So, you're a lumberjack?

Today I went to the woods to take some tree measurements. The stand we wanted to work on was thinned, so we had to go to a different stand on North Forest. It hadn't been thinned recently, so there was a lot of understory growth and suppressed trees. It was a very windy day, and the young trees of this stand were so limber from the youth and from all the recent rain that they were blowing above us like green, tufted feathers.

Taking tree measurements is pretty easy and fun. You just go out there and measure diameter with a d-tape and height with (today we used) a Haga Altimeter. Then you record and repeat. The whole time you are out there working it's just kind of pleasant. I can't help but thinking, wow, I am so lucky that this is what I do.

One of the reasons I really enjoy the prof I am TA-ing for this term is that he is just absolutely passionate about trees. He really knows "everything there is to know" about ecology. Today as we were working he would go off and find leaves or cones from trees I didn't even notice; it turns out we were right next to Clemson's old arboretum, so a lot of strange species were out there. Like China-Fir or Table Mountain Pine. He just loves the woods. I love the woods.

To me, being in the woods feels like I am being healed. I breathe and the trees siphon through themselves all the junk and stress. I feel the wet soil encroach on my feet through my boots. Twigs scratch at my face. Dirt climbs under my fingernails. I feel completely alive.