Save the Trees!

We first crossed the border from North Carolina into Virginia in search of a new cabin location on December 11th.

It was cold and windy, and we didn’t take much time to wander the property because we were just beginning our search.

Now that the papers are signed and it’s a done-deal, it’s time to get acquainted with this land.

I spotted this tree at the far side of the yard – some how I had missed it before, but it made me laugh.

“Hello, tree.  I guess we are now neighbors. We are going to be good friends, and I plan on talking to you a lot. I am sure you will be a good listener.”

This tree is going to need a name.  It will come to me.

However, there won’t be naming of ALL the trees on this property – because it goes like this:

Try to count them all.

Or maybe these?

The cabin is barely visible – until the leaves emerge!

Then we won’t be seeing the forest for the trees.

There are 49 football fields of dense wooded mountain on our property.  And this is why I had to laugh. 

I posted via facebook about the Hughes net satellite internet fail – and not being able to get a signal due to a “small clump of trees” (about 5 trees close to the garage that actually could fall on the cabin in a storm) that need to be removed so that we could get a signal and have internet. 

The Hubster was already raring to fire up the chain saw and get those trees gone.

SO many people put their .02 cents in of “Save the trees!  Do anything else, but don’t cut down the trees!  Call a ham radio operator, they can put up an antenna for you!” And I just laughed and laughed.

I can read the headlines now: "Virginia Chain-Saw Tree Massacre!"

If I lived in Southeastern Idaho where we once lived, or in Texas where we once lived –and had no idea how the tree population in Southwest Virginia was, I might put up a cry to “SAVE THE TREES!”

If you put a hand on any tree on this property, you can reach out your other hand and touch another tree.  The removal of 4 to 5 trees from near the top of the drive isn’t going to hurt anything.

More trees and big mossy rocks.

My natural landscaping of choice.

What this whole “Save the trees!” event did for me was make me realize that there is, perhaps – too many voices all stating their opinions at once at what I need to do, and how I need to do it, and I will smile, put my fingers in my ears and sing “lalalalalala!” because ultimately we are the ones who have to live our own lives, make our own decisions, and that is the way it should be.

Those opinions from others also don’t have all of the information needed behind them to make them valid.  If they had known ALL of the details, they may have come to a different conclusion themselves.  They were only coming from their own point of view.

As it stands, the trees are safe for this week, at least.  And maybe a bit longer.  The Hubster has another pet project at the ready:

Some trees give their lives to be buildings!

Do you spot the load of lumber at the bottom of the hairpin turn?  We had a load of lumber delivered for the building of a shed-to-be. (What is a man without his shed?!) The delivery truck has NO WAY of turning around at the top of the drive, even if they could make the steep hairpin turn, so the lumber was off-loaded at the bottom.

When I posted about this, the comment was that folks would have DEMANDED that the lumber be delivered all the way to the top because that is what we paid for, after all -- how did the cabin get built?  Again.  They didn't have all of the info.  The truck can't go all the way up, because it would have trouble getting back down.  But opinions just fly, don't they?

It has to go UP THERE!

Pickup and trailer to the rescue!

It was a lovely day.  I started out in a denim shirt over my t-shirt (quilter’s uniform of choice!) and quickly discarded the denim shirt.  A pair of leather gloves, a bottle of water, and we loaded the trailer TWICE to bring everything up to the top.  I wanted a remote location.  We’ve got it.  I wanted wilderness.  We’ve got it!

I took some photos of the interior and how that is coming along with quilts on the beds and rails and other homey things, but this post was just about "Save the Trees!" and my love of being outside getting to know my new space.

We arrived home late afternoon yesterday, about 100 miles door to door.  It’s an easy drive, and a beautiful one through the mountains, and before I know it I won’t mind the extra 30 minutes drive further than the old cabin.

I was so in the “fix it up” mood when we got home, that I had to attack my studio space here too and pare down a bit, clean up a bit, reorganize a bit, and before I knew it it was past 1am.

There will likely be a nap today.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Orphan block crumb quilt made by me. Hand quilted.

In this amazing age of social media the margins around the edges of our personal lives get narrower and narrower.

It often feels like the entire world has an opinion on what we should be doing or how we should be doing it.

This is a reminder to myself that I am allowed to set my own boundaries. We all need them.

It is also a reminder to me that I need to be cautious when voicing my opinions to others via social media.  Am I overstepping THEIR boundaries?

I think comments are meant to be helpful for the most part, but if we wouldn’t state our opinions in that way to someone’s face in conversation, maybe we need to keep those opinions to ourselves or be careful how we word them on the internet.

Fingers in the ears and “lalalalala!” works for me!

Have a wonderful Tuesday, everyone! 

Quilt-Cam Wednesday evening (Tomorrow?)

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