Nannyberry

I mowed all of the trails for the first time.  The ice storm last December downed a few white birch right onto the trails and while they aren't big trees, they are too big for me to lift.  I mowed as much as I could w/o going back for the chainsaw.  In many places the shrubs or smaller trees are just bent over the trail and I pushed my way through.  Ran w/ the mower as high as it would go.  The gophers/moles/shrews had a great winter everywhere around here.  I assume it's because the frost didn't penetrate very far into the ground.  Found all of the trails except for the 'crop circle' Brother Brent shoots fireworks from.  Just can't find the demarcation of where it was and the tall grass begins. Once home I wiped off the coagulated blood from scratches on my arms, picked off and froze eight ticks, tried to blow out all of the mosquitos that had flown up my nose, and started removing bits of forest that had lodged in my jeans and undergarments.  Mowing - it's not for the faint hearted.  (Just needed a nice long shower and I was ready to meet the world again.)