the szups closed on the land on july 8th. ben and erica dove in with enthusiasm, a weedwhacker with a heavy chopper blade, and a pitchfork and cleared the land. before this, it was so thick you couldn't really walk thru it. the stake in the foreground approximately locates the northwest corner of the house.
erica stands before the initial brushpile, now twice this high and three times as wide at least. ben was a good grasshopper and learned the ways of the chainsaw. we of course offer great and humble thanks to the tree godesses and fairies of the wood for letting us in their home.
the menfolk (l to r: clayton, stach, ben) pause momentarily to ponder the hairy situation of an uncooperative tree threatening to take down some power lines.
the elder szups have kindly donated their aging picnic table to the job site. as evidenced by the cooler, peg was getting a jump on her duties as coffee and snack provider.
clayton gets in touch with his inner tree. the above photos were taken the weekend of august the 22nd. chainsaws were wielded by clayton and ben while erica , jen, stach and peggy hauled tree parts to brush and log piles. due to technical difficulties photos of jen were unavailable at this time.
