Fences 

make good neighbors

Range Wars

The settlers and pioneers moved into the Midwest and beyond, building homes and barns and bringing their families and livestock. Soon, in order to keep safe what was theirs, they looked to fencing. It was the advent of the cheaper and available barbed wire that allowed them to fence in their fields and cattle and to define their territory. Soon they were planting orchards and gardens and fields of corn, outlined and defined by a fence.

With landowners building fences to protect crops and livestock, and those opposed fighting to keep their independence, violence occurred requiring laws to be passed making wire cutting a felony. After many deaths, and uncountable financial losses, the Fence Cutter Wars ended.

When we moved onto our homestead, LJ was called to deal with trees and brush, protect from insects and to fortify the cabin. One of the first things I had the need to do was plant garden and soon I had chives blooming, winter onions sprouted and now tomato plants set in. This inherent urge to feed the family and to provide a little beauty with a pretty flower or two has led me to this. This weekend I put a fence around the garden to keep out, as yet unknown, a creature that wanted only to dig what I had already dug and consequently destroyed my tri-color bean crop.

The fence is up -- the battle line drawn!

TRAIL'S END(START)

Weekend of 13 May 2005.
I have started the walking/4wheel trail thru the timber. I have started by walking a ways, then jump on the rider and start mowing a path. If a tree gets in the way, it trimmed with care. So far the going is pretty good except the next time I work on the trail, I will take my compass, as it appears I am wondering away from my goal of a view of the river that runs along the North side of our property. The way the trail meanders, one soon looses sense of direction as the trees are so dense even the sun position is sometimes lost. Anyway, the trail is now at a dead end as we have run into solid huge trees blocking the way. My intent is to go thru the trees doing as little damage as possible, hoping not to have to cut any down.
Weekend of May 28
This is Memorial Day weekend, a time to remember all our fallen relatives and friends.
I hope none are offended that we will be working at Shagbark III and will celebrate their memory on another week-end.
This will be our first full week-end at Shag III, and a 3 day week-end at that. It will be interesting to see if we can carry enough food and water in to last the 3 days. So far we have done well on previous weekends. Our goal is to eat whatever food we take in and have some water left over.
This weekend my goals are to build a frame for the propane stove we salvaged from the Leurene Lucille. Then we will have inside cooking if we need it, an option from the Coleman stove or the campfire.
My next goal is to mow again and to cut some stumps down to ground level where I mow.
The last goal is to work on the trail again.
Whatever time I have left will be spend relaxing(ha) and I might even try fishing the pond.
I will let you know how the weekend has been when we get back.
Boi

The Trail

Lanny has a calling. It is to cut a walking trail through our timber and he has begun! Last Saturday and Sunday he used the mower and the "loppers" and meandered over hill and through vale to start his trail. The next phase of the operation will be tougher as he will start to wend his way into the "big" timber. The trail will be spectacular when done.

When we are at III, we are childlike -- playing house and explorer,
pioneer and adventurer. It is a return for a few hours to the
pleasant, carefree days of our childhood.

I love being in the "big" timber. You can feel the air temperatures drop and there are all kinds of wondrous things to see; mosses and fungi, wild and native plants and standing and fallen trees of all sizes and shapes. I can't wait to explore the next leg of the trail.

