Slowly cleaning up

The fire lane work is done. Now the cleanup begins. Over the weekend I hauled out a washing machine that was about 100 yards from the gate, which was quite a job in newly churned up soil.

Another advantage to the summer rain will be some soil compaction.

Let's see whether the cogon grass spreads.

Wider fire lane means more work

A contractor began work last week to widen the fire lane. It's 30 feet wide (I think the old one was about 10 feet), but it will certainly increase my volunteer hours.
As it turns out, the clearing exposed large amounts of debris that I had not seen before. I knew some stuff was there, but this really multiplies it.
The work also involved pulling up a large oak tree and laying it across one of my haul paths. I've got some chopping to do to clear that, but the fresh air and exercise will do me good.
The work has exposed other things. During a walk around the perimeter I saw a worm lizard lying on top of the ground. It was alive, but may have been injured because it wasn't very active and wasn't burrowing. The work also uprooted some ancient saw palmettos that appeared to be about 150 years old.

I've got hogs!

One of the folks in the area stopped by while I was working this afternoon and told me saw two hogs outside the fence this morning rooting. When I checked around I found hog traqcks and a couple of places where the ground had been disturbed in the south tract.

I'll have to keep an eye on the situation.