General

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    Spring Green

    In spring our woods transform from an overall brown appearance to a lush green. It seems to happen overnight, but it isn’t quite that quick. These photos were taken in the last few weeks.

    In May I had to get the chainsaw out and cut small trees and brush along the edges of the garden. If we’re lucky we won’t have any trees fall across the road and I won’t have to use the chainsaw again until next winter when I cut firewood.

    In the previous post there’s a photo of the rocks road. This is closer to home but gives a good idea of the transformation the woods undergoes in spring.

    I begin mowing the yard, the garden, and some of the roads in May. Our yard is mostly moss because we’re heavily shaded when the trees leaf out. This year there was a large area to the north of the house where Indian Pipe began to emerge.

    Indian Pipes are fragile little plants that have no chlorophyll. They depend on fungus in the soil which supplies them with nutrients from nearby trees.

  • Willow

    My mom’s cat Willow has joined us up on the hill. She’s a bit younger than our guys but not overly rambunctious. Here’s a photo by Molly:

    Willow is an adventure cat. In this photo she is sitting on a beam near the upper tier of windows in the main part of our home. The ceiling at this point is about 12 feet above the floor. The shelf where the plants are, over the kitchen, is one of the favorite spots in the house in summer when those plants are outside.

    Willow, like the rest of our cats, likes living in a house that has so many cat-friendly above-the-floor routes and napping spots.