Fantastic November Days

Cold wet days have kept me inside for weeks.  Twice snow covered the ground and that is no longer seen as a reason to play outside.  These clear warm days pulled me outside to tend to necessary road work.  Traffic on the path to the mail box created a shallow ditch that drained road runoff following rain.  If left as it was, the channel would be filled with solid ice for most of the winter presenting challenges to both mail pickup and snow removal.  The past three days saw wagon loads of wet fine gravel filling in the waterway.

Any country boy knows that dry sand cannot be packed firm.  Adding water to a load of fine gravel has two benefits.  With the consistency of mortar, it is easy to work the fill into a smooth neat surface.  Driving on the patch packs it down as hard as cement.  Today's fill is in the foreground still holding considerable water.  Given a little time and wheel traffic, it will look as smooth as the previously placed fill.

The last glacier formed interesting features on our acres that were largely useless for farming.  This area is shaped like a cone.  Observation of the mixed deposits here suggests that a stream of water poured over the high edge of the ice and fell into a pool of standing water.  Various visually different deposits lie on a slope rather than in a horizontal bed.  This spot is largely clear of huge rocks but a good sized one can be seen to the left of the tractor.

I have been removing material from here for years.  This area has been a favorite digging spot because its slope is manageable.  Fallen leaves hide the enormity of the hole created here by shoveling by hand.  A substantial slide moved a sizeable chunk held together by small tree roots.  Fortunately this occurred in my absence.  I will remove its edges to reveal the fine deposits now hidden from my shovel.

Becky took this sunset picture.  It captures the remote and private nature of our land.  A careful look will reveal three deer eating close to the house.  They are here much of the time.  This morning one slept close to the kitchen window enabling me to see its frosty breath as it exhaled.  We really enjoy our peaceful existence here living in a nature preserve.