the beginning 

THE FIRING OF THE STOVE

SATURDAY APRIL 30, 2005
WE DECIDED THAT NO MATTER HOW COLD IT GOT, WE WE'RE GOING TO STAY AT SHAG III. AND COLD IT GOT. WE FINISHED UP THE WORK AT SHAG II AND HEADED FOR III. I SPENT MOST OF THE AFTERNOON PLANTING MY NEW PINE TREES TO TAKE PLACE OF ALL THE CEDARS I WAS FORCED TO CUT DOWN. JOHANNA AND SAM CAME DOWN LATER IN THE AFTERNOON AND IMMEDIATELY NANCE, JOHANNA AND SAM HEADED FOR THE TIMBER TO EXPLORE. THEY CAME BACK ABOUT AN HOUR LATER AND WE HAD OUR SUPPER COOKED TO PERFECTION OVER THE CAMPFIRE.
AFTER SAM AND JOHANNA LEFT, I DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO FIRE UP THE WOODBURNING COOKSTOVE TO SEE IF WE WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ANY PROBLEMS. EVERYTHING WORKED FINE. AROUND 11:00 PM IT WAS BEDTIME, SO I PUT ONE FINAL LOG ONTO THE FIRE. IT LASTED UNTIL ABOUT 1:30 AM. I WOKE UP AND IT WAS DARN COLD. I CHECKED THE FIRE, IT HAD PRETTY WELL DIED DOWN. THE TEMPERATURE WAS 42 DEGREES. SO I FIRED UP THE STOVE AGAIN, BUT IT DIDN'T SEEM TO BE WARMING THINGS UP. THEN I RAN OUT OF WOOD, SO LIKE A TRUE PIONEER, IT WAS OUT INTO THE COLDER COLD TO GET A FRESH SUPPLY. AND WHILE I WAS OUT AND ALREADY COLD, I DECIDED TO MAKE A TRIP TO THE OUTHOUSE. IT MADE ME IMAGINE WHAT THE PIONEERS WENT THRU WHEN THERE WAS A BLIZZARD OR 25 DEGREES BELOW ZERO.
GOT THE STOVE FIRED BACK UP AGAIN. IT WAS NOW ABOUT 4:00 AM. AND IT WAS STILL ONLY 52 DEGREES. SO I DECIDED TO SEE WHAT THE LITTLE STOVE WOULD DO, AND REALLY PILED ON THE WOOD. PRETTY SOON I HAD A ROARING FIRE AND SOON WARMED THE CABIN UP TO 67 DEGREES. OF COURSE IT WAS NOW 5:00 AM AND NO WAY COULD I GO BACK TO SLEEP NOW. BESIDES I NOW HAVE ANOTHER MOUSE MAKING THE MISTAKE OF PROVOKING ME FOR NO REASON. HE MOVES ALONG THE WALL TO THE DOOR AND JUST SITS THERE, PROBABLY WAITING FOR ME TO OPEN THE DOOR SO HE CAN GET OUT. NO WAY. I HERD HIM BACK TOWARDS ANOTHER WALL WHERE I KNOW THERE IS A MOUSE TRAP. SNAP!!! HE'S GONE.
NANCE FINALLY GETS UP AND HAS COFFEE, THEN WE HEAD OUT TO FINISH CLEARING UP THE GIGANTIC BRUSH PILE LEFT BY THE FORMER OWNERS. WE STOP FOR BREAKFAST, THEN FINISH UP THE PILE. IT LOOKS PRETTY GOOD COMPARED TO WHEN WE STARTED.
I TOOK A WALK AND FOUND A NATURAL PATH FOR OUR NATURE WALK. IT ONLY GOES ABOUT 50FT BUT ITS A START. I CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR THIS CHALLANGE, BUT ALSO NEED TO GET A STORAGE BUILDING STARTED. AM GETTING TIRED OF STORING THINGS ON THE PORCH.
NANCE DOESN'T KNOW IT YET BUT I AM CLAIMING THE REMAINDER OF THE FIREPLACE BLOCKS TO USE FOR A FOUNDATION FOR THE STORAGE BUILDING. I'M PRETTY SURE MY CLAIM WILL BE OVERTURNED, BUT WORTH A TRY.
LATER, BOI

It's a jungle out there! I think Hannah came out of this area with a stick in her hair. But look how green it is!  

Another night at Shag III

We spent Saturday night at the cabin and the temperature dropped to close to freezing. LJ fired up the wood stove and we snuggled down in the sleeping bags. It wasn't long, tho, before LJ felt the cold creeping in and was up to stoke the fire. Then he was up and down the rest of the night. Meanwhile, I had pulled my head in and was sleeping good! When I woke up about 6:00, the sun was up and the coffee made. Ah, no better way to start the day!

Because it was predicted that the wind would blow gale force later, we plunged in about 7:00 and started burning brush piles. Left by previous owners, these potential fire pyres were huge. One brush pile trespassing on my future garden spot was the size of a one-car garage. I had been working on it, with LJ's help, and this morning, we got the last of it carted off and burned. A major accomplishment!

LJ has started to plan and execute his nature trails. We envision about 5 miles of trails later on. When the grandbairns are staying with us and are getting underfoot, we'll tell them to run around the trail. Can't you picture that? I think the nature trails will be wonderful.

That's all from me. I want himself to tell the stories. I'll add the pictures.

Johanna, Sam and I hiked the timber and found some impressive trees -- both live trees and downed trees. Also found two morels and 1 gray and lots of other fungi and moss.  

A loo with a view! Looks pretty rickety, doesn't it? Except the door is nice and solid. 

The indoor kitchen. This cupboard looks pretty good for the shape it was in when I found it. 

