Day 198

Out in this upland area, there were a few very impressive trees scattered around. The way they were positioned gave my wife a creative and adventurous idea, especially with three nature-loving and risk-taking children with energy to spare.

Slackline.

I loved the idea! With the availability and ease of access to pretty much anything online, she found a cheap and highly-rated slackline set online. Within a few days, it was in our possession. Then, after putting our ratcheting and knot-tying skills to the test, our slackline was officially ready for a kid review.

Early results were positive. Considering the kids argued over who got to go next, we knew they were interested. My wife and I continued clearing debris from the area so the kids would have a safer place to enjoy this new addition. They enjoyed it regularly.

Besides finding debris to remove, we found nature as well. In bark that had peeled away from part of the tree, we found shed skin from a garter snake. When my son was enjoying the slackline, my wife found a garter snake. My son loves “garden” snakes and couldn't wait to hold the one we just discovered. I was able to capture that sneaky little creature despite a few painless bites before and helped my son safely hold his latest nature buddy. We took a few photos and let our snake friend slither sway. We saw it glide through the grass before sliding up and into cavities in one of the trees our slackline was anchored to. 

Our nature play area was slowly taking shape. There was still plenty of work to do. I was looking forward to continuing making progress. Life occasionally got in the way and progressed slowed to a crawl at times, but every little step counted. 

Our overall restoration plan also continued to make progress. While we waited for our forest management plan, or FMP, to get drafted, the land was recently mowed. We saw that the restoration progress was moving in the right direction. An approved FMP would help open doors and acquire funding to expedite the restoration process.

Then, the email came with an FMP draft ready for our review.