Haulin’ logs

During the 30+ years we’ve lived in our home (on 3 acres) we’ve thinned out a lot of trees, mostly scrub cedar. Woodsman that I am, I chainsawed them into logs and stacked them, thinking someone would want them for some purpose. Wrong. They’ve been sitting where I stacked them for years.
Today I started getting rid of them… with the help of Minty Fresh, the family pickup truck. It was always my hope I could drive the truck down into the woods and haul shit out with logs at the top of the list. But having no experience driving off-road in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, I’ve been reluctant to tackle the rough terrain and steep-ish grade. Until today.I flipped the lock-out hubs to LOCKED… put the low-range gear lever in “granny low” and eased down the hill. I scraped a tree once or twice but the pickup is so beat up you’d never find the spot. I loaded up the extra-long bed with logs and made it back to the road without a hitch (although I do have a hitch).
Aside from my lack of off-road/4WD experience, the big obstacle to this project was nobody wanted the logs. But as (bad) luck would have it, my friend George has some big-ass brush piles as a result of last spring’s tornado… and he offered to let me add my logs to his piles which he will safely burn.I’ve got maybe half a dozen more truck loads but it’s a labor of love and great exercise. And if I role the pickup… a great blog post. [Photos]

This is how you adiós a brush pile

A few years ago I spent several months cutting and hauling brush. The hardest work I’ve ever done. I recently had a few big cedar trees dropped and limbed and decided to bring in some pros. This is how you adios brush piles. The guy driving the front-loader (?) could make it walk and talk. I think our job was their first of ten scheduled for the day. And it’s hot.

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Wildlife: Copperhead

SnakeThere are lots of positives to living on a few acres of wooded land. It’s quiet and peaceful. No traffic. The sort of environment where you find deer, rabbits, turtles, wild turkeys and… snakes. (shudder) I am not fond of snakes.

This was found at the bottom of a pile of brush that the lads are clearing out today. I wasn’t there when Mark picked this copperhead up and declined his offer to “milk” the venom.

Following this little show-and-tell, the snake was dispatched with a spade. Yes, I know there’s never just one snake. [larger photo]