The second kitchen 

THE OUTHOUSE AND OTHER THINGS

We had decided on the previous trip that one of our first projects would be to get a door onto the outhouse. Don't really know why except to keep the rain out, but anyway Nance the scavanger found an old solid wood door somewhere in Osceola. Rammed it into the car and brought it to Creston. The plan was to make it into a "Dutch" door. So, I cut the door in half and we hauled it back to Shag III. The door fit pretty good height wise but had to fill in the sides with a 2X4. Now we have an outhouse with a view.
Then it was time to get on with other projects. Nance worked inside the shack, hanging an old Cuppord, then painting it so we would have a place to put things.
While she was cleaning and arranging the shack, I went back to work clearing a few more trees, and cleaning up the piles we had already cut. The wind was blowing about 90 mph but everything was wet from 1 1/2 inches of rain, so started the brush piles downwind and everything burned pretty slowly. We finished clearing off the brush piled on the dam and a couple of other big brush piles, then it was time for me to mow for the first time. It was a challange as I could not take my eyes off of where I was mowing. The people who owned the land before us cleared trees but left stumps about the height of my mowing blades sticking up. Took about 2 hours, but got it done. So we got several small projects out of the way this weekend. This was April 15 and 16. We did not overnite this weekend as it was too cold, lows in the lower 30's. I would like to fire up the wood burning stove, but to many other projects to do first. Maybe next time.
Boi

FIRST NITE AT SHAGBARK III

Our first nite at Shagbark III was with much anticipation on my part, as I didn't know what to expect. We spent Friday nite at Shagbark II, Saturday, gathered up any tools and anything else we could think of and drove on to Shag III. It had rained and the road in was a mess, so we walked in to the shack, hooked up the trailer to the 4-wheeler and drove it back to where we left the jeep, loaded things into the trailer and 4-wheeled back to the shack.
After unpacking things into the shack, we went to work cutting trees off the dam and some in the clearing around the shack. We worked at this till about 6:00 PM and decided it was time to get ready for supper. We threw logs into the firepit and proceeded to let them burn down to nothing but coals. Nance wrapped potatoes and onions in foil and threw them into the coals. I put a grate and grill over the coals and threw on a steak. It used to be a steak for each of us but now we share one. Anyway, it was a delicious meal.
Then it was time to get the cabin ready to receive us for the nite. We pumped up the air mattress, got out the blankets and pillows, then went out to sit by the campfire for awhile. We didn't realize how dark it got until I turned out the Coleman lantern. Between the rain clouds, the stars were bright. A very enjoyable evening.
It was time for bed. We were dog tired from all the tree cutting, and as we are older folk now it creates a few more aches and pains.
I slept fairly good, but woke up several times to hear the sounds of the dark. There were many, most of which I did not recognize, except for the mouse that scurried by my head. He must have been checking out his "company" for the nite. (the mouse has since passed)
I woke up at first sign of lite, as usual, got up and went outside to check things out. I walked down by the pond and just stood looking and listening to the beauty of first lite and the noise of nothing but birds chirping. I think my dream has come true.
Nance finally got up so I fired up the 30 plus year old Coleman stove that we used when we first started camping years ago. Put the bacon and coffee on(no better smell than this first thing in the morning), then eggs while Nance made toast over the campfire. After breakfast, we started burning the branches we had cut from the downed trees. We worked at this till mid afternoon, then decided we better get packed up to head home. We parked Dad's rider on the porch and also the 4-wheeler, locked the shack up and headed for home.
Stay tuned for the OUTHOUSE saga.

LJ' S BLOG #2

As long as I can remember, my dream was to have my own land, but this land was to be in Alaska. I wanted a snug little cabin with a big fireplace, lots of trees, and water all around. But as I got older, I realized this particular dream would never come true. Mainly because as I got older, the cold weather, snow, and ice became an enemy. I almost dread winter anymore. I can hardly wait for the first snow, but after that I'm ready for Spring to be here. I thought my dream had partially came true when Nance and I purchased Shagbark II from Gramps and Granny. Life at the lakes was great. We worked hard, played hard, and ate good. But as we became more involved with the politics and people at the lake, I have become quite dismayed. Everyone seems to worry about what the next person is doing, what rules are being broken, and who can tattle to create the most havoc. Then we purchased the two additional lake lots right on the lake shore. I thought this might satisfy my dream, and it did for awhile. It kept us busy clearing the lots and my mind off the politics of the lake. But, as time went on, the lake people keep fueding over nothing in particular, new rules are made all the time that everyone breaks, so life at the lake is fast becoming a thing of the past for me. When there are few people at the lake, it is so quiet and peaceful. That's when I love it. On holidays, its a madhouse. People racing around on 4-wheelers, golf carts and anything else you can imagine. No peace and quiet.
So for some time Nance and I had been talking about some land away from everyone and everything. I had no idea of how and where to begin looking for that special land. So one day I just plugged in "Missouri Real Estate" on the google search engine and what popped up? 37 acres with a pond and rustic cabin, now known as "Shagbark III". I e-mailed the realtor to see if we could possibly look at the land. We could, and we did. We jumped into the jeep and off we went. I was kind of leery at first, as we followed the realtor to the property in his car. When we got there, he jumped out and wanted to ride the rest of the way with us as he didn't think his car could get back to where the cabin was. He was right. The jeep went right to it. It was kind of a cool day, but we and the realtor walked a good part of the land. Thru timber, scrub brush, across creeks, it was pretty wild land. The cabin(shack) was not to important to us. We wanted room to roam. Our dream now is a walking path combined with a 4-wheeler trail, complete with rustic bridges across some of the creeks and gulleys. It will truly be a challange. But there will be no people to argue with, no rules, just peace and quiet.
Before I go any further, I want to say something that needs to be said. I am the luckiest person in the world to have a wife like Nance. She is an adventurer like me. We have tried to rubber raft down the mighty Nodaway River when there was no water in the river, we have camped on the Continental Divide in a tent, we have gone on trails with the jeep that made us wonder what the hell we we're doing. She shares in all the work, helps mow, cut down trees and haul them away, and helps doing anything else that needs done. A true trooper. And what ever time is left, she works on her own dreams and projects. Tho some of the projects don't seem to get completed without some prodding on my part, her intentions are good.
How many women of this day and age would go out to a timber with no electricity, water, or telephone, have an outhouse for a bathroom, cook meals over a campstove or open fire, sleep on an air mattress with the mice and who knows what else running around, AND LOVE IT? Not many!!!!!!!!!
The next blog will be the first nite experience at the new shack.
Later
LJ

