Mountain Life

Quite a weird January day. After a good stretch of seasonably cold air and a little snow left on the ground from prior storms, a mid-January rain storm left us in a blanket of dense fog. Sara and Louie are almost out of view in this picture while Darwin hunts for mice just out of frame. The little rascal actually caught one right near Matt's new driveway! Skilled hunter I'd say.

Walking the foothills of the mountain with the Beagle, Louie. The skyline is obscured by the low-hanging clouds while an opening in this old New England rock wall separating hay fields from conservation land provides a nice frame to capture the girl & her dog. "I like this spot", Sara says, "It feels so cozy." Meanwhile, Louie's nose is telling him it's time to press forward and find a sign of the coyotes Matt caught on the trail cam.

"Taking down this tree would really open up the view", Matt and Craig discuss for the 100th time. The dogs roll their eyes...they've heard this song before and wait in the foreground for us to realize the little, though capable, Hults Bruk axe on Craig's shoulder is not going to fell this tree today. The wait, they think, is a small price to pay in order to reap the reward of some deer poop as we continue the trek to the summit.

Calling this a fire pit is like calling the Mona Lisa a nice painting. What you see here is a damn work of art. Some might call it a national treasure or the 8th wonder of the world. I'd settle for one of those green historical markers that dot New Hampshire's roads. If you ever find yourself atop the mountain, admire it but don't even think about startin' a fire in it. This ain't California...we don't do forest fires.

Thank the lord for this little workhorse, Honda Pioneer 700-4. She was the key to the castle and allowed us to carve our way up the mountain in a suprisingly short few weeks. Without her and Matt's new toy, a Husqvarna chainsaw, we'd still be trimming branches down by Hemlock pass.

Ok, so 'cabin' may be overstating the kind of structure that actually went up this year (2020). It's actually more of a hillbilly wigwam that only serves the purpose of sheltering Matt's axe and wedges from the elements. Still, we have BIG PLANS....Stay tuned.