Clearing Brush On A Sunny Day

I had a new, high tensile fence erected last fall but to my horror, I discovered that it couldn't be used when spring arrived. Many wires were down and the brush surrounding the perimeter was growing wildly toward the electric wires, with branches falling down and grasses growing upwards to short it out - IF I could ever turn it on. I bravely began brush hogging and chainsawing one day only to get the tractor stuck and require a lengthy rescue by my neighbor. A week later, my courage screwed up once again, I detached the brush hog, put the chainsaw and its accessories in the bucket and set out on the tractor to finish the job I'd begun the previous week:

The day was lovely and I was feeling very good about it all:

The main offender, at least at the point where I'd stopped, was a large, thorny Hawthorn tree which I'd formerly managed to uproot but then couldn't move anywhere. That's when I got mired in the mud, unable to go either forward or back. But this day was so lovely that I took a moment to experience it. Crickets chirped and birds sang. The air was filled with the aromas of forest, grasses and wildflowers. My farm house and barn were visible in the background and from somewhere I could hear children laughing as they played:

But my reverie ended when I tackled the evil Hawthorn. It had thorns on its thorns, and every one of them was aiming to hurt me:

This split limb demonstrated how the thorns grow from deep inside the wood:

I finally managed to cut up and toss the Hawthorn into the forest. I still couldn't go forward, however, because of three large Ash trees. So instead I began cutting overhanging branches which had slapped me in the face on my way in. You can see what a narrow space I had to work in:

I lowered the bucket and back-dragged the muddy ruts, hoping that would result in a more level driving lane after the ground dried out:

And then I took a moment to eat some wild strawberries:

I'd previously brush hogged around the inside perimeter and had a mowed lane in which to work whenever a branch fell to earth inside the fence line:

The day was successful although the job was far from done. As of this writing, the job is still not done. But I've been making progress: