Cleaning up after "What the wind did"

Back in mid-December we had some pretty high winds which caused damage to some of our trees. What the wind did was to drop the top of an aspen tree right alongside our driveway. It was easy enough to drive around, but it needed to be removed eventually.


Aspen tree top lining the upper leg of the driveway
While we hadn't yet decided what purpose this wood would serve (it's crap for firewood, so it won't get burned in the wood stove), I convinced Dave that this would be a good opportunity for me to practice using the chainsaw. You see, I have a little bit of tomboy in me, and also a desire to know how things work, so it was no surprise to Dave that I asked him to show me how to operate the chainsaw not long after he got it a number of years ago. So, once we reviewed how to check the chainsaw's oil and fuel levels, and I donned the necessary safety apparel, it was time to put my Lumber Jill skills to the test. (Thanks for taking these photos, Dave!)


Safety first! Ear and eye protection, chainsaw chaps, steel-toe boots... all keep the operator safe!


Making some of the first cuts


Now we're getting somewhere!


Setting up the Timber Jack. This is an incredibly simple but handy tool that gets the wood off the ground, making it a tad bit easier to cut and keeping your chain from digging into the ground.


I was amazed at how easy it was to move this log with the jack. It was a pretty heavy piece of wood if I would have just tried to pick it up, but the jack made this maneuver a piece of cake!



Are we done yet? No, still got a ways to go...


Emmett blends in with the wood chips while I bring out the tractor.


After the wood was all diced up the next thing to do was to haul the it to an out-of-the-way location. The best tool for this is the tractor. That bucket can hold quite a bit of wood.




Driving in reverse is a little nerve-wracking for me, but I managed to get where I needed to go just fine. The wood now sits in a pile near the garage (but not up against it, in case anyone is wondering). No need to drive around a big piece of tree in the driveway anymore!


This post is the first in a small series that I am planning that centers loosely around the theme of "homesteading," for lack of a better term. I will be posting about some of the little bits of "rural housekeeping" that need to be done around here to keep things humming.

Not sure what "homesteading" really means? The definition has changed a lot since the 1800s, but there's a great article about the term (and what it means today) over at Mother Earth News.

Is nature drawing this turtle out of her shell?

During the summer I shared some facts about myself (see all 7 random things about moi), one item which surprised some of you: I am an introvert. In addition to that, I can be quite shy, especially around people I don't know. So I surprised myself a few years ago when I attended a weekend-long overnight camp for grown-ups known as Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW for short). I had been aware of the existence of such activities for a few years prior to that, but I had to really work up my courage to sign up for and actually attend this event. There would be lots of ladies there I didn't know. We would have to share sleeping quarters. I would be there by myself, with no "buddy" to lean on. =gulp!=

The driving reason that got me out the door and to the event was being close to nature, and perhaps more importantly, learning new things about nature (and about myself). And you know what? This introvert survived, and had a lot of fun in the process. So much so that I attended a similar event the following year (this one hosted by the National Wild Turkey Federation). More fun and learning ensued. Another great benefit: an increased sense of self-confidence and independence. I've never found myself to necessarily be lacking in these two areas, but I have found that I am stronger than I had first thought. And both events were held in great outdoors locations, which made me feel quite at home.



Ladies gathering prizes after skits at the BOW event in September 2006.


Some ladies refining their canoeing skills at the Women in the Outdoors (WITO) event in September 2007.

This time last year I was still reeling from my first visit to the Wilds, where I attended their first-ever Photography Camp (a program that was so successful that they offered it on 2 separate weekends this year!). It was an incredible experience on many levels. Due to the nature of the program, we got a slightly closer look at the animals than one might on a normal "public" excursion at the Wilds. We got to spend more time with the animals than I think is the norm, and the buses stopped whenever we asked them to (photo ops are unpredictable with wild animals, you know). I was truly moved by the majesty and beauty of all the different animals we got to experience and photograph. On top of that, I learned quite a few things about photography. Nothing earth-shattering, I will admit, but enough to make me more comfortable with my camera and to give me more "shooting" confidence in general. Oh, and I was around more people I didn't know. But by this point, I didn't care. I didn't have to think twice about signing up for this camp. I had finally gotten the "being with strangers" jitters out of my system. Thank goodness!


Herd of bison ambling along in front of our bus at the Wilds, September 2008.

