About to go

[Killdeer]

Too late now, but thanks, Steve!   :D

[Wannabe1]

Killy, been waiting on this story! Glad you made it home safe and sound. Pics of the camp are great! Makes me wish I could see the place. Thanks for sharing with us.      

[Don Stokes]

I really, really hate to bring up a downer thing, but PLEASE don't anyone transport firewood ANYWHERE, especially ash. The emerald ash borer is devastating ash tree populations all over the northeastern US, and is spreading like crazy. THE MAIN WAY IT IS MOVING IS THROUGH FIREWOOD!! Dead ash is one of the finest firewoods, and green ash is almost as good. The bug got started in Michigan from an imported shipment, and has spread as far as Missouri to the west, Tennessee to the south, and the Atlantic ocean to the east. I get an update from APHIS every few weeks on the latest place it's been found. It's in Virginia, Killy, where you got your ash logs.

It is not native to the US, and our ash trees have no resistance to it. It's the American chestnut all over again. Our chestnuts were likewise killed out by an imported bug that carried a fungus that our trees had no resistance to.

Please, folks, get your firewood where you camp, and don't bring any from home.

Sorry about hijacking your thread, Killy, but this is really important. My main job is overseeing an international program in the US to stop the spread of imported bugs in wood products. Our employees audit wood packaging producers all across the country to make sure the wood they use has been heat-treated or fumigated to kill any bugs that could emerge in a foreign country and kill their trees. Most of the developed countries of the world are participating in the program, but where the emerald ash borer is concerned it may be too late.

We also have several other imported pests at work on our native species, but the ash borer is the worst one we know of for now. No more Lousiville Sluggers, if it's not stopped.

[cacciatore]

Kathy,I really understand your melanchonic feelings.I am very glad that the emerald arrow coming from East was on your camp.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

[rastaman]

Well now, i hope you cooked "them" bugs til they were well done!  
Please, please continue....

[Mike Vines]

Nice to see you had a good time.

[Killdeer]

I understand your concern, Don. I was in contact with the folks monitoring the purple 'bug catchers' that they hung on my route. They informed me that none of the insects were being found there on the collectors. The trees were healthy, the logs were clean, once I got the poison ivy vines off of them. They were felled to clear some power lines that they were afoul of. The sweet birch and maple splits were purchased in town at an exorbitant price. The rest was red oak and two pine boards found at camp.

This being a public forum, I expect a little hijacking, and your point is well taken. I thank you for educating us.

Done scrambling, now, where was I? I may have to unpack the journal. I had to shop for funeral clothes, and was completely unsuccessful. Just got back and I have not taken anything out of the truck except the coolerater.

Ah, Wannabe1 wanted to see the place. Here is one of my favorite places. The beavers have completed their work and moved on. Now there is a meadow, full of asters, a small muskrat seep and sedges. The deer use this at night.

 

This is the trail above the meadow, which i still call the Beaver Ponds. As you can see, I carry too much stuff.

 

And for Don and Karen, my favorite camp tree, an old hollow maple that is likely older than my dad.

 

Killdeer

[adkmountainken]

ahhhhhh i needed this! funerals and gloom on my end as well sister, been a hard month, i thank you for taking us along on this trip!

[glass76]

Looks like a great time in some beautiful country.

[JEFF B]

well glad ya had a good time kathy oh and i like that camo benie ya had on around the campfire nice and warm eh awesome pics girl  

[Day Dreamer]

Great pics and story, luv'n every minute of it.

Thanks

[Don Stokes]

Shoulda known you'd do it right, Killy.

Your story is sure bringing back some memories for me. Rest a while, and give us some more, please.

[JAG]

 
THANKS for the trip!  Haven't made it to the woods yet.  This would be my first season without my red dog Jag.  I miss her company, and that may be one of the reasons.
Thanks agin for the Trip!
Johnny/JAG

[David Mitchell]

Always love your stories, Killie.

[MJB]

   

[Greyfox54]

Good luck and enjoy the best of times .

[cacciatore]

Kathy there are some beautiful colors there.

[Whip]

I've been patiently waiting for this tale to unfold. I'm reading it on my phone for now and will have to wait until I return home next week for the pictures. I know without looking though that they will match the wonderful prose.

[Killdeer]

There is more to come but I still have not unpacked my journal yet. Between dead folks and bedbugs, and now being back to work, I am strapped for time. Oh, I should be in the shower now, but I just had to relax a little by reading the threads here. I will see if I have an old pic of the shelter. I sure miss that thing.

Killdeer