….and then there’s the woodpile….

This will be the third of the winter updates…… ( a quiet winter of projects….(.click ) and hanging with the neighbours (click)

Spoiler alert…..we are back on the road so there will be some more adventuring coming to your inbox very soon…!!!

Not everyone can boast that their woodpile is visible from space…!! …and I’m not too sure that many people would see the fact that we can….as a positive…!!!

One of the features that gives our little spot on the planet some real character…LOL…

Here in this part of Alberta there are not a lot of trees……which makes the fireplace a bit more of a challenge……unless of course…you have the remnants of three grain elevators at the bottom of your garden…..The Milk River elevators were demolished in 2019…and the previous owner of our property did a deal with the county to take the debris…Im not sure if he had any concept of just how much ‘stuff’ that would be…….I’ll tell you its impressive.

Many of the farms have ‘shelter belts’ mature trees around the farm buildings…..southern Alberta can be very windy….!! but apart from that the sources for firewood are very limited……other than at our place…LOL

In winter for us it was an ongoing chore ( pioneers in the new world we are….lol). The collection, chopping and stacking of lumber for the fire. Not that we made any significant impact on what was there……but that old growth, dry douglas fir and cedar kept us warm.

By the spring it had become abundantly clear to us that we needed a tractor. Between the snow clearing of the driveway, and the clean up of the property itself…there was a lot of stuff that even superheroes like ourselves could not lift.

After a delightful 45 minute drive out to the metropolis of Skiff Alberta…..!! we found this little guy….

…and it arrived on the back of a trailer a week later…..much to the delight of somebody in our house…!!

There was even some stuff that our little tractor could not manage , but luckily reinforcements came to the rescue with a bigger tractor….( a Case MX 120 I’m reliably informed..!!) We couldn’t come up with the intended use for this pipe on a large foundation but it was right in front of the bedroom windows and had to go.

The other major asset we have out here is that we have really great neighbours who have helped us out and made some of the bigger problems solvable.

As spring unfolded into outdoors bearable weather we were able to get back out there and become re-acquainted with this little haven of ours. Here is the photographic walk of the property line.

First we go down the driveway….past the neighbours wheel line (irrigation)

Along past the ‘race track’ ( you can see the race track on the satellite picture at the top)…….

Admire the Sweet Grass hills as we head out to the east corner….

…..back towards the house past the temporary duck pond……

…then loop around the infamous wood pile…!!!

Phew….that was a lot of stuff. As you can see there was not a lot of sitting still this winter…..we need to get back to some travelling for a rest…!! 😁