Brushyland Jan. 6, 2007

Dad, Becky Holland and I drove out to Brushyland on a recent chilly January morning. Mark & Geoff Holland spent the previous night at Brushyland (and were serenaded by several coyotes). Mark took many of the pictures on this page using his cool, new camera. We managed to get several small chores done that day: we dug some channels for runoff to flow into the pond without eroding the bank so much. In fact, the above animated picture of dad was taken while he was working on that particular project. We also placed hay in the deep cuts leading down to the pond to hopefully slow down the erosion. We spread rye grass seed around the pond's edge so that the water running into the pond will be a little more clear. And due to a recent storm, there were several trees blocking the trails so I used my chainsaw to clear them out the way. Good times.



Oh yeah, there was one more project: placing a homemade "staff gauge" (a.k.a. a pole to measure water depth) into the deepest part of the pond. The good news is that after waiting one and a half years since attempting to seal the pond with Sodium Bentonite clay, we've finally had enough rain to put 4 feet of water into the pond. The bad news is that the water was cold as heck. Probably around 45 degrees. After a few seconds, my shins began to ache. A few seconds later they were numb. I don't even want to talk about the shrinkage issues :)


Here's a nice shot of the campfire that Mark took with his camera. That Nikon D80 digital camera took amazingly clear pictures.

Looking down Brushyhenge II's rail. The sun is slicing to the right (to the North) as it sets, so it ended up to the right of where that rail points. The rail points to the farthest South (left) the sun sets during the year which occurs on the Winter Solstice (just two weeks before this outing).


That beautiful, old sundial was bolted to the original Brushyhenge for over twenty years, but while building the new Brushyhenge dad placed it in that tree. Sundials don't work too well vertically, but it looks kinda good there. The tree has already started growing around the sundial. Eventually the sundial will be swallowed whole - causing it to truly be one with nature :)


   Working Near The Pond Site

Dad, Mark, Becky & Geoff

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