have a lot of fun and imagined plans for this spot. 

[Wouldn't a little movable shelter be nice there??? Bird watching? How about putting out a feeder and sitting there photographing them? Sitting and reading?...ahhh so many possibilities.]

Look at it this way. It is keeping me off the streets!

For the old larger Buckthorn trees, I gird them with my machete. I peel the bark from around the limbs and trunk. They should die and stop spreading. Well, that is my hope. Once the roots die back I'll be able to tip them over and chop them up.

I ordered a new tool to help me with cutting down the smaller trees.

I don't use a chain saw for obvious reasons...I'd cut my legs off. I generally use a handsaw and it gives me great satisfaction to saw a 5" tree down. But it is tiring. Thank goodness the Buckthorn never get to be as big as oak trees!

New Tool. 

This will mostly be used on 3 to 6" Buckthorn Trees. I will saw them down and dab the stump with a Herbicide or cover it in a plastic bag to kill off the roots. I could use soup cans too to smother them. 

This tool was husband approved. We had a lengthy discussion about my cutting abilities and dis-abilities. 

Watch out multiflora rose and buckthorn! I am on a mission!