Oregon City, Oregon - Week 49 - December 7 - December 13, 2020

During this pandemic I feel very blessed to have been satisfied with doing things on our own farm.  

Once again we worked in he woods, played on our phones and laptops, watched Netflix videos, tried not to eat junk food, and taught science, reading and, social studies to the grandchildren....and celebrated Jessica's birthday 

This week was probably my last week of working in woods, until Spring.  I still have j..u..s..t one more place where there is some nasty holly, but if Monday is not a burn day, I will not venture into the woods to conquer it with loppers.  So am I glad...if I don't remove it, will I continually go to the edge of the woods and look at the offending holly?  Or will I be content knowing that that holly awaits the firs day of the 2121 Burn Season.

Speaking of the woods - here is the last clump of filberts that turned to ashes on the burn pile.  There still are some filbert trees in the "New Woods" (the part that was cleared at the end of the summer), but in the "Old Woods" there are none.  Note the holly tree growing in the middle.

I will post 4 photos, each from a different angle, to commemorate the event.

The tree trunk which had been hidden is now revealed

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day.  By about 10 am the sun was shinning through the trees, and plumes of steam were coming up from the damp earth.  This photo doesn't fully capture the eerie setting.

When Janey and Ruby came for school, they and Dad figured out how to warm their bums.

Instead of surprising us by leaping out from behind the loveseat, we were treated to a puppet show staring, what else, bunnies.

One afternoon Janey played so hard that she wanted go go home.  Instead she fell asleep in my hammock chair - it doesn't seem to be comfortable, but she slept soundly.

One evening the Beech family came and serenaded us with hand bell Christmas music.

Sunday evening we had Birthday Brownies to celebrate Jessica's big day on the 15th.  Hard to believe that our first born is 47.  Warren made the brownies, of course and prepped the candles.

Abby helped Jessica