Blackberry snipping

I just spent my first day clearing blackberries along a fenceline at our new home. It took me 5 hours to clear a 30 meter section of fenceline, making a path along the fence about 1 meter wide. Now we can reach the fenceposts to install electric wire, whenever we do that. I took this photo while Geocaching yesterday, and it approximates what the path looks like now, instead of blackberries, a bed of frozen leaves (and some pretty defiant blackberries).

It was really the perfect time of year to do this. It's frozen solid so I wasn't slipping on the hillside, there are no ticks to worry about (this is a major problem here), and the blackberries are not going to sprout back immediately tonight as I sleep (kudzu nightmares!). They're hibernating til spring, so we have til spring to work with our fenceline.

I left 10 little piles of snipped blackberries along this fence, each pile about a meter high, lying in the path I made today. I used every last bit of daylight doing this, and when I found the fenceposts, I was very impressed by Mr. S's fencebuilding skills. Each post has tar where it meets the ground, and I could lean all my weight on them (I had to, often, as I pulled on semi-frozen vines) and they didn't budge. Of course, they could just be frozen solid to the earth: ) I think I'll be able to just put up one strand of electric wire (I like the "rope" kind) along this fence and call it good!

I only bled once, but the weather gets credit for that - cuz it's -3 degrees C out, and I was wearing a "system" of gloves- wool gloves with leather gloves over them, and two pairs of pants. I could pull on the heftiest of blackberry canes and not feel the thorns through my glove system. I cut down a bunch of what looked like salmon berry shoots as well, but I can't imagine what they truly are - I've never seen salmon berry here. But they have that "fuzz" that is actually a million thorns covering the vine.

I was careful to leave the little saplings that Mr. S planted - my husband would really like this area to be covered in trees someday again (it was cleared recently, hence the blackberry infestation).

When I was done, my back was killing me (is, *is* killing me) but I have never felt such joy at this task. I've cut a lot of blackberries in my life, but never MY OWN. This feels really good.

Mr and Mrs S invited me in, they were kind of astonished that I was out there for 5 hours nonstop. I had a thermos of tea with me, but I never touched it cuz I didn't want to stop. I had my camera with me, but the sun went down before I thought of taking a picture. Again, oops.

The trout in that pond are HUGE. They are really beautiful, swimming their circles in the freezing cold. The neighbor next to us has 8 separate ponds, we have 3. My goodness, 3 is enough. I have to learn how to take care of trout still: )

Anyway, as I was done, I took the chance and peed in my own yard cuz I didn't want to bother the S's, and really enjoyed that I can just pee in my yard and no one can see. It's such amazing privacy. And the quiet - when you think about it, you hear the water in the stream, splashing into the ponds, and an occasional car passing, then nothing. Amazing quiet. The neighbor's dog barked whenever a far off leftover firework exploded. That's fair. I'll throw him tranquilizers next New Years. (JK)

OH NO! In the middle of writing this post, we went out to our favorite greek restaurant, and while we sat in there and chatted with a church buddy, it snowed, and I MISSED IT! We ran back in the restaurant, told them all "IT SNOWED!" and then went to our car. I wrote "SNOW FROM WUPPERTAL" on some of the cars' windows on the street. My husband drove as if there was no snow at all on the way home. I held onto the OHSHIT handle for dear life, "I'm from Seattle! Don't drive so...normal!"

Anyway, the best thing about -3 weather, no more scratches on Baasha's legs - they've basically healed up in a week, so it seems. Some scurfing, that's all. The horses are out in the field again, cuz when the ground is frozen solid, they can't damage it - I guess that's why. It's a bonus, in any case. He has a perfectly clean white coat, and he has been perfectly clean for one week, cuz that's how long it's been frozen solid. "Ha, you can't get yourself dirty by rolling!" I laugh at him.

Tomorrow I'll see what it's like to ride in this cold. I'll definitely bring a thermos of hot water for his hay pellet mash. I'll have to tell him the story of the blackberries. He'll have no idea what I'm talking about, but he'll pretend.