Day 365 - Almost Too Late for This

Well, I think it's I think it's time to take that tree down. See all that wind? I don't either. Finally. I am learning so much as the days go by on this property. This whole adventure on this property has just been it really has been educational. Uh it's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun. And if you enjoy what you're doing, is that really work? Right. Ah, there's so much so much dust on the screen. All right. So, these three one, two. Well, hello, Mr. Nlly. Nice of you to join me. There's three pines here that have been hammered with beetles for the past 6 months. And I don't know if you saw the I guess the lens is kind of wide. I don't know if you saw the first one, but there's no bark on it. the trees just sitting there barkless and these aren't much better. This one was losing bark late last fall and it's all the bark's pretty much done completely gone. Uh this one shortly after that one it started. Uh both of these have the limbs leaning off and the the trees themselves are leaning a little south and the limbs are also only on the south side majority on the south side. So I need to fel them in the south direction. I've been delaying this because the majority of our wind comes from the south. So, I don't want to be fighting the wind. And then also, it's been very wet this season. Well, this year rather, because it is still the later part of the wet season, and they're going to have to fall on the driveway. So, I didn't want to do this when it was super wet and tear up the driveway. Uh, so there's that. I also, like I said, have to get rid of that one over there. That one's going to be easy peasy. No big deal. There's one way up in the driveway right near the circle turnaround tree. It's a big one. It's It's probably 20 in in diameter, maybe a little bigger than that. And it needs to come down, too. But it's got a very tight window to fall. And the wind is coming from the direction right now that it needs to fall into. So, I'm not going to do that one today. But these these two and then that one tree over there that's got, you know, uh it's got a split. So, sisters, whatever, whatever that's called. Where are you at? Right over there. That one's got to come down too as well. Mr. Nllie, I hate to tell you this, buddy, but you got to go inside when I'm dropping these trees, cuz you'll just think it's a big stick and want to get it. Nollie has turned into the uh he is not the alpha. Grace is the alpha, but Nollie is just the big teddy bear. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] [Laughter] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] All right. Well, came to take down two and ended up taking down three. Um, it was an accident and by the time I realized I was cutting the wrong tree. I already had the chainsaw one bar in. So, the plan was, like I said, to take these two down. I was going to start with the this one here that's got the most bark removed. And then from that tree, it's the next tree going towards the shop. That was stuck in my mind. First cut, next tree closest to the shop. Okay. So, I get up here to cut this one. I look up and I think or I I see that if I take this one down first, it's going to knock into a couple of these branches and possibly come down on me. But if I take this one down first, nothing's in the way and nothing will fall. So, at the very last second, I was already setting up to cut this one. Very last second, I switched over to this one. I'm so focused on this tree. I get it cut. Everything's fine. It drops. Yes. Success. Immediately the the the the thought pops in my head. It's the next tree closest to the shop. So I go this way and I make I'm I'm on my top cut for the uh wedge. Top cut one bar in and I think wait a minute. What the heck? This has got all the bark on it. Oh, you dummy. I'm cutting the wrong tree. So then I paused for a second thinking, well I could just leave it and come back. No, these have to come down anyway. So you might as well take the time and finish this cut. Don't leave it half cut and walk away. That's stupid. So, I cut that one down. Uh, all of these are coming down anyway, so it doesn't really matter. But I just had it stuck in my head and I was so focused on getting this done safely that I forgot that I swapped my order of operations at the very last second. So, it should have been one and two. It ended up being 1, two, and three. Not the end of the world. Like I said, uh, all of these fell right where I wanted them to fall. Uh, this hardwood tree, ah, the sun's in my eyes. I can't really tell about what leaves those are to tell what tree that is. Uh the lower one/3 of it kind of kind of got hammered, but it'll be all right. I got to get this cleared now so we can actually drive out of [Music] here. Slow down. [Music] Good lord. It ain't what you see. Got nice clothes and late night shows. Boogie down at the bar. Funnels and homemade boos. But it always goes too far. Shooting h crack up jack. You can take off now. Don't look back. But hey, don't you want to play? I have to say that this particular setup right here is it's just it makes moving logs a lot of fun. This coyote grapple, this root rake grapple really digs into the roots for like um stuff with shallow roots like um Chinese privets. Chinese privets are no match for this thing right here. And this box blade, this is a uh 5-ft box blade from Bad Boy. And it is the best thing I found or best thing that I have anyway for counterbalance uh for picking up logs and such. I didn't clean this all the way up because I'm losing daylight and honestly it's still a little bit too muddy on the uh side of the driveway. puppies. You excited to be able to roam around right now? Go get that stick. No matter what we throw, dogs are going to go eat it or try to eat it. Anyway, so plan was, of course, to uh drop these basically on top of Jamie's already burn uh already established burn pile. So, don't have to move them far at all to keep the burning going, which is nice. This one right here, I think I'm going to leave it for a little while because I'll go across it. Oh, I thought the dog was going to go across it. This is a handy little bridge because some of this standing water in this ditch is um they haven't figured this out yet. Once they figure this out, they'll be using it. They're These dogs are extremely agile. Uh anyway, this is a handy little bridge. It doesn't rock at all. It's pounded into the ground right there. I'm going to leave it for the time being. And well, honestly, I forgot all about that one. I was too concerned about getting this one out. And then I realized that this is just all tore up. And inside the bark right there is all kinds of larvae and stuff. So, I don't want to move it that far. Just leave it there until time comes to either mill it or throw it on the burn pile over there or whatever. But yeah, huge mess. Nothing new. all this will uh be burnt. One thing that I am so glad I didn't screw up on. Totally forgot about is this is our water line right here. And it's about 20 or so inches in the ground. But I don't know if you can see that that deep spot right there. That was where one of the branches really dug in. There's another one right there. Really dug in right next to the water line as a tree fell. And I'm thinking, "Oh no. Oh no. What happened?" Or please, please don't be, you know, broken on the water. But um no water's coming out. So it's just standing water that was already here. That was a that was a moment. She's eating sawdust. You eat everything, dog. You eat everything, Gracie. Hey, can I show you guys how to cross the bridge? Come on. Let's cross the bridge. They are so agile. Grace will follow me. I guarantee it. Oh, told you. Told you. Good gracy. Scooter, I don't think you got it, buddy. I don't think you got it. You going down, Mr. Nollie? You going to go down, Mr. Nlly? Watch this. See if they follow me. Hey, fun police. This dude, man, he he doesn't do any harm, but like anytime these guys get riled up, this little ankle biter is like, "You're not allowed to have fun near me." So he just runs around doing that crap. One more time across the bridge. Or is that sawdust really yummy? This dog eats though. They both do. They eat everything. It's just sawdust, dude. All right. Whatever. You ready to go inside, bud? Let's go inside. Sun is setting on a beautiful beautiful day down at the bar and homemade boos, but it always goes too far. Shooting pract. But hey, don't you want to play? [Music] Hold on, sugar. Why you look so sad? Come on now, mama. Ain't nothing here so bad. We got fast cars, movies. Party.