ErkkilaDotOrg

Upgraded wordpress to 2.3.x this morning. Seems to be working. (weee)

-pee

My mom and I have been walking the long trail around our property every morning. Here are some recent views:

Sumac (center property)

Some kind of berry, western property

North of the house, facing west

Hill directly west of ours (Johnson Hill?)

Village of Palmyra

 Watching Batman Beyond Season 2 ====> schwaaay

On the way to Wegmans (Hogback Hill Rd. maybe?)

Behind Wegmans, Newark NY

Between the Whata Wash and Walgreens (Newark)

-epe

http://www.calphoneinfo.ca.gov/070905_phonepower.htm

Almost done with the initial burning of all the piles of brush and trees that Mike the “Nature terminator” left on the property with his amazing machines. We did have some folks up to extract what logs they could for their woodstoves (maybe 20+ pickup trucks worth in total) so it won’t all be going up in smoke just to spew ash and warm up the hillsides ;). Once the initial fires are done the harder work starts, getting the leftovers re-racked and then burned again, repeat till only ash is left. About 1/2 the piles have had at least a second run so we’re getting there. The next step is to have Mike back up with his bulldozer to push the remaining stumps into as few piles as possible for a final burn, and also to do a bit of root raking, hole filling, and grading. I’ve taken the precaution of doing a bit of seeding on the hill in case we don’t get it all done in time for winter but I would prefer we finish and get a real seed bed started before spring thaw =).

I’ll be leaving the piles that he made out in the western property up for the winter. Foxes use that type of habitat for mousing and along with giving them something to eat besides my damn birds, it will give the people hunting them an aggregation point.  If you have any friends who are foxed please point them at the new dining area ;).

Long term we hope to counter the burning and clearing evilness a few ways. The first way is that we didn’t actually “clear” the property. We intentionally had quite a few trees per acre left standing, a few more then we really want in the long run to deal with any that might not handle the change. These trees will be there to provide some stability and shade. The second is that we are looking to establish a meadow in most of the area north of the house, we’d like it to be a mixed grouping of deep rooted drought resistant grasses/flowering plants, as well as any other native plants that might want to come up. All poison ivy  and rose bushes will be clobbered on sight.

-pee

Glad the clouds are breaking up for you two (even in Seattle!).  We’ll try and update more ;). (LIAR)

Left brain/right brain test…if she’s rotating clockwise, you’re right brain-dominant; counter-clockwise is left brain-dominant. If you’re a guy and you think primarily with the other head, you will mostly notice that she’s naked.