"So I shouldn't point?" she asked.
"Not when you want an unbiased search. And don't circle him back because the first pass disappointed you. The dog has to be free to tell you there isn't a useful scent there right now."
They worked for two hours. Jonah changed the location of the training aid between repetitions, sometimes moving it to an unexpected position, sometimes leaving the area without a target at all. Rook learned to sit at a source and wait with his nose hovering over the ground. Nora learned to continue walking when he ignored a place she was sure should interest him.
Tess watched the final exercise from the barn doorway. When Jonah had gone, she asked if the session had helped. Nora looked at Rook, who was asleep in a patch of winter sunlight, exhausted by a morning of doing less than he usually did.
"Apparently I have to learn patience from a dog who spent two hours trying not to scratch dirt," she said.
"That sounds expensive."
"It was."
"Worth it?"
Nora considered the training notebook Jonah had left. It contained more instructions for the handler than for the dog. "If it keeps me from destroying another root zone, yes."
Winter made the property look different. The goat-browsed lanes lost their last bright leaves and became a lattice of exposed woody canes. The living pecan trunks stood out against the bare undergrowth, making the orchard pattern easier to see than it had been in summer. Water gathered at the lowest point of the fire access route after heavy rain, reminding Nora that county approval had not ended her responsibility for keeping the lane usable.
She drove the route whenever the ground was firm enough, checking drainage and removing fallen branches. She kept the goats in a protected winter area with hay and shelter, rotating them onto limited browse only when conditions were suitable. Fifteen animals had found a home on the one-dollar property, but not yet all the feed they required. Their winter bill was a reminder that ecological work and cash flow did not always improve at the same rate.
Tess brought home a new binder with dividers. One tab read Access Lane. Another read Goat Health. A third read Pecan Trees. The fourth, written more cautiously, read Underground Observations. Nora took one look at it and laughed.
"You could have just called that one Mushrooms."
"We don't know enough to call it inventory," Tess replied.
"You sound like Mira."
"Good. Someone in this family should."
The two of them spent one evening reviewing the first year's costs. The deed had been a dollar, but the property had consumed registration expenses, fencing, water hauling, veterinary care, fuel, gravel, equipment hire, hazard removal, and the orchard's unsuccessful harvest test. Even after accounting for the pasture rent Nora no longer paid, the total was sobering. They did not write a profit at the bottom of the page.