June 11 2014

Last Post

Sadly the windows and stone wall wont be done before I leave but I did square
Roger up and told him there was no rush to finish since I wouldnt be around.  The
good news is that he said it didnt take as long as he thought it would so it only cost
me 300$ vice 500$.  SWEET!

With it starting to rain pretty much since daylight I couldnt do my last bit of yard work
and nt sure ill even be able to do it tomorrow.

Bill called me first thing this momring asking if I still wanted to do my food plot
down back and so we went down for that.  He got it down to soil in about an hour
and I quickly got seed into the ground with the next few days beniig rain.

We will see how it looks in the fall.

From my tree stand.

June 4 2014

Most of the day was spent slitting wood.  In between I did go down back and get all the big rocks off the roadway and also made sure all the Posted signs were in good shape.

I have quite a bit of wood now.  Nearly 2 full rows and still have 1 bin of wood left to split.

Because I knew I had plenty I asked Ralph if Mary wold like some extra and he said sure so I took a bin of wood to her.  Should give her and extra 1.5 to 2 cords.

Bill came early today and the driver came and took the rest of my logs and half my pulp.  So all I have left is 1/2 a load of pulp.  Bill took the skidder off today and the chopper will go Sat.  He will be back Friday with the mini-X to clean up the lot.

Late afternoon I went to Bills to get some kindling they had left over from the mill.  When does free wood end up being worth 450$ in about a second?

When you bounce a piece of it off your rear window...OUCH!!!

June 3 2014

LOGGING COMPLETE!!!  Just need to get the logs hauled, a little clean up and then take the tractors out.

Looking from the top of the south ridge.

South ridge to north ridge.

Looking south along the top.

Looking north along the top.

Looking down towards Stock Farm.

The south ridge.

From the north ridge.

 And of course now that the season is over, the turkeys start to get together in big packs.

  

June 1 2014

The 1st of June already!

I started out trying to get the rest of the trim off the living room and bedroom windows and found that there was no header so my claw went right though the dry wall.

Here is how it looked when I had it all off.

There is only about 1/4" board around the edges and then he put another frame board 4 inches out to help tack the molding to.  No insulation either.

He had 12 nails per long side on each piece.  The nails were 3" long.  Which explains why t was so hard to get them off.

 I went up to take some of the gravel stone Bill had at the end of the right of way and went and through some in my mud hole.  Not perfect but better.

This afternoon I stated to split wood and stack it in the shed.  This was my end result.  1 1/2 stacks down and 3 stacks left.  If I keep at it slowly I should have this all split by Friday.

I took a small break between sessions and went up to the food plots to see how they looked.  They are actually in good shape. 

The deer are tearing up the stump and the ground around it where we had a salt block last year.

They also are making a nice runway between the 2 salt blocks.  The stump from the last picture is at the top/center of this picture.

Here is the other salt block.  It is located in the second food plot and I put it on a rock.  See how they are tearing up the ground?

When I was done splitting I stacked all the wood and this is how the shed looks now.  There is near 2 cord I put in there today.

May 31 2014

Another early morning for the last day of turkey season.  Chased a tom around for quite a while but couldnt get him to come in.  Switched to shotgun when I came out of my blind to stalk better but to no avail.  I did see 3 jakes though.

I then went down to see what Lisa Taylor has been doing with horses and kids with autism.

Quite a program mixing saving horses and combining it with helping kids with disabilities.


This is Lisa's personal horse, Bryne.

When I got home I started to do some little things around the house but noticed that Brad had been around and went up to see what he did.

He did 4 test holes on the south ridge.  There is some topsoil but under it looks to be pure sand.

May 29 2014

This morning I went out a tried for turkey #2.  I nearly got him!  He came right in again from Johns and I thought he was going to walk right in front of my stand but alas...He went on the back side where I cant see but he was within 20 yards. He was gobbling and drumming but I couldnt get him to come out in the open.  I tired for an hour and a half but he wouldnt come back up the hill.

I have 2 more days to get him so Im not panicking yet.

After that my project for the day was to put down rust inhibitor on the rusty spots of the roof.  Which ended up being all the lower roofs and the backside of the garage.  So now the roof is ready to be painted some time next week. It was the perfect day to do this but boy am I tired!

Ralph let me know the windows will be in mid next week and they will install late next week or the following week.  Cant wait!

Other than that the only thing I did was get the final rocks up on the lot since the road had a nice day to dry and I also cleaned up from the apple tree I took down.

Bill had a great day and the only things left are a clump on the top right, the big tree on the property line that Jed came over and asked if Bill could take down.  But Im going to talk to Bill now because thats going to leave a big hole looking over to Jeds and Im not sure I want to do that.  Bill also has some hitches to bring down as well as some chopping.

 Looking up from the bank edge with the house at my back.  This is the last of the trees to cut down.

Looking towards Jeds line with my back to the  birches in the previous pix.

Looking south from the top northern edge.

Looking down from the southern line.  Nice view!

Looking up the southern line.  The leaning over maple in front tip over once Bill cut all the pines away from it.  It literally was being supported by the pines.

Looking up the southern line from the bottom of the hill.

Looking north from the top.

Near final view!

The log driver is holding us up right now and may not be here till Tues.  Bill has a huge pile of pulp to make room for the remaining stuff.

Brad stopped by today and said he would come and do test digs to see what was there.  Now that Bill was done with the north ridge he didnt realize how big it really was so looks like this may be a go.  He dropped his excavator off tonight and will dig Friday or Saturday.

May 28 2014

I was busy today as usual but dont feel like I got a lot accomplished.

I was up at 4am to go and sit for turkeys down on the flats.  Complete bust.  Couldnt even get one to gobble.  Now I only have 2 days left to get the last bird since Ill be going out early Sat morning to see the grand-kids.  Sorry for the change in plans but I guess Beck had a rough week and asked if I could come out there.

About 8am I walked back to the house and Bill already had a truck there taking the big pines.  Filled that baby up!  Bill had to help crane the big logs up on the truck.  Looks like he will have a pulp truck in tomorrow and then maybe another full log load which will give me a total of 6.

I spent the next 4 hours doing my security stuff while Bill worked on the hill side bringing down hitches as well as cutting more trees.  With any luck, as long as he doesnt get any interruptions he plans to be done by Friday.  The logs may not be off the lot but they will be down to the header and chopped ready to ship.  Wooohooo!

Looking up from the garage.

Looking towards Jeds line.  The only thing left is that loner pine behind the skidder and then about 8 more behind it.  Bill also has to do the remaining 8 on the little bank near the apple trees.

Looking up north-west near Jeds line.

The only thing left on the north side of the ridge is about 6 trees just behind the house. 

While he finished that I went down back and York raked for the final time the log roads.  I just need to walk it and push the big rocks off the shoulders but other then that, that road should be good for some time to come until we get Bill in to log again and then he will fix and maintain the roads as he did before.

I did not hear back from Brad yet so I left a message asking him to contact me by Friday if he was still interested in the sand.  Doesnt appear like he is but thats fine.  I have Don Lambert, Eddie Bennett, Bernie Bolton.  Or Ill go right to the source up at Chester Farms.  Chester himself.  He needs a lot of sand for his pastures and I have all he needs.

Thats it for today.  Another 8pm dinner and then a shower and bed to get up at 4am.  Gobble!  Gobble!  Ill be on the power line the last 2 days.