Riversdell

This is a loblolloy pine the kids brought home from school as a seedling when we first moved here in 1998. Things were so overgrown at that time we just stuck it in the ground next to the driveway until we could figure out where it should go permanently. It steadily grew and by this year it was too large to transplant. It made a beautiful christmas tree, though, and is one of our favorites — the openness and feathery long needles show off the ornaments well. That is our cat Rupert in the foreground enjoying the heat from the woodstove.

The morning sunlight on the frost renders everything in shades of sepia and grey. It hasn’t been a very cold winter here so far, but at times in the winter one tends towards wistful thoughts of the likes of Chris Stewart’s adventures in Spain.

Here is the cypress tree (see last week’s pictures below) that the goats have been feasting on for a week. We have flipped it over so it should be good for another week or so.

Doesn’t Phoebe look nice with her black lipstick? Actually this is a result of her feeding on a Leyland Cypress tree that we cut down and dragged into the pasture for the goats to browse on. The girls just love it; the boys don’t seem too excited. The previous owner of our place planted several evergreen varieties as a screen from the road …

… and this winter we are cutting down cypress trees that are crowding out more desirable pines and spruces. This is Samantha, and the picture below shows the girls going at it.

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