November 19, 2017

Today is family day at the Fifty Acre Wood. We took the kids out to show them the latest developments. Brenda was thinking we would all walk the perimeter, but after wrenching her newly reconstructed knee, she decided s drive around would be better.

On the way back from driving the perimeter, I changed drivers and allowed Sae to drive. This would be an opportunity that she may not get in Japan, driving a car. She seemed a bit nervous and stressed over the event but did well.

Our last task for family day was to physically mark the home boundaries and location on the plot and possible well location and septic location. After what seemed forever, we finally got it complete and we loaded up and left.

Duration: 3hrs

November 17, 2017

Another beautiful day to be at the Fifty Acre Wood. The sole task of today was to mow, I hope the tractor was up to the challenge. Today no jiggling of the wires needed. When I turn the key on the tractor it started right away.

The first test today was to mow the field in front of the home site to knock down the weed so we could see the pond from the home site and also to clear the brush from the barn site also. After about an hour this task was done and was ready to point the tractor towards the north boundary line and hopefully this time we would have better luck mowing.

I drive the tractor to the spot where it died last time and miraculously it continues to run so I start mowing. After an hour of mowing the north property line, the mower quit turning. I drive the tractor back to the barn to see what was wrong with the mower. After inspecting the mower blades I discovered that there's a bundle of barbed wire caught up in the blades. Nice job fence guys, I found the surprise you left for me. I wonder how many more surprises are out there waiting for me.

<<pic: wire tangle>> <<pic: rec area mow>>

Duration: 5hrs

November 11, 2017

Today's trip to the Fifty Acre Wood included Mason. This was going to be a half day trip just to get him out there and pay him for the day, we spent our time picking up the pallets and trash we discovered was left by the fence builders months ago.

With all the open area, it was a good time to let Mason drive the truck and pickup the trash. After all the trash was collected, I had him stack them into a burn pile. We then went did some brush cleanup around the entrance gate and planted rye grass where we had cleared.

One of our final duties was to dig a hole. One of Mason's items on his list of things he wants to do is to dig a hole, so that's what he did. After two strikes in the ground he was done and so were we.

duration: 2 hrs