Birds, nails, and fire

Yesterday morning I was doing some work at home, while the kids played with their Christmas presents. The son was reading his books, and the daughter was putting together her first 300 piece puzzle.

First campfire at Pine Grove

Previously, I had mentioned that I had wanted to place a few signs down at Pine Grove to let people know that the land is now owned and will soon be occupied, and that it is no longer the empty spot that it has been for the last dozen years.

I suddenly had no desire to spend my off-time doing work for the office, so I loaded up my backpack with those signs, a hammer, and some hot chocolate.

I arrived in the early afternoon and stopped by the home of one of the neighbors to introduce myself. They are a married couple who have been there since 1997 after moving down from Iowa. The fireplace insert was keeping their house nice and warm, so we chatted a bit about cutting firewood and the current football game. Both nice people and I'm sure that we'll get to know them a bit better next year.

I drove down to the place on the road where we leave the car. I made sure the pack was full and headed into the woods toward Pine Grove. At the first property line I dropped the pack and began looking for the nails to post a sign to a tree. No nails in site! I checked the cellphone and had a bar, so I called the wife and sure enough I had left them sitting on the kitchen counter.

A quick change of plans, I packed away the gear and removed the machete and began hacking a trail down to a spot where I would like to have a pond. After about an hour I got cold and hungry, so I made a little campfire and ate an MRE.

It was starting to get dark and some sort of large birds starting landing in the treetops. There must have been 4 or 5 of them, and they are probably the ones who made the tracks in the snow. I have yet to identify them.

Next trip down, I will remember the nails ;^)