Our first weekend in the woods

After closing on the property less than a week ago we spent our first weekend working in the woods.

Friday- Our friends Jim and Irene gave us a tour of their farm. We got some great ideas for raising chickens and turkeys. We decided that sheep were a little out of our league. Then we took them to our property. Mostly they laughed at all of our junk, but we got some great ideas about where to put the green house and kitchen garden as well as a larger garden.  Today for the first time, we were able to climb on the porch and look in the window of the house.  As suspected it is full of junk, but we did see a huge fireplace in center of the house.

Saturday - Our first task was to move the new tractor away from the road and back by the house. Chris got stuck in the mud and the ignition key fell out. After we hunted and found the key in the grass, Chris was able to free the tractor. We also tried to hook up a generator to get the existing well pump working, but no luck. We will have to call a well person to come out and get it working which means we will also need to get power out there. While we were busy, Jackson and Cooper collected old ceramic tiles to shoot at. By the end of the morning they had a whole bucket full! We decided we really need a dumpster to get into the cleaning out phase so we decided to take a hike instead. The four of us hiked for a couple of hours then as dusk came we headed home.

Sunday -we purchased a new 5x10 trailer to haul junk with as well as a new gate for the entrance. Our first task was to set up a little shooting range for the boys to use their 22s. Our good friends Chris and Cheryl came out to help us use the auger on the tractor and dig post holes for the new gate. We located two good telephone poles and cleared away the brush to get them out. As Chris and I were rolling an old hot water heater out of the way, a mouse jumped out and was so dizzy, he ran around in circles for a couple of minutes before he was able to hide. By the time we got the big poles to the front of the property, it was dusk and we never did get those post holes dug.  Jackson and Jackson had a blast shooting the ceramic tiles.  Pieces flew everywhere!  Cooper found a complete deer skull,  antlers, teeth and all.  He brought it home and wants to clean it up and put it in his room.