The Homesteaders

Son and I were down near the creek bed cutting firewood again today.  It seems that this is the norm here lately for the two of us.  I do not mind the hikes into the woods as it gives me a chance to explore a bit.  Down deep under the brush and fallen logs, one can find all sorts of things of interest.  This area has not been really touched since Hurricane Katrina whipped through here years ago.  The debris, downed trees and matted vines make it difficult to do much of anything.  Every time we need firewood, we have to clear another bit just to be able to walk.  At least our attempts are making some progress.  It is a slow job but I refuse to let heavy machinery in to mutilate the land.  Both Michael and I agree that it is more environmentally friendly to work with hand tools.  Axes, snips and pruning saws are the equipment of choice.  We work side by side cutting, pulling and dragging the limbs and trash up the hill.  There we can saw the branches into size to fit the woodstoves and load the trash on the large trailer to be hauled to the dump.  There is still so much to do!

Today's fantastic find was sort of stumbled upon while trimming vines from around a downed hickory log.  The huge log will be cut in chunks to be split later.  At the base of the log was a mound of fresh dirt.  Curious, I crawled under the mat of vines to take a better look. Just as I thought! A den!  Now I figure this can be the den of one of three types of animals..armadillos, skunks or fox.  If I had my druthers, it will be the fox.  Earlier in the summer our wildlife camera caught a young red fox on film not far from this very spot.  When I called his attention to the den, Michael, too, had to climb down under the vines to take a look.  Neither of us could see much as these dens usually make many turns before the final "room".  Still, it was interesting to find.

The den brought back memories of a time long ago when my brother, Jimmy, and I found some of the cutest puppies we had ever seen.  We were exploring in the woods behind the large barn on the farm.  Near an old uprooted oak tree were four tiny pups.  Being youngsters ourselves, we did not know better and immediately fell in love with these adorable friends.  For several days, we played with our puppies! The mama "dog" would always watch from a distance as we crawled in and out of that hole under the oak tree.  All was great until Pop found out just what we were doing.  "Get out of that den!  Those are baby fox! That mama fox is going to bite you."  With that, we were never allowed to play with our "puppies" again. Our hearts were broken!  The baby fox were so precious and the mama seemed not to mind that two other youngsters were playing with hers.  She was just babysitting us all!

I do hope this is the fox den and that we will soon have some little ones running about the hillside.  I would much rather have this than either a passel of skunks or armadillos!  Michael loosened the soil a bit so we could check for footprints tomorrow.  Then we should know for sure just what is homesteading near the creek!