Out Your Back Door

[Zombie_61]

Oh they're all soooo cute!

Sure, 'til they bite you.

 

[GHT]

There was a TV program that I watched last night about the blue stones of South Wales and how the neolithic tribes managed to haul them 144 miles to their current site. It's estimated that the first stones were in situ almost six thousand years ago.

Not exactly in view from my door, more like a twenty minute drive away, fifteen in the current climate. But nobody is allowed out yet.

 

[Woodtroll]

There was a TV program that I watched last night about the blue stones of South Wales and how the neolithic tribes managed to haul them 144 miles to their current site. It's estimated that the first stones were in situ almost six thousand years ago.

Not exactly in view from my door, more like a twenty minute drive away, fifteen in the current climate. But nobody is allowed out yet.
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Stonehenge is a fascinating relic. I've read several theories that claim the water levels were higher when the construction began, and that the stones were floated right up to the site. Having never been to the site, or even to England, I find it hard to visualize whether this is a possibility or not.

 

[GHT]

The TV program centred around an archaeological dig some two miles away. There have been many such studies since Victorian times, but what this study has found is that it wasn't just for the community locally, the site is known as Salisbury Plain, the cathedral city of Salisbury is about three or four miles away. Finds like flint axes and fragments of pottery prove that tribes came here from far and wide. The construction is thought to be an early temple. Look at the outer ring and then the inner ring, sandwiched between them are a number of much smaller, free standing stones. Those particular stones were the first erected, they originally stood equi-distant from one another all around the outer perimeter. No matter how much research you do, something new, or different will later confound. President Obama asked to see them when he was attending some international conference. He was flown there by helicopter. His entourage had to prise him away, so struck was he by the enormity.

As for how the stones got there, my favourite theory is that Merlin the Magician moved them there by magic. But the most plausible theory is that they were brought there by some sort of barge. If you look at a map of Southern England, find the town of Christchurch, you will see that the river Avon runs into the sea there. We have a number of rivers that share the name Avon, that one is often referred to as the Hampshire Avon. It runs through Salisbury and is only about two or three miles from Stonehenge. So it's possible that the stones were loaded onto a barge in Wales, or maybe the Welsh coast and then sailed around the coastline to the point where the river Avon is and then brought up to the site by river, but as yet, that's still only a theory.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Out my back door in HoosierLand....
Snowdrift Crab & Japanese Cherry....

 

[Fading Fast]

Out my back door in HoosierLand....
Snowdrift Crab & Japanese Cherry....

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That is beautiful. No idea why, but I love Japanese Cherry Trees and I love how important they are to the Japanese culture.

Hope you are staying safe and your treatments are going well.

 

[BobHufford]

Our pine paradise took a beating from an EF2 tornado Monday afternoon. We lost seventy 50-year-old pines (that my wife’s Granddad planted) in the yard and probably 100+ trees up in the woods proper. Somehow My wife and I, the dogs, the house, garage and barn we’re not damaged. I’ve been running the chainsaw since then and will for weeks. Finally got out the driveway. Just got our power back on thanks to some great guys from an Arkansas Electric Co-Op and the local Co-Op. The county did a super job of removing about 150 trees that were over the nine mile stretch of dirt road that we have to travel. Most of these trees were old and massive. Our woods loop and lake road will take some time to open back up. Looks like we’ll have to get used to another new normal. Gonna miss those trees...

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Our pine paradise took a beating from an EF2 tornado Monday afternoon. We lost seventy 50-year-old pines (that my wife’s Granddad planted) in the yard and probably 100+ trees up in the woods proper. Somehow My wife and I, the dogs, the house, garage and barn we’re not damaged. I’ve been running the chainsaw since then and will for weeks. Finally got out the driveway. Just got our power back on thanks to some great guys from an Arkansas Electric Co-Op and the local Co-Op. The county did a super job of removing about 150 trees that were over the nine mile stretch of dirt road that we have to travel. Most of these trees were old and massive. Our woods loop and lake road will take some time to open back up. Looks like we’ll have to get used to another new normal. Gonna miss those trees...

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That’s so very sad Bob.
Thank God yourselves and house were spared. I recall many tornados growing up in Indiana. The purple sky's, the erie silence then the immense roar of a railroad train are such surreal memories.
So glad you are ok.
Bowen

 

[BobHufford]

So glad you are ok.

Thanks Bowen ... we are too!

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Our pine paradise took a beating from an EF2 tornado Monday afternoon. We lost seventy 50-year-old pines (that my wife’s Granddad planted) in the yard and probably 100+ trees up in the woods proper. Somehow My wife and I, the dogs, the house, garage and barn we’re not damaged. I’ve been running the chainsaw since then and will for weeks. Finally got out the driveway. Just got our power back on thanks to some great guys from an Arkansas Electric Co-Op and the local Co-Op. The county did a super job of removing about 150 trees that were over the nine mile stretch of dirt road that we have to travel. Most of these trees were old and massive. Our woods loop and lake road will take some time to open back up. Looks like we’ll have to get used to another new normal. Gonna miss those trees...

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Just now hearing about the storm thru another friend Bob. Sorry to hear of all the tree damage on your place & in the area. Glad you didn't suffer any structural damage or personal injuries among your family!

