One Last Day In The Big Woods

We had a change of plans yesterday. Although the sun did come out in the afternoon, we didn't make out to glean more firewood. Pa made some phone calls in the morning, to BLM, Menasha, etc. to see what opportunities may be coming up for us to increase the size of our wood pile. The folks at BLM were quick to advise against going out because of the rain and the resulting muddy conditions, so we made the most of our time at home instead. Although the kids were a bit disappointed that we weren't heading out into the deep woods, they did have a good time. At one point they came in all excited, dragging Pa and Me out to see the very pretty web they had watched a spider construct, from start to finish. It was fun listening to their descriptions of the process.

Today was a different story. It was our last day to take advantage of our permit so we headed out as early as we could manage it. We had a great time. While Pa was busy sawing up the wood, the kids and I had nothing to do but play, and play we did! I'm pretty sure I got as much of a workout from our play as I did from hauling the wood to the truck! Nathan even decided to see if the name we gave him earlier in the year might have bestowed some magical flying powers.




Although it was a pretty impressive attempt, none of us noticed any actual lifting in the motion that might have indicated flight. Guess he forgot the name was "Featherless Natewarbler" , and I've never known of a featherless bird actually managing flight ;-)

Pa did keep us busy hauling wood though, and I'm happy to report the wood was in a much kinder mood today! We even managed to have a fine conversation with a BLM Forest Ranger, as well as the head Forester for our district. Once they had checked our paperwork to make sure we were legal we all just chatted it up for quite awhile. That ended up setting our timetable back a bit but that was okay. We learned alot from them, including the very welcome news that we will probably be able to get another permit for the same spot in the near future.

On the way back we experienced one more slight delay. We were all surprised when we had to stop the truck to wait for a flock of ten wild turkeys to move out of our way. They were just standing there. They finally moved, but as we passed Pa looked in the rearview mirror and noticed them all walking back out to the very same spot. Pa says he's pretty sure that was the farewell committee.

Once home, with the truck unloaded we all had a chance to sit down and relax. It was then we realized how worn out we were. We really did get a workout today! Although we're going to miss our fun in the woods, Pa and I are rather looking forward to a wee bit of recovery time. The kids are just going to have to make do with our own little patch of woods, at least until we manage to land another permit.