Another Twilight Ride!

Having the day off, we worked around the house, and by around I mean the forgotten hill behind the pasture. It is fairly steep, and has not been mowed in a few years. Maybe seven years.

There are some good trees that have volunteered on this hillside. Also present is Honey Suckle, Poison Ivy, Blackberries, Multi-flora Rose, and other vines and stickers. These are doing well, too.

The trees are a wide variety: Apple, Pear, Oak, Maple, Poplar, Beech, Sassafras, Cherry, Tree of Heaven, Cedar, Sycamore, and more. We selectively culled some of the trees, my favorite to go under the saw were the Cherry and Tree of Heaven. Cherry has a toxicity that can be fatal to horses, and Tree of Heaven (also known as Ghetto Palm) is a take-over artist. World domination and all that stuff.

We got the rocks on the flatbed thrown into the creek, then put the brush hog on the tractor for the hillside action. It was grueling work, using chainsaw, weed-whacker, hedge trimmer and loppers. We got lots done.

Then we got the bright idea to go out again on the trail with the chain saw and conquer that downed sycamore. This time we got back at deep dusk.

Unfortunately on the way back we encountered a dead limb, hanging in a tree, wish-bone shaped. I hunkered down, and pulled everything in to avoid it, he was not so lucky. He tried to break the one side, but the other side grabbed his pants, ripping a twelve-inch tear, scraping his knee, and then imbedding into Skip's side. OUCH!

The jeans are ruined, unless you want shorts, and Skip needs some balm on his wound. Darn.