Michigan is a state again

October 1, 2007 (6:26am)

59º F, Rain, N Wind, 7 mph.

Good morning,

Michigan is back up and running again this morning. The State had shut down most services at midnight since the legislature had not come up with a budget. About 4:30 A.M. this morning, and agreement was reached and the governor opened the State’s doors for business again. Children fighting over a piece of candy kind of deal I think.

I took a walk down, literally down hill, to the creek which runs through our property yesterday afternoon. Dunn Creek runs through the northern portion of the property, but didn’t go all of the way down to it when we bought this place as it was very wet and swampy at the time. It is a nice little creek, about twice as wide as I can jump and deeper than I expected. Will have to scout it out and possibly there is a trout or two in it. Not sure.

The area is crisscrossed with deer highways, but I didn’t see a single buck rub. Which means there are many does, and not too many bucks at this time. That may change as the rut comes closer. There are several really good stands in this area too. There are a couple of open areas from past logging, which are growing up with popular and birch saplings. That is good feed for deer, so will be checking it out for sure during November. The woods look as though I can “creep hunt” ( take a step, then wait a few minutes, take a step, &c.) in. I like that style of hunting, especially when I am alone and without any drivers. Phil and I used to do that at deer camp during Christmas break from school often. We would parallel each other through the woods about 100 yards apart, or one at the bottom of a ravine and the other on top.

There also are a couple of huge birch trees near the creek too. They should be harvested before they come down from age. Of course they are a bit in the woods and will need to clear a “trail” to get to them. There is an old logging road there now, but needs to be cleared of blow downs and some new growth. Will wait until there is some snow on the ground first though, to bring them out. I also found a huge cedar tree that had been cut down many years ago. The stump was about 2½’ across, but the log was just left to decay for some reason. Seemed to be a shame to me. There is a good stand of cedar around it too. Will be doing some harvesting there too as I can find all kinds of uses for them. Lots of good pines for lumber too. I think I can be a busy for a time here.

I started to fill in the floor under the woodstove on Saturday, but got side-tracked by a couple other things, so didn’t get as much done as I wanted to. Using some of the salvaged materials from the various destruction projects I have done around here. At least I have the “joists” cut and some nailed in place. Want to put down a vapor barrier and then some insulation, before putting on the flooring. I was surprised how cold the concrete floor was compared to the wood floor. That will be a good change I think. Then comes the tiling. That should be interesting.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><