Picnic at the Red Barn

I guess we will have to call the Red Barn something else when the new siding is put on.

There was a picnic at our new RAPTOR property today. The weather was perfect. The company was fun. The drinks were cold.

This is the lower part of our property, freshly bush hogged except for a lovely patch of ironweed.
Marc, our illustrious president, makes a darn good Smore.

When to sun began to set, the fire was very welcome. Did I mention that the weather was perfect? Warm sun, cool breeze, leaves changing...

And then we all heard a huge crash in the woods across the road.

We looked up and watched a very large tree disappear from the horizon.

Running over, (forgetting cameras) we saw a tall, tall tree laying across the valley. The root system must have been on its way out for awhile...the tree was growing in a drainage ditch on a hillside and it decided to give up the ghost right in front of us. I can't really describe how cool it was to see something like that.

I will go back and get photos to show how humongous the tree was.

What a great bunch of people...someone actually had a tree ID book with them, and we discovered that the tree is (was) a swamp white oak.

From left: Dana, dispatch

Melinda, Rehab

Dan, uh...I don't know what Dan does...a little bit of everything, I think.

I think we should use some of the wood to make a chair for the new barn or something.

It was phenomenally cool to just sit and talk with RAPTOR folk. No birds to care for, no programs to run off to.

And tonight, my beloved in-laws are keeping the girls overnight.

Huzzah!