60 ft Tree vs 16 in Chainsaw (the saw won...)

...with of course, Joe wielding the saw.

And for this project, he enlisted the aid of a big bucket lift and a tough little Toyota pickup. But really, they were all just supporting players: the real star of the show was the 16 inch Stihl workhorse that turned tree into wood.

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Chapter 1:

A little over a year ago, on February 15th, 2011, Joe and Mick took down the large willow tree in front of G + M's house. The tree was no longer safe and needed to come down. They rented a bucket lift, then Joe fired up the Stihl and started sawing.

The bucket lift had a reach of 50 feet when fully extended; Joe needed every bit of that for this job.

Joe had a bird's eye view

Branch by branch, the willow came down

This was a good sized bucket lift, able to be towed with a pickup

Not much left of the willow tree at this point

the tree had become wood and branches on the ground

*note: all of the chapter 1 pictures were taken by Mick*

Chapter 2:

Yesterday the 16 inch Stihl, ably assisted by Joe and Mick and an '80s Toyota pickup, finished up the job by cutting through the GIANT-diameter stump that remained.

Joe made a continuous cut around the diameter of the stump, then he and Mick wrapped a chain around the upper section and used the pickup to loosen and then pull the top section of the stump off. It all went pretty smoothly. The saw took awhile to make the all-the-way-around the stump cut, but it was certainly up to the job. The pickup had little trouble pulling the stump-top free, and then easily pulled it off the base, guided some by Joe standing behind and using a long, thick branch as a lever.

Everyone present was shocked when we realized just how rotten this tree had been!! How fortunate it had remained upright long enough to be safely cut down!

Top view of the the top section of the stump, pulled off its base

View from the other side, showing the small amount of tree that remained around the diameter. The interior was completely rotten

close-up of the top portion of the stump

close up of the stump base

Mick cleaned out all the rotted matter, several wheelbarrows full, and added it to the garden compost. Then Gail blew away the remaining bits and painted the freshly-cut base with a growth retardant.

Joe's 16 inch Stihl ROCKS!

The End.

Tim-brrr Two!

Massive old cottonwood trees line the ditch along the back of G+Ms' yard. Recently one tree started leaning into the yard enough that it was dangerous. Tree removal experts were consulted and it was decided that the conditions were precarious and unpredictable enough to necessitate pulling (rather than cutting) the tree down.

Cushioned by the ash trees in its path, the cottonwood's impact with the ground was remarkably gentle. No ground-shaking thud, no giant "boom!" Plenty of cracking and small booms though: it was a big, heavy tree.

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after the fall:







the cottonwood's stump

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before:

after:

Tim-brrr!

It was time for the willow tree growing in front of the Cat House to come down, so Joe fired up his chainsaw on Saturday and got the job done.


Mick and Joe are ready for the job

Joe had Mick paint some guidelines on the trunk to help him place his cuts:



deciding on the details of the job

the sawdust is flying!

lots of cleanup to do now...

the man and his saw

Joe Bunyan

This past spring Joe got a new chainsaw, a nice one. His previous saws were the cheezy-el cheapo grade, and after years of putting up with their shortcomings, he was ready for a little quality in the design and workmanship of the tool. He is thrilled with the new saw.

Joe has always wanted to try doing some chainsaw work from a bucket lift. That opportunity arrived yesterday, when he needed to take down 3 rather tall Russian Olive trees in tight quarters in a subdivision.

almost done: russian olive branches piled everywhere, awaiting their trip to the branch dump

The job went flawlessly, after just a few hours Joe had most of the 3 trees on the ground. Leaving what could be cut from the ground for another day, Joe then hitched up the lift and took it over to friends' house with a much larger yard and quite a few tree-trimming needs. Spent a few more hours running up and down in the bucket, happily running his chainsaw. A fun, profitable, and useful pursuit for the day, thanks to: Joe Bunyan!

Gulf Coast Vacation

Joe and I just returned from a week-long vacation to Orange Beach, AL, made possible by Nita, who generously covered costs. A Fall trip to the Gulf Coast has long been a tradition for her, although, for various reasons, she'd pretty much written the trip off this year...

until, that is, she saw the Jimmy Buffet concert several weeks ago...the scenes of the sand and the water, the setting sun...well, it all made her realize that she REALLY DID want to spend a few autumn days there after all...

And so, she made it happen. Joe, Pat and I accompanied her, and we had a great time! Absolutely perfect weather, no crowds anywhere, and plenty to see and do to keep us busy. The days were clear, sunny, mostly breezy, and not too hot. The nights were mild, and a slightly open balcony door afforded us the sounds of the gentle waves to fall asleep to. 


We stayed in a lovely condo in this building (white one, on the left), thanks to the generosity of the owners, good friends of Pat's. Right on the beach, the condo's balcony provides a marvelous view to all sorts of interesting happenings. We saw dolphins swimming close to shore most days, and pelicans feeding on schools of fish and flying in groups so close to the water that their wingtips would occasionally dip in. During our stay there were a whole lot of large dragonflies swooping about in their mating rituals,  interesting to watch as a sky-full zipped and buzzed back and forth. At dusk they were joined in their swooping by bats, quite a few of them, most not much larger than the dragonflies, but without any of the buzzing. If I hadn't been watching the dragonflies, I'm not sure I would have noticed the bats.

