It's not about making sense

Since 2020 I've been cutting my own hair.  It is certainly the cheap way to deal with hair, but my own cuts, with the exception of one, never felt like they turned out very well.  Twice I ventured out to a salon and returned feeling that I was doing just about as good a job as the stylist did. My hair is very thick and definitely has a mind of its own.  My last attempt at hair cutting was a bit pathetic and for some reason this week my wrists are sore;  so today I was determined to find a place that would at least trim the front out of my eyes.  Entirely at random I walked into a place called Dream, and by dint of being very flexible, talked the stylist into squeezing me in this afternoon.  Boy was that the right decision. Great, if very short, haircut (I asked for it short), nice conversation, including with other patrons and the tiny salon did not  smell like chemicals or perfume. I believe it is a one woman shop run by a lady who is almost my age.  I've made an appointment for June.... 

We should all build bridges in our lives, metaphorically and in real terms.  I was working on the latter today. 

This morning I met Dave and Ray at Friedman's.  We bought lumber, screws, and rebar so I can build a bridge.  We hauled the stuff up to the house, cut the lumber into 5' pieces and then hauled it out to Duck Lake. The three of us then switched gears and cleared the fallen tree off the old road above Duck Lake. Lots of twiggy stuff, but unnerving because three trees were involved.  The biggest tree had fallen hitting and breaking two smaller trees.  All of the bases were hung up (read the trees had snapped partway up and had not fallen all the way down. Instead the heavy trunk of the tree was suspended in the air.  When the lower branches are cut back it changes the way the trunk is supported and can cause one or more of the trunks to roll and fall.  This was on a steep sideslope, so I kept a sharp eye on everything as I cut, I really didn't want anything rolling down on top of me. 
Our third task was to clear two massive limbs at Deer Camp. The two were hung up, and leaning on each other.  There was probably 1,000 # waiting to fall on us.  Fortunately those two limbs were pretty stable and on flatter ground.  Once we cleared all the twiggy "brush"  and cut back any branch that was not supporting weight we considered the problem. Geez, hundreds of pounds 10 feet in the air....  We put a tow strap on the smaller limb and pulled it sideways a little. It obligingly fell down with a thump, leaving the larger limb hanging by nothing much.  I tried a cut to see if it would roll down, but no luck. So we put the tow strap on it and pulled it the opposite direction of the first limb. It fell with almost no real pressure on the strap.  Whew!  Very scary work.  Lots of thought about how to keep fragile human bodies safe.  With the limbs down Dave and Ray left as they had late afternoon appointments. 
I returned to the house and feverishly sorted out ribbons.  We mark the trail by tying surveyors tape; bright orange or bright pink; to clothespins.  The clothespins can then be clipped to branches, fences, wands or pretty much anything else.  To keep the ribbons and clothespins tidy and easy to access the pins are clipped to a circle of rope that can be worn over one shoulder.  Here is Carrie and Juno last year. 


The flags with the blue in them are to mark turns or other places where the trail might be confusing.  They mean: STOP, find your next flag before you go any further.  It will be in sight!  Helps keep people from getting lost.  I am desperately trying to make more flags.  Somehow an entire, large box of flags, neatly clipped to ropes, has disappeared. Probably at least 200 flags just gone.  Hopefully now that I am replacing them the old flags will re-appear. 
Tomorrow is a bridge building day with Glenn.

Got the burn pile at the Iris Barn burned. That included cleaning up a lot of branches from a tree that went down across the road a year plus ago.  I drug them up the steep bank and then used the Gator to haul them around to the burn pile.  The whole pile consisted of oak that had pretty well dried out over the last 2 years. It burned very, very hot and slow.  I'm spoiled by burning smaller, twiggier branches that burn fast.  
Today I burned tree branches up from the Cow Corrals.  Got about 3/4 of the pile done before I had to stop. Again it was very dry oak, but a lot of bigger chunks and branches.  What is left is mostly smaller. 
This afternoon I went up with Glenn and measured for a bridge.  We are going to install a bridge at "Duck Lake" (really a vernal pond)  The outflow of the pond appears to have been modified by human hands.  The bridge won't really do much, but it makes a great obstacle.  Maybe later in the year I'll put one up by Split Rock as well. That would be a functional bridge over a muddy ditch that drains a swampy meadow.  The first one is about 17' long, the second about 18' long.  As a side benefit I am learning exactly how to do this safely with an experienced bridge builder. YAY!
Saw Lisa F today, and gave her a bunch of garden starts.  She is going to judge for me again, which is wonderful.

M has been taking really good care of the four orchids that live in the house. Two are now blooming and a third will be soon.

I'm sticking pretty close to home these days. Lots of garden work/prep for the season.  The greenhouse has been emptied out of half of its contents and new plants have taken their place.  A lot of the tomatoes are in the garden already, more are waiting to be planted.  Gave Pete D. three trays of stuff which he was glad to have as he always plants a LOT of tomatoes.  A couple years ago he had 100 tomatoes in the ground. He shares with neighbors and his farm crew members.  I was very glad to get the little tomatoes out of the greenhouse, I was watering twice a day and not keeping up.
The first Iris opened a day or two ago. Its name might be Total Recall.( Read more... )