Close encounter with a bison. (Julie, if you're reading, these pictures are for you.)
In an effort to continue my outdoors education, I attended the Birding by Ear camp at the Wilds in May of this year. Yet again it was information and sensory overload, but in the best way. We were a MUCH smaller group at this camp (10 plus the group leaders), so it was harder for me to keep to myself as I have learned I can do in larger groups, but that was okay. We were all there for a common purpose, so that made it a little more comfortable.

Our group of like-minded birders, trying to find who is singing in the trees (the Wilds, May 2009).
There was a new element to this outing though - I would be meeting a fellow nature/bird blogger for the very first time (Jim McCormac was one of our group leaders for the weekend). So, in a very small sense, there was someone there I knew, albeit it only via the miracles of the interwebs. Jim (and Al Parker, our other group leader) made sure we all left there entertained and with lots of facts in our brains.

My most recent nature-loving/nature-learning experience, as you may have guessed, was the Midwest Birding Symposium held up at Lakeside, OH several weeks ago. This is the first time Dave has accompanied me on one of these trips, and I was delighted that he had such a good time. There was so much to see, and more bloggers to meet, and lots of really nice birding folks to be around.

A packed house in Hoover Auditorium at the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium.

So to answer the question posed via the title of this post, I guess nature is slowly pulling me out of my shell. It is the common theme for all of these outings, and I have been so glad that I attended each and every one of them. Who knows where my love and nature and pursuit of knowledge will take me next!

What has your own love of nature inspired YOU to do that you might not have thought possible?

Wonder, wisdom

"Wisdom begins with wonder" - Socrates

I came across this quote the other day, and it made me pause and reflect on its truth. It also made me decide to share with you the "why" behind my trip to the Wilds. Of course, one of the most obvious reasons for going was to see all of the animals, and because I've been wanting to check the place out for several years now. But the combination of seeing the animals AND learning more about photography (not to mention a steal of a price for the program) sealed the deal. I had met Barb and Jerry Jividen this spring at the Shoot the Hills photo contest in the Hocking Hills. I knew they were good people and excellent photographers, and that they have been leading photography workshops for many years, so I jumped at the chance to go learn from them. And learn I did, both about photography and about the animals there.

I kind of felt like a human sponge that weekend, soaking up all the info they could throw at us. I had one ear directed at Barb, and the other directed at our bus drivers/tour guides, all of them throwing out interesting details and facts about everything I came to see and do that weekend. I do feel like I came home with more confidence with my camera and my ever-developing photographic eye, and with a great appreciation for and knowledge of the beautiful animals I saw. I went there full of wonder, and came away with some wisdom (and still more wonder).

This trip was the third "adult learning" (as I call it) camp that I've been to in the last 3 years, and I am now officially establishing it as a tradition. The previous two years I attended camps oriented toward giving women more confidence and familiarity with the outdoors, so this year's "theme" was obviously different, but the purpose has been the same every year: Get out there and learn stuff, new stuff... expand my horizons... develop my self-confidence... get out of my comfort zone. It was also a good chance for me to recharge myself and get close to nature in new ways.

I really felt like I was going out on a limb with the first camp I went to (the Ohio DNR's Becoming an Outdoors Woman program), but after that I was hooked. Last year I attended the Ohio state weekend event of the Women in the Outdoors (an outreach program of the National Wild Turkey Federation). It was at that event that I paddled solo in a kayak for the first time, and loved it so much that I decided I HAD to buy a kayak for myself! (Dave bought one, too, and we have had great fun this year paddling on different lakes close to home.) And this year... well, you've already seen evidence of my trip to the Wilds.




I cannot stress enough how important I think it is that we continue learning throughout our lifetime. Learning doesn't have to end, and should not end, after graduating from high school, college, grad school. But make sure you have fun while you're doing it. I think the knowledge will be more likely to stick with you if you have fun while you're learning.




And ladies, if you are at all interested in women in the outdoors type programs, check out the Women in the Outdoors link above for events in your state, or just Google "women outdoors" or something similar and see what you can find. I think this type of thing is a wonderful opportunity for women. There's a great video on the ODNR website that was shot during the year I went to BOW, and seeing everyone having so much fun makes me want to go back next year and learn something I know nothing about - how to shoot a gun! Not to mention trying out the Alpine Tower!

** All photos were taken at the WITO event that I attended last fall.