Our Pile of Shame

When we moved into our cabin in the woods (more than two years ago!), near the top of our to-do list was to burn off the shameful heap of brush that was piled up in the "back yard." Since then, I've been careful when taking photos, trying not to show the ugly pile. At one point during our first summer here, Mason pulled out non-organic items that had been thrown in the pile -- roofing material, metal cabinets, all sorts of crap. The original owner of this cabin treated his back yard like a personal landfill. It's shameful.

So, since spring's rains are soon upon us -- and because our busted chainsaw has kept us from cutting down the last two massive trees in the way of our solar project -- today we finally launched into the massive Brush Pile Burn Project. We started about 1 p.m. and burned, burned, burned 'til about 7 p.m. Hardly made a dent in the pile.

It's slow-going, mostly because snakes love brush piles, and we don't love snakes. So you kinda have to bang around a bit before you dare stick your hand into the mangled pile. I wanted Mason to just riddle the pile with bullets before we started, but surprisingly, he didn't go for the idea.

It's also slow-going because Nervous Nelly Nan refuses to let the fire get too big, for fear of setting the whole damn mountain ablaze.

So, for the next month, when you're wondering what we've been up to, this is it. Walk to brush pile, look for snakes, yank something off, walk to fire, repeat.