So it looks as though...

...this years woodcutting, or as I like to think of it... chainsaw therapy... can finally begin in earnest.

This last week, for the first time since fall 07, I was able to get the truck all the way through the waterlogged spots out back... and enter the woods proper.

I've cleared the trees that have fallen across the road, thrown down grass seed on the raggedy patches and tried to figure out where I need to head next. There's another 100 meters or so to reach the back fenceline and some low spots to duke around, but I've got a pretty good idea where I need to push through.

It's always a little daunting figuring out which tree comes down next. Unless you're cutting deadwood, there's a real awareness that you're bringing an end to a living thing, that is perhaps even older than yourself. It's not a choice made lightly.

At the same time you have to keep your guard up... a man in the area was killed a couple of years back when the tree he was felling took a quicker, unexpected trajectory than he had figured. It's something to watch for... if the tree is rotten, or even cracked inside... it can shear off, windmill around and do some pretty ugly things to flesh and bone.

On a brighter note, lots of hoofprints out back, the deer have obviously not forsaken us. Mrs. Neo also found some fawn tracks on her daily constitutional. The dragonflies are out in force and there's a considerable frog population on both sides of the house.

And we still have our too-friendly solvent-sniffing groundhog... who has taken to hiding out in the engine compartments of our two vehicles.

A couple more days... and the boy is home from school for the summer.

All in all... a not unhackable existence.

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