I learned a new word today. Canopy. Yes, of course, I know what canopy means but our neighbor today mentioned the canopy of the trees. I am not in the habit of talking about the canopy of the trees but I like the sound of it. I will learn to refer to the heavily timbered area as “the canopy”. I’ll tell Craig to look for the morels under the heaviest canopy. I’ll send the grandbabies to the timber – to the canopy – to look for acorns and creatures. I'll hike beneath the heavy canopy of the oaks.

The Swimming Hole by Tim Cox 

tree rebuttal

Cedar trees are not designed for climbing, swinging from vines or tree houses. A few small cedar trees might be meant for Christmas trees, a few larger ones for bird havens or a means for displaying outdoor lights. We have a surplus of cedars here at III. I sat at the cabin today and looked around for my future vegetable garden spot. I can not find it, as every whipstitch there is a cedar tree.

My mother, memory crippled by dementia, mourns the demise of the farmers who kept the cedar trees out of their pastures. It must have been a point of pride learned at her father's knee and later practiced at the side of the young farmer she married. I point out to her on our country jaunts that that are fewer farmers now, that farmers often work in town in addition to farming, farmers have less time and less need for the pasture but still she fusses about the cedar trees taking over the pastures and I, seemingly, have absorbed the lesson . . .

Let us just tuck the cedars around the edge of the cabin clearing. Let us free the oaks and hickories of the cedars hanging on their shirt tails. Give them room to breath, to grow. We have more than enough hardwood trees for tree houses, swinging ropes and cowboys here on the 37 acres of Shagbark III. I look forward to 10 year old boys and 12 year old girls that will tomorrow be running through this timber, playing hide and seek and learning the love of trees, timber and childhood freedoms from their PaPa.

Memory Overload

Any undue, incorrect user names and passwords were not intential but merely a matter of too many user names, too many passwords . . . and I welcome your entries.

. . . the other side

LJ's View(finally)

After many unsuccessful tries, i finally gained access to this site. I don't think the other side wanted my views published, so she kept giving me incorrect user names. After relentless pressure I was finally given the correct info.

As for trees, since childhood I have lived among the trees. They became hiding places from the always bloodthirsty Indians that we're always trying to take my scalp. They were places of refuge when trying to get away from nosey brothers. They provided tree house locations. They were places from where ropes could be hung from branches to play Tarzan. They provided green apples to eat whenever the desire would strike.

As I grew older, 11 to 13, the timber would become my second home(maybe my first). Any time I and my buddies got the chance, off we would go. We would walk for miles, with no water or food of any kind, and tear through the timber. The challanges were many. How to cross the river, why to cross the river, where to cross the river, and what to do if we did cross the river. And if we did cross the river, how would we get back.

In the winter, we would head for the timber to see how far we could walk on the ice before someone fell through. No one ever did, but it was a challange. We would build a huge fire to stay warm. Once the fire was going, we would all scatter for the timber to look for firewood to keep the fire going so we could get warm before we went back into the timber to look for more firewood. This cycle would go on for hours.

So, this should give you an idea of why I like all trees(exception: Locust) including Cedar trees. They are beautiful, especially in the winter time with snow on their limbs. I shall now make an executive decision, that only I can make, on the fate of the Cedar trees. NO Cedar tree will be cut down, no matter what size or shape, unless it is replaced with a Pine tree.
Stay tuned for the fireworks.