Brrr....

It's still very cold here at One Big Tree. Right now the thermometer is reading 24.6F... which is warmer by a degree and a half than it was when I got up at 6:00. MyCast leads me to expect a chance of light snow throughout the day. The weatherman on the radio warns us that more snow is expected tonight, with accumulation.

I haven't gone out in a few days to work on anything - it's been too darn cold. I suppose today I'll just have to bundle up. I'd like to get more of those blackberries knocked down along the driveway. There is one large mass of canes remaining - and the snow and ice has reduced its height by 1/2. It almost seems as if some part of my work has been done for me.

Yesterday, I walked about the few trails I've blazed through the trees this past year. I made it down to the spring, down to the bog, out to the far property corner, and up the northern property line. The spring is bubbling forth as usual. The bog still shows some open puddles of water, although I still can't find any evidence of water flowing. That it was still open after a few days of freeze is encouraging, as I would love to have a spring on the property. I also noticed that the upper wetland is draining across the north corner of the property again. All that rain we had this month has filled all the wetlands back up.

While I was out clearing blackberries the other day, Mike dug a ditch across the area. This ditch now connects the ditch that drains the neighbor's building site (and ends promptly at our property line) and the ditch that we dug along and across our driveway. Hopefully, water will no longer back up and drain out all along the driveway - it was causing quite a muddy mess! Now we have a little stream that meanders through the area I am clearing. We have decided to clear many of the douglas firs that have grown up crooked due to the blackberries, as well as many of the alders. We'll replant in native shrubbery, rhodedendrons, azaleas, and the like. I plan to maintain the defunct logging road back there as a grassy meadow, and will strew wildflower seed mix back there to promote a meadow appearance, which will be framed against the thick forest vegetation of the neighbor's un-landscaped property.

I hope you're toasty and warm this morning!

First Snow of the Year

Or at least the first accumulation of snow. To be honest, it snowed for a few minutes the other day. This morning however, it was the real thing. Snow blanketed the ground, clung to the branches of firs, and did it's best to pull my cat enclosure down.

I love the snow, so upon opening my eyes this morning, I exclaimed, "Oh, look, it's snowing!". I then jumped out of bed, grabbed my camera, and shot some pics. Here are some that are worth sharing:

The driveway
(Please notice 1)snow everywhere, and 2)the evidence of all the hard work I've done it getting those blackberries cut down. The area directly above the roof of the car and to the left of the drive was covered in 15' high blackberry bushes until this past couple of weeks.)

The firepit area

My poor cat enclosure - the weight of the snow is pulling the deer fencing even further off the poles

Looking off toward the old logging road

The view out the back door

Greenhouse Built on the Cheap

We know we need a greenhouse. We thought we needed to rob a bank... This site has a great article on how to build a greenhouse on the cheap.

Using Rocks In The Garden

Today the Seattle Times ran an article on using large stone in the garden . We love using stone in the garden - if you hadn't noticed. They're limited in size to what I can carry, however. Mike has managed to wrangle some larger stones left behind by construction into more pleasing positions near where they were left, but we are stymied in moving larger stones any distance. Where are the builders of ancient Stonehenge when you need them?

The last few months, we've been trying to figure out how to move some very large rocks over from the neighbor's. A rock bar, mentioned in the article, is just the thing. Where to find a big bar of steel?

Unfortunately, the article suggests you buy rock. Buy rock??? Omigoodness. They can't be serious, can they? Go visit a river.

Of course, my favorite rock hunting ground is up on the Cowlitz River, near Packwood. I understand the recent flood to have ripped through the area, so there should be some new rock to look at up there. I'll have to wait until May however, as the road to that spot is gated through the winter.