Yesterday it was warm and sunny, not what you'd expect here in November, and I went down to the place I planted the lilac bushes I got from Vesey's spring before last in order to weed them out before all the leaves would fall of and leave them hard to find.  Most of the leaves had already fallen, but I found most of them anyhow, I hope.  Najim and Ann, (who came here for a few days) came too, and after a while Shindouk, and we finished the patch, so if I get to plant them in the spring before the leaves are on them, as should be done, I ought to be able to find them.

    Terron

     This morning I went down to the labyrinth clearing with my friend Sarah, who has offered to help me lay it out, &c.  We actually went to get fence posts for the chicken yard, but she said she can't measure it out until we get the logs out of there.  There are about 40 black spruce, tamarack, and balsam fir trees cut up into pieces 8-10 feet long, mostly fairly small, but some bigger ones.  We hitched up 6 pieces to my 4-wheeler and dragged them out, but it wore out the rope dragging those up the road before we got there.  I am certainly going to have to have a trailer to get those all out, but they don't all have to come clear out right now.
      Sarah thinks I am certainly going to have to get the whole place tilled and fertilized before I plant anything.  I hope not, because I don't think I can afford to.  It would take a giant rototiller that is capable of chopping through tree stumps.   Such a machine does exist, but it costs $250/hr.,  am told.  Of course, I don't know how many hours it would take.  I don't know what they'd charge to bring it here from wherever it is, either.
       Then, even more than fertilizer, maybe, it should have lime, about 4 tons, I suppose.  I have been thinking of getting a whole truckload for the field, and lime is cheap, but still . . .  And the problem is hauling it down to the place it is needed.  That road is getting pretty wet, and it won't dry til next summer.
      So all this gets discouraging.  I sure hope the price of fuel doesn't go out of reach before I can get all this done.
    

Yesterday, Wayne came up and said he had done all he could do, but the man with the chain saw wold have to come back.  So he came back today and finished.  I have paid them both,  which leaves me in debt to the lilac labyrinth fund, but I will have to calculate how much.  I will still pay it off out of money from lilac spoons, unless something goes wrong.  I think I will have to get Wayne back with another machine to level out the humps and hollows in part of the area, and maybe take a few stumps out.  Most of it is not bad.  I will try to mark out the labyrinth first, to see if there are any serious stumps I can't avoid right where I want to plant. 
     I also have to get the logs out that are left from the scattered larger trees.  Some of those should be sawed; some are too crooked.  I don't know how many there are yet, but if there are enough, I suppose I can sell them and use that money for the project as well.  The man who did the sawing told me that he knows somebody in River Denys who has 2 trailers for 4-wheelers, one that is quite long and one shorter one, and he will ask about them and tell me.  That would help a lot getting the logs out, I suppose, if I can load them into the trailer some way. 
     Anyhow, things are on the move here, and it looks much more certain I can finish.

     Terron

Today I was just getting up when I heard the sound of a truck down at the road and I suddenly remembered Wayne was likely to come today.  So I rushed to get dressed and while I was putting my shoes on he showed up at the door.  I had to yell to him and he said he would start over there but asked if there was anything he could do for me first.  I asked him to put some gas from the gas can in my 4-wheeler.  I got out there as quick as I could and started it up and sped down to the road and down into what I call the swamp.  I caught up with them, and we got down to the end, where we conferred on where to go.  I told them what I thought and they started in.  I came back in an hour or so and gave the go-ahead, so they worked all day, Wayne in his machine and the other guy with his chain saw, for the trees that were big enough for logs or firewood.
    I intended to go back later in the day, but sanding the insides of spoons took longer than I thought and then Najim came home from school, so I didn't get down there til just after they left.  I am sorry to see that we still must not be where I intended, but I guess it will do. There are too many trees bigger than they could be if they had only grown as many years as it has been since it was cut over.  But, as I said, it will have to do.  I may have to hire some other machine to smooth it out, because there are rather a lot of humps and hollows for a labyrinth.   But Wayne called back this evening to get my verdict on his work so far, and he said he should be pretty near done tomorrow.
     So hurray!  the clearing will be done.  I hope I can plant it this fall.

                        Terron

I added up the lilac spoons I have sold this year and it comes to $1134 worth.   That doesn't include some sent out on consignment, nor doe it include any sold last year after I got the work done on the road, I think.  I should figure it out in detail and see if I owe my labyrinth fund anything more at this point.  I should also call my friend who offered me lilac bushes to make sure she doesn't give up on me coming and get rid of them.

Wayne came to investigate whether suitable gravel for the road was obtainable on the site, and he started by scraping the thick layer of peat moss off the road.  What he found was that most of the road was just fine and needed no gravel, except there were some deep ruts caused by the machine that hauled out pulpwood before I even bought this place.  The only place that needed something more was a short stretch that goes across the boggiest part in the very bottom of the route.  That took cutting some poles and laying them in a hole where the ground was very wet.  So I guess the road is basically ready, after 2 days work on it with a machine, and no loads of gravel at all!  Hurray!  Now the rest of the area will have to be cleared and most of  the wood chips he made scraped off into a pile, and I will be ready to lay out the labyrinth.  Yahoo!
      

It is a long time since I posted anything here, but that is because nothing new has happened for a long time.  Recently I decided I have enough money to go ahead and have the road finished so I can get in there and finish the clearing.  But I have been unable to contact the guy who was doing the work.  Even when I tried to call his father I got nothing.  But I finally got through to his father's office, where a friend of mine who works there occasionally, answered the phone.
      He said Timmie has moved his equipment to Alberta or sold it, and has split up with his wife.  So who will I get to finish the job?  I need someone with a dump truck and a dozer.  I know people with dump trucks, but I don't think any of them has a dozer.  This is liable to cost more than I was expecting. I sure wish I had been able to finish it last year.
    I think I will try to call Wayne, with the mulcher and ask him to come look at it to see if he can get across in this dry weather.