Open Vistas

We're still being slowed by the need for dumpsters to get emptied and returned.  However, to keep us jumping, we got a call from our friendly, neighborhood Forester yesterday.  Timber operations are starting.  If you remember, or even if you don't, we posted an overhead map of the property that shows what areas we're clearing and other areas that we're thinning.

Red - Property lines
Blue - All trees cleared
Yellow - Thinning 40% of the trees

Though it wasn't our original intent to cut the trees, Neta's Uncle Donald had planted the trees (some himself, some he paid to have planted) and hoped to one day have a little nest egg from them.  We agreed on a plan that was both palatable to us, as it pertains to the look of the property, and provided Donald with a nice payback for his investment.

Judging from what's been cut in less than a full day, it's really going to open things up, especially providing some better views of the ponds and making the overall farm look much bigger.

Neta took this photo from the top of the hill in the little pond.  Looks like a golf course out there.

There used to be a "woods" across that bridge.

The machinery the logging crew uses.

Below we've added a couple of videos of the operation.  It's an interesting operation to watch.  The tree cutter has a spinning saw blade at the bottom front of the machine.  It moves in, cuts the tree off at ground level and holds it with a claw on top, then it grabs another tree and cuts it, and another.  It can cut and hold 3 or 4 trees at a time, before dropping them into a clear area.

The loader runs the tree through the machine to strip the limbs, then positions it for a saw to cut the unusable top part off (where it's either too skinny or forked), then finally it turns and loads it onto the truck or drops it in a pile depending on what they're loading at the time.

Meanwhile, Neta and I try to go out to the farm at least once a day now to see any changes that have happened.  Yesterday Terrell went with us.  He and I pulled up the anchors that were still in the ground from when the trailer was in front of the Cabin.

Pulling up anchors with the tractor

Terrell and Robert had cleaned up most of the stuff where the trailer had been sitting.  He pulled one anchor out of the ground with his truck and I pulled out about half of them with the tractor on Monday.  The only thing remaining were the rest of the anchors, some disconnected power cables and the power pole that the power company said wasn't theirs.

Robert found this pretty lady was under some debris where the trailer once stood.

Pulling the cabling off the power pole.

The video below is me using the tractor to pull down a disconnected power cable.  The pole ended up partially coming down as the ground around it was soft.

We'll be interested to see what the next Google Earth view of the farm looks like.

One more thing, the logging company usually scatters the leftover debris, but we've asked them to create a pile, out in the open, for each area they cut.  It will make it easier than us having to gather it up ourselves from all over.  In a little over a year, we'll be able to burn those piles, each of which will be the size of a house.  Everyone is invited, in Fall of 2017, to the biggest bonfire/S'Mores-making party since Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over the lantern.