BROKEN OAK HILL(R) Dispatches from the heart of Wisconsin At the Farm
Previous Report
An oak behind the garage stubbornly hangs on to its leaves.
A red pine in the plantation is surrounded by buckthorn, which really stands out this time of year because its leaves are green. I cut and sprayed a little this trip, but the real battle will continue next year.
If there has been a first frost, you can't tell it from the cosmos and petunias that are hanging in there along the side of the garage.
An oak behind the garage stubbornly hangs on to its leaves.
A red pine in the plantation is surrounded by buckthorn, which really stands out this time of year because its leaves are green. I cut and sprayed a little this trip, but the real battle will continue next year.
If there has been a first frost, you can't tell it from the cosmos and petunias that are hanging in there along the side of the garage.
Nov. 1
Two sugar maples by the road have left the ground covered with their leaves. They are all that are left of 25 trees planted about 25 years ago.
A perfect day for playing in the woods
With light winds, a partly to mostly sunny sky and temperatures into the low 60s, the first day of November was the kind of day you wish would never end. I made a trip to the farm to take up more things, like part of the This End Up bunk bed that used to be in son Matt's room. Gayle stayed home to take care of other things, and because we knew we couldn't go anything inside the house because the wood floor is being finished this week.
When I reached the farm a little before 11:20, Chris Goodman was busy putting a finish coat on the oak floor. He said I could take a look at it if I took off my shoes, so I went in, got a couple of quick photos and never was back in the house for the rest of the day. We visited a little about the joys of farms and working in the woods and deer hunting. He hunts with bow and gun and usually gets three deer a season, enough so that they don't have to rely on fat- and chemical-filled beef from the grocery store very much (my editorial comment, not his).
Chris said he was concerned for the floor because of all the sand around the work site, and it is a concern. If we had wrapped up a little sooner, we probably could have gotten some grass started in the yard this fall, but that will have to wait until spring now. We debated the wood floor for that very reason, but we didn't want carpeting in the main area and laminated flooring offers little or no chance for refinishing once it gets worn. With this floor, if it becomes too marred over the years, we can get it refinished.
I let him get back to work and proceeded toward some of the tasks I
had in mind, the first being putting fencing around some of our new evergreens planted this year and doing some refencing for trees that needed it. It's always a slow process, but I got six trees done -- including the two new bargain blue spruce we had picked up earlier in the year at the K-Mart in Mauston. I also fenced a couple of white pines planted this spring and re-fenced two sugar maples near the road and northwest of the house, two trees that will hopefully make a nice autumn show someday.
My original plan was to take some time to walk through the woods, down south then up the road through the west pines and up to the top of the hill and back down. Time constraints forced a change in plan, but I did take the Cub and wagon down through the south pines and in the process had to cut up four deadfalls across the road.
While I was there, I found someone had lost a tire in our woods (it has
happened before), so I decided to load it in the wagon and put it back out by the road so they could find it. I had swerved off the trail and got the Cub mower hung up on a stump (something that has happened so many times). I had to go back to the house and I couldn't find the hydraulic jack we usually use because of all the stuff in the garage, so I used the one from my Pilot. I found out it doesn't lift nearly as easily as a hydraulic jack, but it did get the job done and got me freed from the stump. In the process I had a few choice words to say about the person who was so foolish as to have "lost" that tire.
I also pulled and cut some buckthorn, took a trip to the south end to spray some buckthorn with the remaining gallon of brush killer I had mixed up a couple of weeks earlier to use on the multiflora rose, and did some mowing, although at this point I have to admit it's probably not that necessary. But I always like to mow.
At the end of the day I was out by the road and neighbor Dave Clark, who we haven't seen for some time, stopped by as he was coming back from picking up his boys, Keith and Hunter. We had a brief visit catching up on things before a dump truck came lumbering up the road and Dave had to
move on to get out of his way.
I closed up the garage and took one last look in the window from the front porch at the floor and tried to take a picture before hitting the road. Next trip, we'll be back inside along with Jim and the other "subs" getting things wrapped up.
And hopefully we'll have the house "open for business" by opening day of the deer season.
As long as we have the Cub and the sturdy old wagon, why would we ever need a four-wheeler?
Two sugar maples by the road have left the ground covered with their leaves. They are all that are left of 25 trees planted about 25 years ago.
A perfect day for playing in the woods
With light winds, a partly to mostly sunny sky and temperatures into the low 60s, the first day of November was the kind of day you wish would never end. I made a trip to the farm to take up more things, like part of the This End Up bunk bed that used to be in son Matt's room. Gayle stayed home to take care of other things, and because we knew we couldn't go anything inside the house because the wood floor is being finished this week.
When I reached the farm a little before 11:20, Chris Goodman was busy putting a finish coat on the oak floor. He said I could take a look at it if I took off my shoes, so I went in, got a couple of quick photos and never was back in the house for the rest of the day. We visited a little about the joys of farms and working in the woods and deer hunting. He hunts with bow and gun and usually gets three deer a season, enough so that they don't have to rely on fat- and chemical-filled beef from the grocery store very much (my editorial comment, not his). Chris said he was concerned for the floor because of all the sand around the work site, and it is a concern. If we had wrapped up a little sooner, we probably could have gotten some grass started in the yard this fall, but that will have to wait until spring now. We debated the wood floor for that very reason, but we didn't want carpeting in the main area and laminated flooring offers little or no chance for refinishing once it gets worn. With this floor, if it becomes too marred over the years, we can get it refinished.
I let him get back to work and proceeded toward some of the tasks I
had in mind, the first being putting fencing around some of our new evergreens planted this year and doing some refencing for trees that needed it. It's always a slow process, but I got six trees done -- including the two new bargain blue spruce we had picked up earlier in the year at the K-Mart in Mauston. I also fenced a couple of white pines planted this spring and re-fenced two sugar maples near the road and northwest of the house, two trees that will hopefully make a nice autumn show someday. My original plan was to take some time to walk through the woods, down south then up the road through the west pines and up to the top of the hill and back down. Time constraints forced a change in plan, but I did take the Cub and wagon down through the south pines and in the process had to cut up four deadfalls across the road.
While I was there, I found someone had lost a tire in our woods (it has
happened before), so I decided to load it in the wagon and put it back out by the road so they could find it. I had swerved off the trail and got the Cub mower hung up on a stump (something that has happened so many times). I had to go back to the house and I couldn't find the hydraulic jack we usually use because of all the stuff in the garage, so I used the one from my Pilot. I found out it doesn't lift nearly as easily as a hydraulic jack, but it did get the job done and got me freed from the stump. In the process I had a few choice words to say about the person who was so foolish as to have "lost" that tire. I also pulled and cut some buckthorn, took a trip to the south end to spray some buckthorn with the remaining gallon of brush killer I had mixed up a couple of weeks earlier to use on the multiflora rose, and did some mowing, although at this point I have to admit it's probably not that necessary. But I always like to mow.
At the end of the day I was out by the road and neighbor Dave Clark, who we haven't seen for some time, stopped by as he was coming back from picking up his boys, Keith and Hunter. We had a brief visit catching up on things before a dump truck came lumbering up the road and Dave had to
move on to get out of his way. I closed up the garage and took one last look in the window from the front porch at the floor and tried to take a picture before hitting the road. Next trip, we'll be back inside along with Jim and the other "subs" getting things wrapped up.
And hopefully we'll have the house "open for business" by opening day of the deer season.
As long as we have the Cub and the sturdy old wagon, why would we ever need a four-wheeler?
