An New [Unwelcome] Visitor

“Some days you go bear hunting and you get eaten. Some days you come home with a nice rug to roll around on, and bear steaks. What they don't tell you as a kid is that sometimes you get the rug and steaks, but you also get some nice scars to go with them. As a child you don't understand that you can win, but that's it's not always worth the price. Once you understand and accept that possibility you become a real grown up, and the world becomes a much more serious place. Not less fun, but once you realize what can go wrong, it's a lot scarier to go hunting "bears".” ― Laurell K. Hamilton

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for your continued interest in our adventure(s).  Every great idea starts as a tiny spark, and I'm excited by the prospect of sharing what [I hope!] will be a luminous journey to remember.

Secondly, before I get started, I'd like to share some warm and fuzzies with you because, y'know, I 💓cats.  Willow doesn't normally like the camera, but she was in all her beautiful glory at camp.

Catnip Carrot is one of her favorite toys.  While we were away, a mouse ate the green feathers off the top.

If you listen closely at the beginning of the short video, you can hear Willow make a super cute noise when I startle her awake from her cat nap.

LOVE HER.  CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF HER.

Okay.  Now on to everything else.  Thank you for your patience.

R estimated that we'll have to collect wood for at least an hour or two every day so we have an adequate supply for the winter.  Even though we don't currently have access during the harshest winter months, we still want to start stockpiling firewood for when we do move up here permanently in a couple of years.  To assist with collecting firewood, my wonderful father and his better-other-half  *wink* gave us a wonderful little wagon for Christmas.  This thing is bad ass.  The following pictures only show the test run, but after that, we loaded the wagon up to capacity and bogged it through the woods.  It was quite capable; R was even pleasantly surprised!

While collecting firewood, I came across a section of tree with very pronounced tree growth rings.  Tree-ring dating, or Dendrochronology, is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings).  As well as dating them this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmospheric conditions during different periods in history from wood.

Tree growth rings

After we collected some firewood nearby the cabin from a tree that had been taken down by Mother Nature, we went out in search of property line markers.  At another point in time, we found and re-marked half of the northeastern border.  The northern border is the river.  Our goal this time was to find and mark the southeastern, southern, and southwestern border.

Plot map to show shape of 22 acres and compass

Typically the markers are either pink or orange tagging tape, or red paint.  The video clip below shows a couple of trees with red paint indicating the property line, and then pans out to show you just what I have to look through to find a marker.  Sometimes I'll stand there for minutes on end, just swaying back and forth, hoping to catch a glimpse of color between trees.

R, Tyson and I spent a couple of hours in the woods on this quest (Willow was in the cabin taking her afternoon nap, likely enjoying the solitude).  It was a surprisingly beautiful day during a normally rainy New England spring.  We started off near the driveway on the trail that bisects our land almost in half from east to west; where we left off last time when we tagged the NE line.  Traveling south until we located the southern most corner property marker - a metal pole in the ground - we then moved west across the short southern border, but come halfway, we couldn't find any more markers.  Seeking out our last placed marker - being cautious to always keep our last placed marker in sight so we didn't wander off through the woods and get lost - we backtracked to where we started, deciding to go in another way.

In looking at the plot map picture, you can visualize the missing portion that would complete a rough rectangle.  That missing portion of the rectangle used to be part of our 22 acre plot, but it was separated and sold off years ago.  We found the corner post on the trail which indicated the corner of the two lots, so we went into the forest from that marker to find the boundary connecting in the middle where we lost the trail going in the other direction.  It paid off, too, because we were able to connect the dots and map the whole southeast corner of our land.  The only boundary line we don't have our finger on is the northern western line.

As we maneuvered through the woods, we came across a total of about 10 trees, sporadic through the forest, all with similarly curious damage.

Notice the shavings on the ground underneath the tree?

See this pile of shavings at the base of the tree?

I think it might have been a black bear looking for bugs within the trees?  I don't think a bobcat would scratch a tree to that extent?  A black bear would be hungry having recently awoken from hibernation.  The damage on this video below is not near the ground, which might indicate porcupine.  Maybe a small black bear standing on it's back feet scratching with it's front paws?

Most surprising to us was the video our trail camera captured on the trail at the end of our driveway!  Needless to say, we had our shotgun with us and our heads were on swivels as we traversed the woods looking for property line markers.

In addition to the black bear, the same trail camera also captured video of a fox, a coyote, and if you look closely enough, you'll see a deer's head popping in on the left side of the frame in the third video.  Please accept my apologies for the poor quality.  It wasn't a straight download.  I took a video of the SIM card viewer with my phone for faster access.  I didn't have a computer with me last time to transfer the videos properly.

Fox

Coyote

Deer (peeking in on the left)

We departed camp to head home Sunday afternoon.  Our adventures for the weekend were not over yet, though.  As we crawled the truck down the trail, we made it about 1/2 mile from camp to discover a tree that had come down across the trail overnight.  There was no way around it.

Fallen tree blocking the only way out.

There is a ditch to R's left that we would sink in to if we tried to go around the fallen tree.

The big tree took the little tree down with it.

Despite the bump in the road, we had to stop to admire the beautiful view.

So what are we going to do?  We had the chainsaw with us, but we wanted to make quick work of this.  It's already after 1:30 p.m. and we still have at least 5 1/2 hours to drive.  So, we pull it out of the way!  R has a couple heavy duty straps that can hold a thousand pounds, so we hooked one end up to the truck and one end to the tree.  Viola!  Smooth like butter!  Here's to another successful adventure!