More tree work & Ice Cream

Hang in there people, I am almost done with the tree cutting portion of our stay at the cabin.  The trees are all cut and today Bob brought out this John Deere tractor once again to help finish up the project.  He took all the wood that was along side of the lane and used his John Deere to pile it up next to his woodshed.  It will have to age for a year and then he will be well on his way to having enough firewood for the winter of 2014.

Gerry and Annette (Bob's better half) were out there with their work gloves on and between they wore me to a frazzle.  They helped load the logs onto Bob's tractor and I know we couldn't have finished the job without them.  

After Bob moved all his wood he decided to push all the old wood and branches on my property into a huge pile.  The plan is for him to burn it this winter once there is snow on the ground.  It is quite a large pile and I would be a little leery of burning it, but Bob says he does it all the time.  This will save me a lot of hard work and time, so I am happy to have him try it.

His John Deere tractor really made short work of moving the logs and then piling up the old logs and branches.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, I sure would like to have a tractor like his, but it would sit idle 99% of the time and rust out.  Bob will use his for plowing snow and a number of other tasks around here.

  

 The larger logs are from a 90ft hemlock tree that was cut down three years ago.  All of our hemlock trees have died due to a blight and it was sad to see them go.  They provided shade to the area and were nesting places for the squirrels and birds.  Now all are dead and we still have 10+ more to cut down.  Nobody wants hemlock for firewood, so it is difficult to get rid of it.

Last night Gerry, Cassie, Jack, Elizabeth, Lexi and I went to the local soft serve ice cream stand.  It is only open on weekends, so it is a sure sign that fall is just around the corner.  They do have the best ice cream around and you know that Gerry always has her eyes open for a good ice cream cone or Dairy Queen Blizzard.  The 2nd blizzard is only 99 cents, so you know where we went this evening.  I am full to the gills as they say and will save the blizzard for another night.

 

 Yes, it was that cold that Lexi needed a blanket to keep warm.  We woofed down the ice cream and got back in the cars to keep warm.  By the time we got back to the cabin the temp had fallen to 46F.  Hey, it's still summer.  We are getting cheated.  We did turn on the motorhome furnace and slept out there so we were fine.

That was our exciting weekend, how was yours?

Logging & Road Construction

The other day I had a number of trees cut down so I could widen the lane in front of the cabin to make it easier to get the motorhome out of here.  The new motorhome is a tight fit on the lane, so it was necessary to cut the trees.

The tree cutter cut most of the trees into fireplace lengths and then placed them along the road or in piles.  My neighbor, Bob, came down with his John Deere tractor with a front loader and we moved a number of the pieces of wood onto a pile near my shed.  Hopefully I can split them into smaller pieces to burn in the cabin fireplace.  Jack, our SIL, has a friend with a log splitter and may be able to borrow it this Sunday.  Oh boy, more hard work.

We don't like to be here when it gets cold, but it seems like something always comes up and we leave later than we would like.  A couple years ago we were caught in a 14" snowstorm that took down electric lines and many trees.  By the time the power came on 5-6 days later and the road was cleared it turned very cold.  We burnt all our wood and then some of our neighbor's supply, with their permission of course.  So, that is why we try and get ready for the cold, even if we aren't here.

There we two small trees that block me from turning the motorhome sharply so I can make a three point turn and they were cut down last week.  I left them with about a 4ft stump so Bob could push them over with his tractor.  That turned out to be a bigger and more difficult job than imagined.  One tree had large roots and they held the stump firmly in place.  We lost power due to a storm rolling through earlier and I had to start the generator in the motorhome to get electricity to my new electric power saw.  Once I cut 4 of the roots, it was easier to remove the stump.

I think I can.

Just push them into the woods.

Goodbye 2nd stump

 It was dinner time by the time we finished up this portion of the work and Bob took his tractor and rushed on home at 3mph.  It's a super tractor and I wish I had one to use up here.  It would keep me busy for a couple weeks pulling up shrubbery and small trees.  Plus I could grade the pad where the motorhome sits and a lot of other small tasks.

The power came on just after we finished up, so it was great timing so we could have dinner.  I grilled a steak outside and Gerry prepared the side dishes and we had a very enjoyable dinner on the screened in porch.  Life is good.