This week continues Operation IVY-BLACKBERRY REMOVAL from Brunner Woods. Previously I had removed the ivy from trees in Section 1. On Monday, Dad filled up his sprayer with a potent herbicide and sprayed around every tree in Section 1.
I began working in Section 2 which is the area just to the south of the barn and d..o..w..n the bank. The nettles and blackberries were so high that I had to use a brush cutter to simply get to a tree to do battle with the ivy. Most of the trees were relatively easy to do, but several required massive effort. Here are some before and after photos
This was a particularly overgrown maple tree with a holly tree nestled in amongst the black berries. The holly tree will be remembered only as a stump by the end of next week!
Ahhh--you have to love cedar trees. Their lovely branches bend downward and touch the ground, completely surrounding the trunk. A person can't even penetrate the branch barrier in order to cut off the ivy, but, believe me, the ants can and make their home in the bark of the tree. It is so fun to cut off ivy and see the ants scurrying up and down the trunk and also up and down my arms, legs, neck,
and hat.
Cedar Tree Freedom!
Most of this brush removal is only possible because we now have battery operated POWER EQUIPMENT!!! I decided I wanted my Mother's Day present early, and this is now part of our arsenal. String Trimmer/ brush cutter/ pole saw!!!
Assembly by our technician!!
So - you are wondering, how do I get the branches out of the canyon? Previously I parked the ATV at the top on the flat, pulled out the winch cable one arm length at a time (22 by my count), walked down the slope, hooked up the branches to the winch, walked back up the slope, clicked on "in" and had the winch motor pull up the branches, Then I had to get off the ATV, remove the winch cable, turn the ATV around, hook up another chain to the bundle of branches, get on the ATV, and pull the pile to the burn pile. Exhausting!!! I decided to let the ATV with its wonderful gas engine do the work instead. There is likely a lifetime's worth of ivy and blackberries and branches in my future. Iisgood exercise and a positive way to self isolate.
Going down
Getting pile ready to haul up
And effortlessly returning to the flat. I love the ATV!!!!
We are doing other things besides killing ivy and blackberries. There is a website called Find A Grave which is incredibly useful in doing Family History research. Usually, on the website, there is a photo of the marker/headstone along with some vital statistics. Sometimes there is no photo and a user can "request a photo" from Find A Grave. When that happen, Find A Grave sends an email request to miscellaneous people who have volunteered to go to the appropriate cemetery and take photos and then "add" them to Find A Grave's site. Dad and I have signed up to be volunteers.
I
Our first request was, "Is there a headstone for Isabella Donnelly at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oregon City Oregon. On the cemetery's website there is a map (not a very good one, actually) and a list of names of those individuals who are buried there. Off we went. Not only is there a headstone but her husband's is right next to hers. We took photos and added them to Find A Grave
A couple days later a request from Find A Grave was sent out to get a headstone photo for Nora Nettie North Lee. Armed with the name and Section B Lot 308 Grave B information we headed to the cemetery. It was raining slightly...... but we'd be quick. We hunted for an hour and could not find the marker. Then Dad used his critical thinking skills and entered into the cemetery's website the name of a man (Guy Bown) on a headstone that he thought was close to where Nora was buried, and, bingo, he could see that Guys' burial space was adjacent to where Nora's was supposed to be. The solution- - Nora did not have a marker. Unprepared, we took a piece of paper that was peppered with raindrops and, in pencil, wrote down her name and took the picture. It is a terrible photo and we need to go back with a better resources.
So, the next day we made new signs and, with our maps, returned to the cemetery.
And we did a better job
As we left the cemetery we stopped by Greg Wall's grave site. He was an admirable young man who died 27 years ago in an unfortunate motorcycle accident.
Everyone in our Marco Polo family video group has been having fun with cooking. Ivan, especially, has risen to the occasion and has his sons making meals and then he sends Marcos to all of us to see their creations. Recently, Ivan made a Georgian (the country) dish called Khachapuri. We were excited when he sent pictures because we had enjoyed that dish when we were in Batumi, Georgia (the country) on our way home from our mission. Se we decided to make one too.
It was pretty dang good, but not thoroughly heated through. Next time I will heat it longer at a lower temperature.
This is the "next time" which was just the next day. Turned out better!!
I have finished the quilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On one of my early morning walks I took a photo of my shadow - only because it is a vivid reminder of our walk on the Camino; we always walked east to west and saw our shadows every morning on the path ahead of us.
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