 

[GHT]

That’s so very sad Bob.
Thank God yourselves and house were spared. I recall many tornados growing up in Indiana. The purple sky's, the erie silence then the immense roar of a railroad train are such surreal memories.
So glad you are ok.
Bowen

Well said Bowen, I echo your sentiment. So glad that there was nothing serious to life or limb.
Just curious Bob, do you have any sort of company or government department that maintains such trees. In the UK, trees on your property are your responsibility, so get yourself insured in case one might get blown over and leave you with a large bill. Trees on the public highway, like a tree lined avenue, are the responsibility of the local authority and trees like those where I live in The New Forest, come under a government department that's known as The Forestry Commission. They are responsible for the checking, and when it requires, felling of old, damaged or lightning struck trees. Tree husbandry is what they are about, planting new trees, clearing overgrown areas and making sure that sunlight reaches everywhere.

 

[BobHufford]

Just now hearing about the storm thru another friend Bob. Sorry to hear of all the tree damage on your place & in the area. Glad you didn't suffer any structural damage or personal injuries among your family!

Thanks Jack. I really appreciate it.

Well said Bowen, I echo your sentiment. So glad that there was nothing serious to life or limb.
Just curious Bob, do you have any sort of company or government department that maintains such trees. In the UK, trees on your property are your responsibility, so get yourself insured in case one might get blown over and leave you with a large bill. Trees on the public highway, like a tree lined avenue, are the responsibility of the local authority and trees like those where I live in The New Forest, come under a government department that's known as The Forestry Commission. They are responsible for the checking, and when it requires, felling of old, damaged or lightning struck trees. Tree husbandry is what they are about, planting new trees, clearing overgrown areas and making sure that sunlight reaches everywhere.

Thanks Robert. Our insurance covers the buildings, but not the clean-up of a tree that didn't damage anything. The County is responsible for the road which fronts our 71 acres, runs through our neighbor's 2000 acre property to the west and the huge Mark Twain National Forest to the east (with some private ownership scattered here and there). The rich neighbor has a forester on staff and I figured they would get the large pine, oak and hickory trees salvaged out of the road and try to recoup some of that loss. I thought we would be using the neighbor's private roads for weeks as the County is not known for maintaining this strip of their dirt road very well (they grade it once or twice a year and have yet to replace a low-water bridge that washed out in 2017). It is one-lane wide on this side of the missing bridge and maybe a lane and a half on the other. There are eight families on the 9-mile stretch (just the two on our side of the missing bridge) and I was shocked when the County crew came through and cleared everything so fast. They also cut up the large trees of the neighbors that were across the road as getting the road open took precedence I guess. The National Forest has been cutting acres of land near us (removal of mature oak and hickory trees mostly, but some areas also had many pines removed) and we were getting sort of used to those changes. Then the brother of a neighbor inherited some land next to him and clear-cut it this past year. That was a shock and I almost hated driving out that direction (since the bridge is out I seldom can cross the creek, but our mail box is on that side and we usually have to make that 30 mile loop if we can't get across the creek). Now our place and the drive out the other (normal) direction is going to be a lot thinner and uglier than ever before. My wife's family has had this 71 acres since 1969 and we've been together since 1983. I remember it as always having large trees arched across the one-lane dirt road. It will recover and we will replant the pines, but it won't be the same in my lifetime. I'm really beginning to dislike 2020 so far.

 

[GHT]

Thanks for the insight Bob, how I sympathise with the loss of healthy trees, it's bad enough when they have to be felled for safety reasons, heartening to see new saplings planted, but the loss is still an eyesore.

Have you heard of The Forest of Arden? Not to be confused with the Ardenne Forest in Belgium. The Forest of Arden is situated in and around the county of Warwickshire, (we pronounce it Worrickshire,) it is Shakespeare country. It is said that his play, "As You Like It," is set in The Forest of Arden. Neither heritage nor sentiment saved part of it from an eight lane highway being bulldozed straight through it. That was thirty years ago and it's still as much an eyesore as ever.

 

[Bamaboots]

 

[GHT]

More New Forest arrivals, I'm not sure if the badgers were orphaned, they are obviously in some sort of sanctuary. The Forest wildlife seems to be thriving without human interference:

 

[Zombie_61]

...I'm not sure if the badgers were orphaned, they are obviously in some sort of sanctuary...

Badgers? We ain't got no badgers. We don't need no badgers. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badgers!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Wow!..are they all in your back yard GHT..??

 

[BobHufford]

So ... anytime our Ring camera alert goes off the little dog starts barking and I ask her "What is it Ava? Is it a bear?"

Usually it's a squirrel, but this time ... guess what?

Does this mean I have to go out with a .44 strapped to my chest all the time? This doesn't bode well for the dogs having a free run when they need to go out.

https://ring.com/share/6829670300489211970

 

[Woodtroll]

So ... anytime our Ring camera alert goes off the little dog starts barking and I asked her "What is it Ava? Is it a bear?"

Usually it's a squirrel, but this time ... guess what?

Does this mean I have to go out with a .44 strapped to my chest all the time? This doesn't bode well for the dogs having a free run when they need to go out.

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https://ring.com/share/6829670300489211970

Grizzlies in the Ozarks?? But seriously, do you have many cinnamon phase black bears in your area? That's a rangy young one, and might be scared of the dogs... but might not be.

 

[BobHufford]

Grizzlies in the Ozarks?? But seriously, do you have many cinnamon phase black bears in your area? That's a rangy young one, and might be scared of the dogs... but might not be.

Saw this guy with Mom a month ago. They are the first of this color I've encountered (or heard of around here).