I cannot believe it’s Friday - and Friday the 13th at that. The weather has been gorgeous here this past week, and aside from having to abruptly stop everything I was doing last Saturday to manage a fence situation, after a successful escape and a full day of labor, Rose is back where she belongs.
Each day this week I’ve managed to maintain motivation after being thrown into some heavy, labor-intensive groundskeeping, and I’ve gotten a head start on beautifying this farm once again. I had hoped to get someone with a tractor out here to overhaul the place while everything was still dormant, but that just hasn’t happened.
The good news is, I’ve been able to start bringing this place back to life much earlier than expected after basically abandoning her during Joro season last August, and I may not even need a tractor after all. I’ve been using all the tools. Even my chainsaw.
A huge limb fell from a 200+ year old water oak almost two years ago, and because my life was in so much disarray, it just sat. Brambles grew around it, through it, and it became a major obstruction. The longer it sat, the more overwhelmed I felt about how to deal with it. It was about 15 feet long, with branches spanning 7–8 feet, and the diameter of the limb was easily 8 inches. Too heavy to drag. So it stayed.
Cutting trees down and clearing the fence line last weekend, and breaking out the ol’ chainsaw, was exactly what I needed to finally feel capable of tackling it.
Wednesday I had a little ‘gal hang’ fireside, burning all the wood and brush from last weekend. While the coals were still hot yesterday evening, I decided to finally saw up that eyesore that’s prevented anyone from walking around my house for a very long time… and burn it. My pest control guy is going to be thrilled - ha.
Sadly, I didn’t think to take any ‘before’ photos, but I’ll share what it looks like now.
This weekend is supposed to be beautiful again, so outside of a few social obligations and private dog sessions, I plan to use every bit of time while I have this motivation bug. Apparently we have another round of extreme cold and snow or ice heading our way, and I know myself well enough to know that a weekend in bed with the dogs and a fire going will absolutely kill my desire to get dirty outside for a while.
The plan is to finally use the eight bags of mulch I bought over a year ago (yes, motivation was attempted last year but never actually acquired), along with some pavers I think I salvaged when I had foundation work done two years ago, to create a walkway that keeps me from getting completely muddy going from the barn to the house.
Then there are a few old apple trees in the backyard that are half dead, which I’m going to attempt to trim where needed and burn.
Honestly, the biggest thing for me is having that first fire of the season. If I can cut and burn while the coals are hot, it feeds my motivation. If I’m just piling up limbs and brush, it overwhelms me. So if I can keep this fire going for several days straight and into Sunday, I’ll be good as gold.
Momentum is a fragile thing these last few years, but right now, I’ve got it, and I’m not wasting it.
Happy Friday, y’all!
xo
-s
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