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