Acair Fearann

complaints….it is nice for some things.  But honestly, forties and sunny day after day does not put one in the mood for Christmas in New England.  Though there was ice all day, thin ice, but still ice on a bit of sheltered water today; so I guess it is trying to be winter.*  I just have this feeling we will pay for it….  more than we already are.

My apologies for the light posting recently, both jobs (and some of the volunteer things) have ratcheted the tension up a bit high.  One job, of course, remains incredibly enjoyable and, God willing, when word comes down from high about the budget will continue as such.  The other is retail in the holiday season in a very, very bad year for retail, less said the better.

However in actual news from here, the canoe has its layer of Dacron successfully applied! It looks sort of like it has been shrink wrapped in parachute cloth.  And essentially that is what has happened.  Awesome!

*Thus neatly demonstrating what had been observed back in the summer: that judging by the healthy hemlocks in that cove it was the coldest spot on the pond.  Considering it is at the northernmost point in the state and shaded from the south and west by a practically vertical hillside of about 300 feet in height, not really a surprise.

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out there in woods…the chickadee flitting about above the rhododendrons just after dawn: upside down and right side up all through the trees. The juncos exploding out of the tall grass, tiny flying flecks of slate and bright, bright ivory tail flashes. The squirrels all lined up on the lawn. The evidence of the squirrels in the piles of half eaten acorns here and there.  So many acorns apparently that one can just choose the choicest bit and leave the rest. Even the evidence of man: the nearly complete removal, in a day, of a massive dead oak tree that came down on the road. Somebody got some prime firewood, it had been standing dead for about two or three years and finally tipped over. The only thing left was the butt end and one branch that went a bit too far down the slope, a bit farther than is kosher to go in the ‘if it is wood by the road side it is fair game’ firewood collection strategy.

So much to look at it in a simple walk.

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It was nice, the other night, to come home to a house with candles in the windows.  Especially the one on the path up from the barn! Is the tradition from the colonial American period, from the time of Irish persecution, from Judaism, from the Christian liturgy, from the age and world old promise that the traveler will, perhaps even this wild night, return? Does it matter? The candle is lit and the light shines forth.

“There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of even one small candle”- Robert Alden

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pondering thereof.  Having been on edge all yesterday (holidays and I do not get on or maybe it was being stuck in the office all day prior or…)

Anyway, I went and killed lots of barberry.  And then wandered about in the woods for most of the afternoon.  I love Connecticut and its land.  But, goodness….I’ve been on quite a bit of it one way or the other, and I really have to say that our chunk is one of the worst in terms of ecology.  Solid barberry, severely high graded fifty years ago, hemlock (dying), ash (dying), and tightly spaced red maple and black birch. The only regeneration is beech. I still love it.  But!

I know what my boss would say: ‘liquidate it’. He might be right.  From the Spring lot (a different issue) down, there are about a dozen good quality oaks and hickories that would be keepers, one nice, but small, pine stand, a few yellow or white birch for aesthetics and…..  Now the narrow strip between the lower road and the first break in the hill is good, a nice mix of beech, tulip, yellow birch, and hickory.*  But it wasn’t poorly managed either. So one would leave that.  It would keep the neighbors happy.

The worst thing about it? It is so bad that it might cost money to do it. The barberry is the real problem along with the deer.  Still, if one could tweak it so that in fifty years it would be a more diverse chunk of forest….

Sure one could wait out the death of the hemlock and ash, but that would be a no go zone till the snags came down, and the result would be uncertain at best and delayed a generation, meanwhile the barberry and, worse the burning bush, just might make a go of a mono-culture…with Lyme Disease.*

It is an interesting comparison to another family piece, not that far away, which reverted from pasture to forest at an earlier date.  That piece is a healthy and very diverse piece of forest; sufficiently high quality that the foresters who have seen it are of the opinion that leaving it alone is a good idea, with which I agree.   Interestingly, the hemlock in that area is doing better, less than half a mile away.*

The question is what is the driving cause for the disparity? Is it the later date and therefore the barberry? The soil? The previous work? That it was regrowing during a time period when the deer population was increasing? Interesting problem.

*That isn’t great, but in comparison!

*The correlation between Barberry, white footed mice, white tail deer, ticks, and Lyme Disease is remarkable in a perverse way.

*The topic of hemlock and what is going on with it in Connecticut is another whole book!

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A mild and quiet day, though I think I might go see if I can deal with some barberry along a stone wall….

For two of my readers, what a pity that this wasn’t the arrangement we sang on Tuesday. (A joint Thanksgiving service with several churches and a particularly painful arrangement of this hymn, at least for those of us who are Anglican by nature)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBIazkBB9K4

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(I know, I try to keep politics, economics, and religion out of here lest I repeatedly annoy certain cohorts of my readership whom I love dearly and Really don’t want to annoy)

There is much I could write about tonight: land, love, work, stewardship, religion, sunsets over hills, the forest….but I do have to get through this weekend at the other work place, which teaches me still.

So, if you are shopping this weekend? Keep this in mind.

http://spectator.org/articles/64771/something-else-give-thanks

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These November roads

When the moon rides high and cold

Beckon and call to the restless

The shadowed bars of the forest

Are gates on the way

Who has the key?

Not I.

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Had I gotten to the office a bit earlier, I might have hitched a ride up to see the big bull moose that was hanging out up the road a bit.  Interestingly, it was a different bull from the one that was seen about a week ago (no tags).  And, of course, clearly not the cow and calf that has been around either.

Apparently it was an unusually big one for this area.  In any event, whether I saw it or not, still neat!

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