Now You See It—Now You Don’t

Two Feather’s first project today was to cut up the dead tree that fell in the garden area at Mom’s house. I believe I showed the picture of it before and said that would be one of his next jobs. Well today was the day.

It didn’t take him long once he started. While he cut, I picked up the pieces and loaded the back of the mule with the wood. It wasn’t a very big tree but it did fill up the back of the mule by the time he was finished.

We took that load up to our house, I made us something to eat, and we went back down Mom’s to get a few more pieces of the oak tree.

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said the pieces of wood from the oak tree were nearly three foot in diameter. Here are just a few of the cuts from the center of the tree.

Here’s a shot of him splitting one of the larger pieces above with the maul and wedge. He might be tall and skinny, but he's strong. Two Feather split both of these pieces today. They filled the mule bed, and between the oak and the other tree he cut up, they filled his splitting area at our house.

After all the splitting and hauling, we walked through the woods looking for more downed trees on the property. We counted at least six more that we hadn't seen before. This one will probably wait until spring. He has at least a dozen trees to cut, split, and move out of his way before he can get to this one.

This big tree fell during that last storm we had and it covered both his paths through our large garden area at the lower end of our property.

We’re always watching for feathers as we walk. Found a few today. This was interesting to see on the path as we walked home.

It’s a deer print…It measures 4 ½” long. This buck is huge! We know it’s a buck because we’ve seen him around here for a few years, but I’ve never been able to get a picture of him before he runs off. His rack is huge, too! Last year we counted at least 10 points. He was in the yard just before dark tonight, but he was chasing two doe and I couldn’t get a shot of his rack. Last year, Mom saw him standing in front of the barn and thought he was a horse. He is enormous. I’ll get a picture of him yet!

Mom was exhausted as she always is when she got home from day care. She ate a little more for dinner than she did last night and stayed awake until after she finished. I found a few really cute craft projects at the store the other day. This weekend we’ll probably work on them. She loves doing craft projects, so that should help keep her busy for the weekend. She gets bored if I don’t keep her occupied the entire time she’s awake.

Maybe while Mom's working on those crafts I'll find some time to finish writing the book reveiws for the books I've finally finished reading. I've managed to read four books in the last two weeks. My "to read" stack is getting smaller. Only five more to go!

See you all soon. Happy November!

Seven Writing Questions: A Meme

Tagging Along

I wasn’t tagged with this, but when I read Bhaswati’s blog, I liked the premise so I decided to delve into my brain and jog a few memories.


1. What's the one book or writing project you haven't yet written but still hope to?

I hope to finish a series of children’s books based on my life growing up in the country. It wasn’t as boring as you may think. ;)

2. If you had one entire day in which to do nothing but read, what book would you start with?
The first book of Stephen King’s Drawing of the Three series. I have every one of his books and have yet to read this complete series.

3. What was your first writing "instrument" (besides pen and paper)?
My dad’s Smith Corona typewriter. (I still have it.) I used it to type my very first published story. In fact that old typewriter (along with lots of carbon paper) is what I used for years before I finally broke down and bought an IBM Selectric typewriter decades later. I have to admit, computers make the job so much easier.

4. What's your best guess as to how many books you read in a month?
At one time I would have answered 15. I read constantly and could finish a larger book within two days. Lately, I’m lucky if I have time to read one book a month.

5. What's your favorite writing "machine" you've ever owned?
Next to my laptop, the best machine was my top-of-the-line Hewlett Packard packed with every gadget imaginable back then, along with the HP All-in-One copier/fax/scanner/printer, which also reduced and enlarged copy.

6. Think historical fiction: what's your favorite time period in which to read?
Historical fiction is really not my favorite genre. With that said, I did read Louisa May Alcott’s series and loved the time period in which they were written.

7. What's the one book you remember most clearly from your youth (childhood or teens)?
Black Beauty. It was the first book I read as a child. I remember taking it to school with me and sitting on the sidewalk by the playground reading while others played on the swings and see-saw.


As for tagging, I’m not going to tag anyone, but if you so choose to play along please let me know so I can read your responses. :-)