We have been in our home for almost a quarter of a century at this point. It's at the back corner of neighborhood on the edge of town, a short walk from the cities official baseball fields and the small municipal airport. Tucked into our section of the neighborhood is 25 acres of dense woodlands which haven't been disturbed in at least 30 to 50 years.

The eastern and western edges of the woods are locked in by backyards, almost all protected by wooden privacy or chain link fences. The northern edge is defined by a church and its property, and the southern edge by a neighborhood street where a curved break in the curb indicates an long ago intent to put a street through the middle of the woods and build a host more homes.

For most of our time here, the woods have simply been a scenic stand of trees behind our back privacy fence which gave habitat to the birds we enjoyed feeding, and a selection of furred and scaled visitors who might find a way under or through the fence. It also meant one less neighbor to deal with.

At the end of last year the southern 13 acres of the woods, including the section directly behind our home, came up for sale, and after a bit of thinking and planning, we bought it. I have since removed the back section of the privacy fence, significantly multiplying the size of our back yard.

I'm hoping to write about our experiences and adventures with the property, and wanted to get a basic introduction to the situation in place before I start spinning tales about the Huitl Wood.