I Want My Trail/Garden Back

 Actually, the best thing that happened today has no picture. I'll tell you in a minute.

Meanwhile, I really want two things to happen. One has a good chance of happening this fall. The other I can get a good start on.

#1- get at least the "trail" on my own property cleared enough that I can snowshoe/ski this winter. It's really not very nice if the grass isn't chopped down.

The last time I tried to clear my trail by hand I was still going all around the property next door. Now, I only have to do my own property. The neighbor on the other side that still lets me walk there seems to have mowed a strip, so I won't have to do that. I managed to get 38 paces (about 190 feet) of raw pathway cleared with the weed whacker. It's a start. I can only manage about 15 minutes of that at a time before I'm pooped. (this is not a powered weed-whacker, except as powered by me)

The other 150 feet to reach the front door don't need whacking. They are either part of the yard or go through my "big" flower bed. Um... yes, this is supposed to be a flower bed.

#2- begin to reclaim my "big" flower bed.

I've actually done quite a bit of autumn olive clearing already this fall. You just can't tell. I'm hoping to cut out and treat enough of it before real snow arrives to let sunlight in.

This is what it's supposed to look like (in spring). This picture was 2003. Pretty pathetic- how bad it's gotten, right? But, as long as I only say I enjoy working on it rather than demanding that it be "done" at a certain time, then it's fun.



And the really fun thing? Author friend Jean was going by and she stopped for a visit. Did I remember to take a picture? No. Do I have a picture of the two of us together? Apparently not. Here's one of her from earlier this year.



I edited, I worked on various projects, I wrote Chapter 33 of Vacation from DMS, 844 words. Tomorrow is an all-day vendor event. If you are local- Cornerstone Church, Ludington. 10-3.

See Before and After Garden

To Reclaim a Trail?

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about the property next door. I still haven't asked the new owner if I can walk there (he had a deer blind up for gun season), but I got his phone number, so I'm going to ask. Meanwhile, I'm skirting the edge of it along the railroad tracks or the shoulder of the road to get to the cemetery.

Yes, I'm contemplating cleaning up "my" loop enough that it's not horrible walking. When I did it almost every day it was in pretty good shape. It currently starts (or ends) by going through my other big flower garden that hasn't looked like anything except an autumn olive grove for years. But it too could be redeemed. (I think the last time it looked nice was in 2003. You can see that garden here). But I did clean up the walkway enough to use it as part of the path. Of course it's covered wtih leaves right now.

When you get over to the back part of the cemetery, my trail used to go down this gully to get to the creek. Well, that could be a lot of work to clean up. So far, I've limited myself to loppers and the weed whacker to clear the trail. But I can probably work my way around the big trees and move the medium-sized ones. There was one big one that was totally across that gully, but it seems to be gone.

Once you get across the creek where it goes into a culvert under the railroad tracks, then my trail went north along what here is the left side of the creek. I walked that today, and it was kind of a mess, but not too bad. That is all city property, and I can walk there all I want. (I went the other direction today because I am currently going along the road to get to the city property. But that's SO noisy, I'd like to be able to stop doing that.) There's a fair amount of water in the creek.

This loop is currently only about a mile, but if I can get it "restored," it was more like 1.5 or a little longer, with at least some rolling topography. I really like being able to just walk out the door and get a little exercise. The snow is mostly gone so I just walked in boots.

I couldn't sleep last night, but I did work out some more pieces of the plot for the mystery book. I did editing, pantry and kitchen work, and wrote. Current word count in Vacation from DMS is 21,136. Due to lack of rest last night I'll probably be going to bed early. Tomorrow evening is the main bell choir Christmas concert. Blogging will be late.

See My Trail Out Back

My Trail Out Back- Update

"My" trail has been seriously affected in the past few years. This is not a quality topic, but there are still some good parts, and one thing may be better again. Here's a general view of the property next door. This is twenty acres, and I'll get the unpleasant part out of the way first. This property has changed hands a few times in the 52 years we've lived here. However, none of the owners has ever done a thing with it, and I've always been able to walk there. Until about about eight years ago. The owner at that time threw me off the property. I was really miffed because, what the heck, right? I won't give you the entire saga, but anyway... it really curtailed my walking opportunities out my back door. It's not like I was hurting the property... sheesh.

But there is a new owner now. I guess I need to contact him to ask if I can walk there. I used to mow a path along the edge of the field, but the mower we have now is probably too wimpy for that. Nevertheless, if it's OK, I can at least clear brush and fallen limbs out of the way.

This was my access to get onto city property (the cemetery). I can still get there via the road, so I did that today and then walked the far side of the cemetery creek back to the railroad. The creek is down in the gully. The only places to cross the creek are at the road and back at the railroad tracks (unless the water is REALLY low). There used to be a little foot bridge, but it burned about 40 years ago!

I love this little creek. It's nothing much, but it has topography, and it feels like mine, because it's very rare to find anyone on the cemetery property in this area behind the gravesites.

When I got back onto my own property, I checked on the white pines I planted around 1990. They are big enough they've formed a needle-carpeted clearing. One could even camp in that grove.

There are still lots of apples and wild grapes. I could make juice and applesauce if I'd get my act together. But I probably have too many other things to do.

I have to show you the gazania one more time. One of the blossoms fully opened. It's interesting to me that the inner ring on this one is considerably darker than the previous blooms on this same plant.

I spent most of my time today doing overdue paperwork related to book sales. But I did manage to write over 1000 words. Total for Vacation from DMS is up to 10,612.

See My Kingdom

Trails

 
The yard was all mowed, so what I needed to finish was to get my trail out back in decent shape before snow. This makes it a lot easier to ski. (Safer too- I really hurt a knee one year catching a ski on a buried raspberry cane.) Got it all mowed today.



I probably have about a mile of trail if you count all the loops- these pictures don't show it all.



I like it because it's right out the back door.



The only problem is that I didn't realize some trees came down in the last big storm we had. I got some of that mess cleared today, but not all.



There's always another day. I doubt tomorrow's snow will stick around till April.

In other news: wrote a chapter and put the mower "to bed" for the winter.

	See Weed Whacker
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Things Look Good on Skis

 
It's the just-like-all-the-others picture of the first skiing of the season.



We have about 5 fluffy inches. Not much, but more likely to be provide opportunity to ski than snowshoe. And it wasn't sticky, which it often is on the first day. Did my loop out back and my 4 little hills.

You can see the trail on one of the hills just below the pines, going up one side and down the other.



Here's my best hill. Not today, though. Needs a little more snow to get smooth.



It's hard to beat snow sticking to evergreens (this is Scot's pine) for winter beauty.



I was out about 30 minutes, my typical first time. The sun was going down, and looky, looky.... we got a bit of a sun pillar. It showed more clearly to the naked eye than the camera, but it's there.



In other news: laundry, some misc stuff, forgot to tell you that I mailed 5 books yesterday! I hope to write a little bit yet tonight, but I have to hang up the wet clothes and do some paperwork. We shall see.

	See First Skiing Winter 2016 See Sun Pillar in Pink
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Trail and Train

 
Today I walked the entire loop that I used to do with Maggie the dog nearly every day. It winds through the back of the cemetery woods and down to the creek and back around the end of my property (and the next one), and then home.

I like to go down by the creek, not only because it is pretty, but there is at least some topography and it's a good walk. Takes a half hour or a little more, so about 1.5 miles.



If I'm going to hike it regularly again (which I don't do in winter because parts are too narrow and difficult on snowshoes) I'll need to do some re-routing and serious work. Amazing how much stuff has fallen down in just three years.

This is the biggest tree, a victim of emerald ash borer. Definitely a re-route!



Love the beetle galleries, though. They look like some sort of ancient script; if only I could read the message.



While I was walking, I heard a train coming. Only one chance to catch a picture from where I was, and it's not in focus at all, but it did capture an interesting fact.



This engine has the new paint scheme. They hardly ever run these engines on this particular branch. The pretty ones mostly run down near Grand Rapids. We get the ones with the old paint jobs. So, I'm glad I caught the moment.

	See New Owner, New Paint Scheme
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Trees Down, Trees Up

 
Last night we had snow- the first significant fall of the season. I didn't think there was any real wind associated with that, but when I went outside today there were three big branches broken off my white pines that are near the house. Bummer. I cleared one of them, but these two are hung up on another branch. Will need a ladder and a helper to get them down.



Today the snow all melted, the sun came out and the temperature hit the mid-forties. Nice.

I've been cutting more of those blankety-blank autumn olive trees. They are so reprehensible that it's a three-step process to clear them. First day I take the loppers out and cut enough branches of an inch or less in diameter that I can actually get near the trunk of the tree. Have I mentioned they have nasty thorns? Need to be covered up and wear leather gloves.

Day two is to take the small saw and trim the branches down so I can get to the base of the trunk. That's what I did today on three trees that have grown up just in the last three years in my trail.



It's like they had this perverse sense of humor, growing right in the exact line where I used to mow.



Well, if I get out there one more time before real snow and cut them off at ground level, I may be able to conquer them. Every stump will have ten new sprouts in the spring, so I'll need to mow regularly. Killing those trees is nearly impossible.

In the growing up department, however, there are at least 15 baby white pines growing on the south slope below the grove on the hill. This is the same stand that has the new trees also on the east side. This is awesome! I would be really happy to have much more of that open space out back turn into a white pine forest.

This is just a few that I could get in one picture.



I have managed to get all my ski/snowshoe trail trimmed enough that I can get through. There are places that could have better clearance, and I'll work on them if I get more decent days.

	See Five New Reasons to Be Happy
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

Problems - Solutions

 

I remembered to carry the saw with me today on my walk out back. Two problems solved.

I like to put the trail between or near trees so it's easy to follow the same path in winter (better packed underneath). Going between these was becoming a problem. Even I had to duck.



Not any more.



Here, the problem is the opposite... getting over. In fact, I'd been going around. You can faintly see where the trail was.



That one was easy.



Also took out some additional stupid autumn olive. More to do, but this was a good start.

	See Restoring My Trail
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

The Real Reason I Bought the Weed Whacker

 
As responsible as it makes me look, all that whacking of the overgrown lawn was not even on my radar when I bought the nice sharp tool.

What I really had in mind was clearing my trail out back.



I actually did this beginning part with a thin little weed whip we still had. It, however, was old and broke beyond repair after a very short distance.



The section pictured above is the most important part, and I'd never have been able to do it without the new tool. I want to be able to ski "my" track this winter. Going down this hill, without the trail cleared is just plain dangerous. A few years back, the tip of a ski caught under a vine that was just under the fluffy snow and I hurt a knee bad enough that it was the end of skiing for that year. Not happening again. I did a really good job on this section.

At the bottom of the hill, there's a turn.



Headed to go between the pines on the right and an ugly autumn olive.



Made it through there, and on the way to the next hill. There's a bunch of trimming to be done yet, but I can do that after the grass gets knocked down. Yes it's slow. Yes, it's kinda dumb. But I'm getting there.

Well, not really. There's probably no way I'll get it all done before snow flattens the grass, but with that first hill cleared, I'll feel ok about skiing. It's just easier if there was a cut path underneath.

	See First Skiing This Season
if you like this blog, click the +1   or