We passed the turkey, gave thanks and then got to work.
Cottage men gathered in the morning chill and set about clearing for the future drain field that must be put in place when we put the addition on the house.
An engineer came the other week and walked our property for three hours trying to find a place that would perk.
Eventually a site was found, down on the south-west portion of the land; in a thick stand of pines and hardwoods. This means that there must be a lot of clearing of those woods in order to put the distribution box and drain fields in place.
Mr. Cottage and helpers hope to get as much of this done before we have to hire an excavation company to come in and do the big work.
Mapping out the game plan. A row of azaleas are dug up and placed in a protected area, for re-planting later.
Then, off to clear all the brush and small trees.
At 83 Father Cottage can still rock a chainsaw – with Betsy beagle supervising of course.
Lots of smoke. The loud rumble of the tractor and the cranking of the chainsaw.
And they are off.
Betsy beagle follows along every step of the way.
Time for laughter, too.
My heart is a little apprehensive, because, yes I’m set in my ways and all this change to our home and property kind of makes me uneasy.
I don’t want to change our forest land and disrupt the wildlife we have.
As soon as Mr. Cottage tuned the tractor off after the first swipe at turning up fresh soil, a red-tailed hawk swooped down looking for mice.
Up and away he soared, before I barely knew what happened.
The next morning bright sunshine brought droves of sweet little chirping birds checking for seeds.
Feeling very thankful for friends and family that came out to help us.
I hope your weekend was full of gratitude.
see you later, Bye!
Kim
Red Dirt Farm and Studio 
Isn’t that the way of things? The perking soil is next to the woods. It couldn’t be in a convenient, already-cleared spot on the property. Poppie is just 2 years older than Father Cottage.
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Miss Linda – those were our thoughts too. We assumed our wide open back yard would do the trick – too easy, sigh. The fathers are of the same generation – a pretty good one I might add. 🙂
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Yes, a pretty good one. My dad is 86 and he still rocks a chainsaw, too. Of course, he could stop that. I wouldn’t mind. It must be very hard to see those trees come down~ my heart goes out to you. But more trees will grow and opening your home like this will surely be a blessing.
Hugs!
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Yes, I love that our fathers can still enjoy what they love, but it does make one a little nervous. Boys and their toys. Melissa, my dad is a retired forester – I have his love of trees running through my veins. Yes, it will be blessing. Hugs back at you.
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