I was lost in the woods three times in two days

At our cabin we have a triangular trail about a mile long.  Its base is near the south property line and its apex is near our cabin.  We have a bunch of cut brush on the east leg, but the chipper is on the west leg.  We don't want to haul the brush up one leg and down the other, a total of 660 feet extra.  We can use a cross path that parallels the boundary between an alder/balsam stand and a much bigger aspen stand.

The problem is that we have not maintained that path, a deer trail, since some brush was bent over by a heavy snow.

I had cleared in a few feet from each end of the cross path and had been working to reopen the path.  However, in the eight or so years since the path was blocked, a lot of stuff has gotten bigger, way bigger.

Saturday, to get some idea where I should cut, I just pushed and ducked my way from west to east.  I came across an old pit I'd never seen before, an old well maybe.  I didn't see any of my old yellow flagging tapes.  I saw something familiar in a clearing ahead.  It was the remains of fox cages from the thirties.  We had never gotten rid of all the chicken wire fencing.  I tried stepping over it carefully, but I tripped on the last roll, nearly jabbing my gut with the handles of the nippers I was carrying.  This spot was about 60 feet north of where I intended to be.

I went to the east end of the path and plunged into the thicket again.  I never recognized anything except the old pit.  I eventually came out where we had planted red oaks 19 years ago.  The last died out about 14 years ago.  This spot was also about 60 feet north of where I intended to be.  At least I don't have a left or right bias.  I think I misjudged the sun's position relative to where I wanted to be.

Then on Sunday, I worked on clearing some of the west end of the path.  I flagged ahead where I thought I should clear the next time I work on this path.  I turned around to go back to where I had left the cart.  I couldn't see it, and I couldn't see where I had flagged.  I went in what I thought was the easiest way.  When I finally saw the cart again, you guessed it, I was somewhat north of it.

When I got back to Duluth and a half-way decent internet connection, I checked the length of the cross path - about 320 feet in a straight line!

So, I'm clearing 320 feet so we don't have to haul a few cartloads of brush an extra 340 feet!

Oh, well, I enjoy clearing and chipping brush, and I do like having that cross path open just for the variety.

Besides, if I clear enough brush maybe I'll be qualified to be President:)

Prepared for the unprepared

I've been waiting and waiting for a humongous chipper to take care of all the brush I've cut on our cabin property. The twenty-year-old plus 5 hp chipper just doesn't "cut" it anymore. I was spending more time unjamming it than actually chipping anything.

I've forgotten how long ago I ordered the chipper, but many of the accessory parts arrived over a week ago at Denny's Lawn and Garden. It supposedly was shipped from Vermont almost two weeks ago and I was hoping it would arrive last week, especially as the weather is getting more rainy and snowy. I called Denny's every couple of days are so to check on the progress. I wondered if the driver had gone to Duluth GA instead of Duluth MN.

I called yesterday afternoon and it still hadn't arrived. Today I was going to our cabin with a plan to do several other things. On my way I stopped at Bixby's to meet with our little gang for coffee. About 10:30 I left and thought I'd pay a courtesy call at Denny's.

As I parked my SUV I noticed a familiar-looking machine outside. It was a chipper like I had ordered! It was on trailer base like I had ordered. I went inside with my mouth agape and surprised. Tom, the manager, said that he had called this morning and left a message. I had already left by then. The chipper had finally arrived about four yesterday afternoon. Tom had assembled it this morning and it was ready to go.

I had promised to pay by check rather than credit card, and normally, I don't carry my checkbook. However, I had made some debit card purchases yesterday but hadn't entered them in my check register. I just happened to decide to bring the checkbook along to do so when I was at our cabin.

I wrote the check for the amount Tom told me, but as he was entering it into the register he noticed that he had given me a higher price than he should have. He asked me if I would write another and I did. As I tore it off, I saw that it was the last check in my book!!

After a long, slow drive, never more than 45 mph, sometime less than 30 on really bumpy sections, I arrived at our cabin. I let it sit while I started a fire and ate lunch.

I won't bore you with the details of setting it up by a huge pile of brush, branches, and small trees. But I was finally ready to go. Set all the levers, push the start button, and a big cloud of exhaust. Everything eventually settled down and I started stuffing things in. Chomp, chomp, spit, spit. Beautiful! The stuff was drawn in and out came chips into a cart. Down went the pile of brush, up went the pile of chips. When the cart seemed to be heavy enough, I moved it a few feet and dumped the chips along the path I was on. In about five cartloads, I had the essentially three pile all chipped. The only things I left behind were lots of leaves, some really small branches, and branches that had too many smaller branches at the wrong angle to go into the chipper. In two hours I did what would have taken me five days with the old chipper.

Better yet, I had no skin problems. Earlier this summer if I was even at the cabin for a day, the balsam would produce a skin reaction. I guess the zinc tablets have helped.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I prepare some piles of really crooked stuff and stuff the result into the chipper. If it doesn't snow or rain much.

Next year I should make some real progress on keeping our trails open and "paved".