 1 The start of a very busy Friday, 8/26. Putting earplugs in to watch the big chipper at work. We are having a tree service over to do some serious pruning before winter so we can have some firewood. |
 2 Can you see the orange helmet in the middle of the frame? Eric is up there! |
 3 Ben found a little wiggly bug and walked around with him for a while. |
 4 After 6 hours of trimming, chopping, hauling logs to cover, sweating, webs in my hair again, off we went to a friend's 5 yr birthday party at a horse farm. What a great time! Sam picked out this outfit himself. I had chaps on, too! |
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 6 Off to feed the ponies! The birthday girl is in pink in the foreground. |
 7 Love Sam's quiet reflection the whole time. He is so much fun to watch. |
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 9 I always wonder what he is thinking about. |
 10 Now getting ready to go for a ride. |
 11 Sam's horse, Tucker. He is learning to groom. My first pony was a Welsh Cobb like this one, white, too. By the end of the hour with the horses, I was struggling to hold back tears. I was this girls age (the one to the left of the horse) when I was riding a white pony. |
 12 And Ben is learning to groom. |
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 14 The girls have these cute half-chaps now. I still have my full, long leather chaps on. Didn't know about half-chaps. |
 15 Picking the hooves! |
 16 And riding! |
 17 Look at mommy! |
 18 Sam did a great job riding. |
 19 Then craft time. |
 20 Loved this tire swing! |
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 22 Gift bags for everyone. Note where Sam is. He just cracks me up. |
 23 Then to meet Daddy in Poulsbo for dinner. A picture of all three of us - mommy and boys. I played chase with these guys for a full half hour - exhausted mommy! This is the end to a long day! Who needs a gym when you can haul logs? |
 24 Sam resting on the boulder :) |
 25 Now for a walk in our woods after two days of hard work clearing a little trail. We have cleared and mulched (with chips from the pruned trees) about 100 yards of trail. It is a LOT (A LOT) of work to clear a trail of dense underbrush. Next time you hear about a trail clearing work party, join in and make the job easier. It is really a lot of work. We have a huge wood chip pile and I took 10 loads into the woods for this little 100 yard path so far. And that took me all day. Dave used the power tools to cut through a few logs, and even tried his hand at splitting some logs. He is a quick study - very strong guy! |
 26 This looked like a tall sailing ship to me. I am taking the boys out on an early morning stroll through our woods looking for critters feeding, and to see if the big deer whose day bed we found has been back. We actually found a second day bed while out trail clearing. Very exciting! |
 27 It's a big web! |
 28 The day bed! We'll have to see if it grows over quickly (the buck has moved on) or if he continues to use it. |
 29 Dave out for a walk with his coffee. This is one of the logs he sawed through - only halfway so you can step over if desired, or bike through to the left. This will also be single-track for the boys to ride on. |
 30 Funny daddy ;0 |
 31 Is he thinking "I hear something!" |
 32 A daddy in the woods with his coffee :) Such a peaceful morning - so still and quiet. |
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 34 Native blackberries! A rare find. There are so many of the invasive Himalayan blackberries that it is neat to have our own native variety. |
 35 A big stump (snag in arborist terms) where woodpeckes and squirrels live. This is the entrance to our trail, right by the fire ring. |
 36 Backing up a little. |
 37 And further back - fire ring is to the right. |
 38 And looking from the carport/boat storage to the start of another trail going toward the big maple. |
 39 The house from the boat storage/carport/fire ring/trailhead. |
 40 Swing just to left of house on magnolia. |
 41 Boys building elaborate bridges and ramps on the front porch. This is a neat outdoor room - such a nice place to sit with coffee or a beer and just relax, overlooking the "pen" - garden area. |
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 43 There's the pen. Where chickens will be soon... |
 44 Living room continuing to take shape. |
 45 Dining and kitchen off living room. |
 46 Looking from back deck out toward driveway. |
 47 Looking down fenceline to herb garden, and past that will be the trailhead way down by the two blue spruces at the top right of the frame. |
 48 I just turned around from that last shot and took this one of a second little gate showing the driveway entrance and the road. I insisted on bringing that little arbor from Hawaii. I am glad we did. It looks great there with the little cedar fence and gate. |
 49 From the road looking back toward the arbor and herb garden. We cleared out some shrubs to the left here so we can have better turnaround area and guest parking. I don't want delivery trucks racing around the curving driveway while boys are at play, so I'm going to have them park here to deliver things. So...that's a brief tour of where we are now. I will continue breaking trails with Sam, then Dave can bring in the big muscle on the weekends and we'll eventually have several loops. We have some names for trail junctions already where the loops connect - like Three Snags, Skylight, Mapledale...Hey Krug brothers, you come and stay for a month and help us clear/name trails? |
 50 Sunday afternoon. More trail work, and a fire! |
 51 Bringing a load of chips to finally connect two sides of the trail. |
 52 Hard workers out clearing, while protecting native plants. |
 53 The supervisor. |
 54 He does help a little bit now and then. The compost pile was so warm - literally smoking from the inside. So interesting. |
 55 THIS is the native blackberry! At last, I think I found it! Let's hope it fruits. |
 56 Here we are at "three snags" junction. The three trees just right of center with the holes in them are snags - dead trees but home to lots of critters. |
 57 Sam at work with a hoe. |
 58 Ben calling us funny names. |
 59 You get a sense of the work. This is 80% done. Behind Dave is still to go. |
