trails i have been building in my woods

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27735&id=1846485863&l=3907748836

here is a link to a photo album on my facebook page that shows 3 trails that i cut into our woods over the past 2 days..all by myself.

I took a little ryobi battery operated chain saw, rake, pruners and a zero turn riding mower back to our woods and cleared 3 trails through the front part of our woods back to an old falling down barn we haven't been able to get back to for years.

the first several photographs are of the first trail from north of our garden back through the woods along our west property line (by our neighbor's field) ..and up to our little old barn...the dog is a stray, i kinda liked him if he had stuck around i would have kept him.

the next several photographs (after the barn one) ..are of the trail that goes east of the barn and then turns north and south ..but dead ends right now north as there is too much stuff that has to be cut out and moved before it can continue..but it goes back to the south through the woods about 30' to 50' from our property line back to the original trail  that i was on in the beginning, about 1/3 of the way from the start..

then this trail has another fork that i just made today (make others yesterday), and it goes to the east about 50' and then it turns back south  toward a clearing that Joel make in the woods with the tractor ..this clearing is just north of our north bank of our pond..we will be redigging the pohd this weekend if everything works out right, hope to dig it not only deeper buyt larger, right now it is 175 x about 75 feet..and has two deep holes, the rest has gone dry..from th drought here, which has been severe..we figured if the pond is deeper it won't be as likely to dry out when we have a drought..

Awww, I thought the dog was yours LOL.Sure way to get a stray to stay and keep coming back is to feed it. Beautiful trails Brenda. I enjoyed taking a walk through your woods. Thanks for sharing this.
I hope everything goes smoothly with the pond. That sounds like a huge project.

me too Sue, Joel got word that they set up a mandatory at work for Saturday so he is fighting to get it off..we had planned to get the backhoe Sat and have it free for su and mo..but this could put a real crimp in things !!

yeah i went in the house and grabbed the only thing i could find quick in the frig, some pepperoni, and went out to give it to the dog and get the mail..and the dog was already gone..if it is a stray it may return (or if it was dumped which is a normal situation around here)  but if it walked away from it's home it probably went back cause it didn't get food here..

(well it did eat some cat puke off of the rear deck)

Beautiful Brenda, you do good work    I love the photos!

To bad that dog didn't stay around then you would have someone to walk those trails with you...

wow brenda It just sunk in to me that you live in my hometown

my ma lives on the hill just north of town on 43 rd

wow I live in your hometown ? You know funny thing is i kept thinking that your name sounded really familiar to me for some reason, and I'm not sure what that reason is..

I walk down toward your Mother's house, but there is an expressway between here and there now..it cuts the road (12 mile road) off between our corner and the hill..i live 2 1/2 miles east of the cut off road corner..do know some of the people that live up that way, Dontjes, Longstreets, Crawfords, which house does your mom live in.

Hey we haven't had fireworks since i was a very small child and guess what, fireworks on Saturday !!! woo hoo.

do you visit? stop out please..if you look at my facebook photos you'll recognize the house when you drive down the road, 2nd past county line..

I'd love to visit next time I get home
G'ma Hewitt had a new modular put in right on the site where the trailer burned about ten years back right on the downhill side of the gravel pit, uncle Ralph lives down there on 12 mile the house is relatively new but the barn g'pa Hewitt put up in the 50's is still there

Brice, I walk by that house and barn almost every day, I know Brenda and Ralph and knew grandpa Hewitt..his name was Brice, is that where you got your name? Obviously.

Yup the old barn still stands back there, and now and again there will be a vulture land on top and that is a cute site to see.

Ralph put in a lovely home, replaced the old trailers there. Don't see them much, but occasionaly will wave as I walk by, the neighbors down the road across the street where Garnald Hinman used to live (Whiteheads) have a bunch of dogs tied up outside that bark like mad when I go by there, generally I turn around at 47 road and come back, that gives me 2.5 miles round trip, if i'm feeling more energetic I go another 1/2 mile block down and make it 3.5..or sometimes i'll walk the other direction down toward the end of the road (curve) or down some of the dirt side roads.

yep thats me the new and improved Brice

Funny, I worked on my path through the forest today.  I only got about 15 feet in with pruning loppers.  It is very thick growth everywhere.  It was a nice clean path when I moved in 5 years ago.  I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me, ha ha.

I'm starting to reach the "older" woods area of our woods, the places where I built the first several trails was "newer" woods, which had just turned from field to woods, so it wasn't as overgrown or lumpy as the older woods will be.

My chainsaw lost a part on it, so it is now out of commission (the little ryobi battery one)...and i don't have knowledge enough right now to use the big Husqy or other ones..so i'm at a standstill for right now..but will be looking for a good route through the older woods later in the fall when i can see better back there (after some leaf drop)..

however..i have about another 500 feet deep by 600' wide of woods that I wish to build trails through yet..as i'm able (i am an old gal you know)..

hubby finally walked back on one of my trails and made some positive comments, but it was like he really could care less..so it is all up to me if i want to cut them into the woods and manitain them myself..i guess..

and i do, as i'm able..right now i have finished 4 and connected them together and to our neighbor's trails..so i'm glad i got at least that much done before we get too wet to work in the woods again.