Stump Removals and Yellow Jackets

Now that we have the trees cut down, branches piled up and wood stacked, it was time to remove the old tree stumps.  Normally I would just let the stumps rot out over time and not worry about them.  However, two of the larger stumps were close to the cabin and were infested with carpenter ants and that isn't a good thing with a wooden house.  They had to go.

Three other stumps were next to the lane and caused it to be a narrow path at a critical point for getting the motorhome back on the highway.  It was time to remove them also so we can widen the lane a few feet and make entry easier for big vehicles.

We received a flyer in the mail the other day advertising a discount on stump removal so I gave the company a call on Monday.  The owner/operator said he could be there on Tuesday and do the job, so it was a go from me on the stump removal.

The job went according to plan except for a few glitches. First, he had wheel bearings fail on the stump grinder and had to have them repaired.  No problem, just be there a little later.  Then when he started to cut the stumps with a chain saw he ran into a nest of Yellow Jackets and it was a huge one.  The owner was stung 4-5 times and his helper 7-8 times and they were jumping around flailing their arms trying to get away from the Yellow Jackets.  I gave the helper some Benadryl to help with the stings, but he was still feeling the pain for a while.

All in all we had 7 stumps ground up into piles of wood chips.  It was neat watching the machine do it's work.  The spinning blade was about 18-20 inches of cold steel that was revolving with blurring speed.  The whole machine moved about 4-5 ft and swiveled around so the operator could move the blade as it cut into the wood.  

Holy smoke, this thing really does it's job.

Making short work of a 16 inch stump.

I took some before and after pictures to give you an idea of what this machine can do in a short time period.  

Stump 1 before (3 ft across)

Stump 1 being ground up

Stump 2

Stump 2 after

 The only task left now is to move the wood chips into one pile and let them rot over time.  They will be moved away from the cabin so as to not create a nest for the carpenter ants.  One neighbor up here asked if they could get a truck load of the chips for their cabin and will be here soon to get them.  The more they take, the less work for us.  Win win situation.

Now I have to take care of the Yellow Jacket problem so we can finish widening the lane.  I used a can of wasp spray yesterday and that didn't even phase them.   I raked away the brush cover for the nest and it is quite large, so gasoline will have to be doused on the nest and then set afire.  

Always something to do up here at the cabin, but we've had perfect weather for these jobs and that makes it a little easier.  The firewood has come in handy the last couple mornings since it's been down into the mid 40s and quite cool.  We've been burning the wood in the cabin fireplace to warm it up.  Refreshing to say the least.

That was our day, 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.