I don't think I've ever passed this much time without visiting the woods. Only once this year so far, and that more than a month ago. Normally, winter is an ideal time to go. No bugs. Long lines of sight. No sweating. The stars just haven't aligned for me this winter. Between competing demands for my weekends and unfavorable weather, we just haven't had the chance. The biggest reason has been the terrible condition of the road into our woods. Good Neighbor Brian sent me an email the other day saying that the road across the ridge, leading to both his land and mine, was virtually gone. He said you had to point your truck in the direction you wanted, hit the gas, and not stop. Once we get past his land, I have another stretch like that I must get across before getting to my woods. And then in there are a couple of spongy spots. All of this was aggravated by the construction of the cabin, especially the arrival of the laden concrete truck, but the road was needing some love for a long time before that. I mentioned yesterday that I've talked to a man about fixing my road and shoring up the dam, and he left me a message over the weekend saying that he hasn't forgotten the work but that he hasn't been able to get his heavy equipment into the work sites. A long series dry days, or a long series of freezing days, would make the difference and let the trucks get in (including my little Prolechariot), but spring is nigh, and around here it's not known for freezing or dry days. Missouri calendar:

• Spotted salamanders move to breeding ponds this week.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 1:01 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.