Our Hearthstone Journey: All in a Saturday

It was a very productive Saturday! This morning, Anne, Peter, and Matt came to visit and help out. Anne and Matt came early to fish in our neighbor's pond (for family, this used to be referred to as the "New Pond"). They caught 2 fish! We have the best neighbors who have been so warm and open in sharing our excitement for the property. They have extended an open invitation to our family to fish, swim, and hike around. The kids love playing together! We could not ask for a better situation! It's such a blessing to just enjoy the land and the property even though we can't live there yet. :)

Roger, Rocky, and Matt worked on taking down trees and hauling out the debris. It was so helpful to have an extra set of eyes to take down some of the trickier trees. It went quickly and we got a lot accomplished. Annie and I worked on clearing the area by the ice house. We clipped weeds, piled logs, and raked. We made a great team and it makes an incredible difference!

We took a break for lunch--thank you Dawn for sending it!!!! Then when Pete got there he helped Uncle on the backhoe. After some very hard work, the kids and I headed over to the neighbors to swim while the guys took down the ENORMOUS dead maple in the front yard. I was sure glad I wasn't around to see it fall, but I sure heard it!! This is by far the biggest tree we will take down. It landed perfectly in that it avoided the front well, the ice house, the main house, and most importantly the 3 guys!

I can't wait to show you some photos of one of the coolest things yet. Matt stood looking at the front of the house for awhile and all of a sudden reached up and tore the ugly old tarp off of the house ever so carefully and accurately. The house looks so freed!! Thank you so much Matt for taking the time to come out and help us today! You have a great eye and we appreciate all of your advice and experience!

Here are some pictures to share of our day.

Annie watching the "felling of the trees."

Matt chainsawing the vine off of the cherry tree.

Enjoying a break and lunch!

Uncle and Peter on the backhoe working on clearing the front yard.

Anne's and my hard work today!!

That enormous dead maple in the front yard.

Look at how big the trunk was--we counted 99 rings at first glance. We think that it was planted by the Pearson family in the early 1900's when a lot of the additions were made to the house.

BEFORE Matt took the ugly green tarp off of the house....

AFTER Matt took the ugly green tarp off of the house....

Later in the afternoon, I was working down by the mill race/creek. I'm working on clearing the proposed property lines and the paths to the old foot bridge. This is hard work!! First, you have to crawl through and fight your way to find the area you want to clear. Then you have to cut the branches so that they arch or force them to grow in the desired direction. Finally, you have to drag it all back up the hill and pile it. It gets pretty steep right on the creek bed. I'm slipping and sliding all over the pine needles and vine roots. Who needs a gym membership when you can do this all day? Well, I found a particularly stubborn fallen stump right in the middle of the crest of the bank. It had this cracked branch on top. Now, I totally anticipated the poor footing and balance issue, so therefore I braced myself against a tree to pull out this branch. I pulled and pushed and pushed and pulled and SNAP....! Down the hill and to the creek Brey went. Seriously, there should have been a video of this. Totally embarassing and hilarious all at the same time! Then about 2 minutes later, after I had limped up the very steep hill, poor Roger got his fingernail bent back on the backhoe. Ouch!!! Weary, we drove over to Creek Rd to bandage ourselves up and Mary had the perfect concoction to fix Roge's finger. Time to call it a day! We're full functional again. What an eventful day!!!

I took pictures to try to capture the extent of the steep hill...but I'm not sure they turned out so well.