The people watching was endless as well, there were always at least a few people swimming,  strolling along water's edge or engaged in some pursuit or other in the sand. 

We spent an afternoon on the beach, and the the four of us had a nice, relaxing time

We ate out at a nice variety of local spots, but also enjoyed a few simple meals at the condo, which turned out to be great fun and tasty as well. We had fresh begnets one morning that were simply delicious, pizza, sourdough toast, and a couple of finger food meals, all very tasty.

We did quite a bit of just driving around the area, seeing what there was to see. 

We also spent the better part of a day at a couple of the outlet stores in nearby Foley, getting Joe some new shoes and most amazingly, giving me an incredible clothing make-over courtesy of Pat. She filled the fitting room with so many choices I was almost overwhelmed, but not quite, as I managed to leave the store with several bags stuffed with outfits. Can't say I've ever done anything like that, maybe an elementary-school era trip for back-to-school...It was total fun, and somehow I managed to get it all packed and home safely :)

Here is a view from the condo balcony:

Such a beautiful beach.

Unfortunate location of the slide in the condo next door's pool, audio dynamics project the noise generated (read: screaming!) as kids go down the slide right into the balconies next door. On the beach side the screams are barely audible. Big, big problem for those affected.


This picture show the size of the condo next door (the one with the slide). Size-wise, it totally dwarfs the condo we stayed in!

 
And as to the spill?? We did find tarballs when we walked along the shoreline, the largest we saw were about the size of a silver dollar. There were squirt bottles of diluted Dawn for removing any oily residue, prominently available on the condo's beach access boardwalk. And these signs stuck in the sand at the beach end of those walks:

We also saw what we assume to be the BP clean-up crews (sans the white haz-mat suits I always see them wearing on news show appearances) on a couple of days, working right in front of the condo. This picture was taken the morning after we spent the afternoon on the beach--in those chairs behind the crew trailer! 

Didn't do too well with my photography this trip, meant to get a picture of the bright red Charger we rented and document some of the restaurants and other places we visited...so my apologies for missing a few of the highlights. It was a fabulous vacation, a great trip to the beach!!

"Toes in the water, ass in the sand!"

Early June Flowers: Slideshow

4th Street Party--January 2010

Here are a few pictures taken at BC's wine and cheese get-together (held 1-2-10). The photos are all courtesy of Trevor, I did not get around to taking any myself.


Pat and Tammy

LeeAnn (don't know how she spells her name) and Trevor

Tawny and Misty (Wade's wife) in foreground. Anthony (Tawny's husband) is seated in front of the door, not a good likeness, but this is the only picture he is in.

LeeAnn and Joe

3 of the kids goofing around:  Ariel (Tawny's oldest daughter, 5 next month), Kadyn (Wade's oldest, 6) and her brother Tyler (4)

Longer view of the scene, I'm on the futon with the kids, Wade is playing with his new ipod.

The gang. Ariel is in the foreground, her younger sister Carmella (2) is on the futon, and Brandon (Wade's youngest, 11 mos.) is under BC's chair

It was a fun party!

Trip to Agate Fossil Beds

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of a beautiful November day and take a drive to the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in western Nebraska. (Click here for a link to the NPS page) It turned out to be a spectacular trip, warm sunny weather, great scenery on the drive, and lots of interesting things to see.


We retraced part of the route we took on our trip last week to Fort Laramie, heading north through Wyoming on 1-25, driving about 50 miles further yesterday before heading east on US 20. As you can see in this picture, a few patches of snow were still around from last week's storm. Temperatures were in the 40s/50s, and it wasn't nearly as windy (or as clear) as it was on our trip last week.


The fossil beds at the monument are located in these two hills, and they contain the bones of many mammels that lived in this area during the Miocene epoch, about 19 million years ago.
The visitor's center has exhibits of excavated and assembled skeletons of many of the animals represented in the fossil beds, along with examples of what the beds actually look like, which are preserved jumbles of bones several feet deep. The skeletons are all quite bizzare-looking, with obvious similarities to modern day mammels, but enough differences to make them instantly look alien.
Here are some representations of what these animals might have looked like, from the brochure handed out at the monument:


After time travelling in the visitor's center, we decided to take a short hike and check out the area's current conditions. These sobering reminders were in evidance throughout the monument:

Good advice when its not too cold or too high for snakes...

We hiked part way up to the fossil hills, on a paved trail that crossed the Niobrara River and its adjoining wetlands.

Niobrara River


another view of the river, with monument service buildings in the distance


The late afternoon sun enhanced the golden tones of the landscape


a landscape full of seeds


and evidence of its residents, like this hoof print (an antelope?)


and this burrow entrance (pocket gopher? or snake?)


and this anthill

Not surprisingly for a warm sunny afternoon, there were clouds of bugs near the river, and lots of birds everywhere. Otherwise we didn't see any wildlife on the trail, including any rattlesnakes, which of course we were keeping an eye out for.

We enjoyed our time at Agate Fossil Beds, but wanted to leave early enough to allow us to make most of the drive (south to I-80) through Nebraska in daylight. The route took us through Scottsbluff, and we wanted to get a look at the area. The entire trip (NE hwys 29 and 71) was gorgeous, and we timed it perfectly, with daylight fading as we got on the interstate and headed for home. Roundtrip, Joe drove about 490 miles yesterday.


NE 29, the road stretching out to the horizon

"Bring me the horizon"
--Captain Jack Sparrow