Brushyland - October 21 & 22, 2006

The Hoods joined dad & I for a very pleasant overnight trip to Brushyland. The weather was perfect - no rain, cool temperatures, but not too cold. The winds picked up after dinner as a cool front blew in; it felt great. A light jacket was all you needed to feel comfortable. The Hood's kids sharpened their dirt bike riding skills, and several new projects got their starts: cutting down trees in front of Brushyhenge so we can see the sun set on the horizon, and marking a path for a future "nature trail" through the woods (motorized vehicles won't be allowed on it). It was an enjoyable and productive trip to our little getaway in the deep woods of East Texas.

From left to right: Brad Stone, Dan Stone, Margaret Hood (8 yrs old), Steven Hood (11 yrs old), Teresa Hood, David Hood


   Margaret & Steven at "Agnew's Track"

I think Margaret's eyes shows how much fun she's having

   David did a great job with the steaks and cobbler. And I have to say that my baked potatoes and onions were pretty good too. I'm glad Neil taught us how to cook before he moved off to New Hampshire :)


Margaret helped me with the garlic-buttered sautéed mushroom appetizers

   We cut down several large trees blocking the view of the sunset from Brushyhenge. We are restoring how the view looked when we first bought the land back in 1978. In the left picture, dad is standing on the newly built Brushyhenge II contemplating which trees need to be cut down; we sure don't want to cut down too many. In the right-hand picture, you can see how thick the forest is where the tree cutting took place. It's awfully tight in there, and you are working on the side of a fairly steep hill. So it's a fairly dangerous place to be cutting down big trees. That is, if the tree falls in an unexpected direction it can be tough to get out of its way. Actually, the person cutting the tree can usually simply rotate around the trunk to get out of the way - but even doing that can be a bit tricky in thick woods and on a steep slope.


Here's the view from Brushyhenge at the end of the day. We now have a more majestic view of where the sun sets. We still have a couple of trees to cut down, but we're keeping several of the big, beautiful ones too.

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