BX Takes on the Tornado!

[BXpanded]

BX takes on the Tornado!

Last week I had a visit from the guy in the picture below. (Pic was taken by someone with a cell phone)

Came directly to my house of course! Dropped torrential rain, hail the size of tennis balls and apparently sticks, leaves and trees!

The hail destroyed the garden, damaged the cars, killed the shingled roof and stripped half the leaves from the trees. Fortunately, the BX was in the garage! Even more fortunate, the storms guidance system was apparently faulty so it couldn't find any "Storm Magnet" soft targets like mobile home parks so no one in the area was seriously hurt.

The neighbors lost several good sized trees. As I would expect, the biggest ones fell into my yard which then made them my trees! The F1 tornado twisted off a big Poplar in my back yard and left me a 30 foot tall snag to remove.
Pictures can't do justice but I've attached some anyway

Then the clean up started. My family teamed up with the neighbor's family and we went after both yards. The BX got a real work out. There were huge quantities of brush to move, piles of firewood were hauled to another neighbor to give away at church, and then logs were hauled off after the firewood piles got too large. Anyone need some firewood?

With a little help from my friends, and with the BX doing the heavy lifting, the bulk of the clean up was done in a single day. Working solo, the BX and I got most of the fine clean up done in one more day!
I'll link some videos for anyone that might be interested.
There are still stumps to remove. I'll start on those soon and update the pictures as it progresses.

 

[milkman]

What a mess, looks like you had some first class help. I'm sure that BH thumb paid for itself in short order.

 

[red4now]

Ever notice how the equipment always seems to be much more appreciated at times like this - especially from some of those who were somewhat skeptical when you made the purchase? Not thinking of anyone in particular... ;-)

 

[thavil]

Wow Harry, what a mess!! Glad no one was hurt during the tornado or during the cleanup. Thank you for the pictures, always like looking at what these tractors can accomplish. Also glad that you business wasn't hurt during the storm, I still have stuff to buy from you!!

 

[Slatecreek]

That looks to be quite the mess you have, but it is amazing how having help from good people and good machinery can clean a mess like that up in somewhat short order. Without the good help you had it would probably take more than a month of Sundays to put a dent in that. Hopefully your house wasn't damaged by the storm and nobody was hurt. Looks like your products got a good workout. Great pictures and can't wait to see the stump removal pictures. Great work and wish you the best.

 

[BigD23]

That one was close...Glad no one was hurt...Thanks for sharing the pics...How long are the forks on your FEL bucket? Weight of the forks approx?

Don

 

[thavil]

That one was close...Glad no one was hurt...Thanks for sharing the pics...How long are the forks on your FEL bucket? Weight of the forks approx?

Don

Here are the specs on the forks that Harry is using Pallet and Brush Forks.

 

[have_blue]

I guess you taught that tornado a thing or 2.

 

[BigD23]

Here are the specs on the forks that Harry is using Pallet and Brush Forks.[/QUOTE

Thanks thavil...

 

[BXpanded]

I guess you taught that tornado a thing or 2.

I admit, we looked at the clean-up day as a bit of a victory!

It's pretty bewildering when you walk outside just after a storm like this. The amount of work to be done could be overwhelming for the average (non-tractoring) homeowner.

We took a few days to let the ground dry and to get our act together. I sharpened the chainsaw and even put together a couple of gadgets to help with the work. Also, arranged for the "Help" (two sons, 22 and 26 and the neighbors and their two 19 year old nephews) to be there for the day.

The day went extremely well! Everyone worked well together and really didn't have to do a lot of hard physical work. That was great since it was over 90 degrees and the humidity was outta' sight! As the neighbor and I cut, the young guys pulled the brush away from the saws and tossed the firewood lengths on a pallet. The BX scooped it all up and hauled it away. The young bucks were able to spend much of the day just shooting the bull and goofing off. All in all, it wasn't an unpleasant day.

Without the tractor it would have been a much different story. As an example, the neighbors on the other side employed a tree service just a few hours after the storm. I think they were afraid they might not be able to get anyone for quite a while if they didn't get on the list quickly. The tree service brought in 6 guys, 3 trucks and 2 chippers at almost $1,400 a day for 2 days. The service cleaned up considerably less than half as much as we did. The stumps and piles of firewood length logs are still there and the neighbors spent another two days on the fine clean up. Obviously, we would have included their place in our effort had they not already employed the service and had the work done. The tree guys had to hand-carry all the limbs and logs. The neighbor spent around $2,800 and worked harder than we did. We cleaned up more than twice as much, did a better job, and used about 4 gallons of fuel and a gallon of gasoline for a total of about $15.

I finished picking up the small sticks and leaves the next day. Again, the Kubota was able to handle pretty much all of that too. I probably spent less than an hour with a hand rake.

It's not perfect, I still have stumps to remove, and I'll help the folks with the piles of logs, but for the most part it was done in 2 satisfying days.