A Long Walk in the Woods

I haven't explored much of the conservation land that my house is bordered by front and back. That's a shame, because Grafton really does a lot in terms of conservation. This afternoon, I ran out of steam for inside projects and decided to get out for a while. First I shoveled the driveway and cleared the car of the 2" of precipitation that had accumulated. The precipitation seemed to be equal parts sleet and rain, and made for a heavy mess.
Neighbor Mark was headed out with his dog Lily just as I was finishing up and thinking about nosing around. I would have gone with him but Lily pretty much hates my guts. As far as I can tell, she hates everyone who isn't Mark. So rather than up, I went down.
I rambled around, saw some deer, raccoon, dog, squirrel, human, and fat-tire bike tracks. Oh! And I found what is called a "Specimen Tree". A gentleman had stopped this past summer and asked if I knew where it was. Now I do!

From a distance, it looks like just a big tree.

Then you get closer. Notice my hat hanging on it for scale.

I *love* a good info sign!

It was sort of like standing under an elephant.
Each limb was a big tree in it's self.

After the excitement of the Big Black Oak, I turned around and wandered home.
The whole woods, once pasture, is riddled with stone walls in various states. It's also invested with invasives. Everywhere I turned, all I could see was Winged Euonymus, also called Burning Bush. Sure, it's pretty, but that feels like the only thing going on in the undergrowth instead of baby white pines and baby oak. Heck, blackberry would be preferable. Where there wasn't WE, there was Asian Bittersweet choking the dickens out of the established trees. I was happy to see a lot of grapevine though. Maybe it'll shade out the Bittersweet.
I admired the view coming back up the hill.

Pretty tree lined abandoned road, with rock walls on either side.

With a cute little house at the top.

Oh hey!

That's my cute little house!

And with a pretty new sign and everything.

So that was today. There was also some drywall touchup, and cleaning of Bedroom #2 in prep for paint. I put another coat of oil on the cherry, but I think I need to bring it upstairs, it's just a little too chilly in the basement to really absorb well. I didn't do anything to the closet door since it felt like the primer was still drying.