Pasture view

Yesterday we took the tractor and chain saw to the front pasture, and took down eight birch trees.

They had been damaged in a winter ice storm a couple of years ago, but they'd done other damage for years: crowded the house, blocked light from the bedroom and bathroom windows, and blocked our view of the beautiful pasture and pond, and the valley beyond our fences.

While Dave cut and hauled the trees behind the barn to be cut into firewood, I tackled the hedge that grows along the fence between lawn and pasture. When it gets too tall (and it was about 4 feet above the fence), it blocks the light into my basement quilting studio.

We worked all afternoon before collapsing on the sofa with heating pads. But it was a good afternoon's work. For the first time in years, we can see uninterrupted into the east. And this morning, I watched the sunrise light up the sky over the pasture, and could see frost on the grass all the way to the pond.

It was a beautiful sight.

    Ice storm tree damage, January 2012