It’s not all art and painting in the life of an artist who lives out in the rural parts of the country. As part of yesterday’s talk of preparing for bad weather, we’re finally working on a project that’s been on the to-do list for years. We’re building a wall on the stall that will act as a windbreak for the horses.

Rob milled a log of white oak and and another one of cedar to use for the planks. He loves having the lumber right here at home, but it’s a bit more work than driving over to Lowe’s and buying them. It’s also a lot more affordable. These trees are some that fell or needed to be cut last year. The white oak fell last year on one of the bluffs alongside our driveway. It was a huge tree and we couldn’t pull all of it out. Some is perched in a precarious spot and could shift or roll dangerously so we had to leave a lot of it where it fell.

What’s next?

After we finish the windbreak for the horses, then we’ll move firewood closer to the house. Right now we’re taking a coffee break, and then we’ll go back outside to work. The rain is supposed to begin tonight, then possibly snow tomorrow, and some bitterly cold temperatures are on the way. I’m not looking forward to it. But today has been nice, so far once the chill wore off this morning. It’ was 24*F when I woke up, but now it’s sunny and close to 60.

All Done (for now)

We’ve done as much as we can do now, so we’ll have to weather the weather as it stands. I’m so exhausted. We had all of these things on our list of things to do BEFORE winter arrived, but life happened and we didn’t get to mark off as many things as we’d planned from our task list. So perhaps we can get ahead of it all next year and see if that works any better when the arctic blasts begin to arrive. Then there won’t be the mad rush of hard to do things in the span of a couple of days.

ABOUT
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Madison Woods is the pen-name for my creative works. I’m a self-taught artist who moved to the Ozarks from south Louisiana in 2005. My paintings of Ozark-inspired scenes feature lightfast pigments from Madison county, Arkansas. My inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction, regeneration, and transformation.

Roxann Riedel is my real name. I’m also salesperson for Montgomery Whiteley Realty. If you’re interested in buying or selling in Madison or Carroll county, AR, let me know! You can see the properties that I blog about at WildOzarkLand.com.

Wild Ozark is also the only licensed ginseng nursery in Arkansas. Here’s the link for more information on the nursery

P.S.

There’s always a discount for paintings on the easel 😉

Here’s my Online Portfolio

And, Click here to join my mailing list.

Contact Mad Rox: (479) 409-3429 or madison@madisonwoods and let me know which hat I need to put on 🙂 Madison for art, Roxann for real estate, lol. Or call me Mad Rox and have them both covered!

https://www.youtube.com/@wildozark