TODAYS SEAT TIME

[Gordon Gould]

Started pulling out firewood today. We have so many blow-downs this year from all the wind that I thought I would get started and work on the worst ones before we get snow. Makes tricky work a little safer on dry ground.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

I got about an hour and 15 minutes in.

I added some wood (a bit dryer) to the burn pile. LstInThot and his clan are coming over tomorrow with marshmallows as he instructs me in the finer points of burning.

Be well all,
David

 

[davcog]

Got enough of the corduroy road done to get to the middle of the wet spot. Backed the BX 23 on and the road held.:cool2: Then backed to far edge and used the backhoe to move a large rock so that I can continue building the other 1/2. Cut and dragged more downed cedar to a material stockpile near the roadway. All the coming and going softened ground enough that I had to use boom and bucket to get out of a hole.:mur: Fortunately was able to smooth it up and with the roadway preventing more water from seeping in it will dry up.
Total time working and driving tractor through the woods to and from work site 5hrs.:cloud9:

 

[JD 4520]

2 hours on the seat today helping a neighbor building his house. I moved rock and graded a side driveway. He was doing it with a wheel borrow and shovel. He was a happy camper when I was finished. Good day.

 

[RaydaKub]

After almost 5 weeks with nothing to drive for, we got about 3-4 inches of snow today. I spent an hour out scooping snow this evening. Never used the float before, that's a real nice feature. I'm sure I'll get better at it with some practice; I'll have to patch a couple places with sod next spring. But I at least got SOME seat time. 28 degrees and still snowing. :thumbsup:

 

[mpham]

Got to haul out a couple loads of fire wood today. Still more out there. Maybe next week.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Last night LstInThot and his 2 sons + a nephew showed up to teach me the finer points of burn pile management.

Using a little bit of hay & a couple matches we started the fire. The leaf blower REALLY sped things up too!

I dropped the grapple and switched to the bucket, thinking I could dump dirt to put it out, but in hindsite it may have been harder to manage the turning of the pile. Maybe the grapple would have been better.

I totally need some lights for night ops though!

I turned and pushed the pile a few times, ended up getting at least an hour.

He chainsawed a couple walnut stumps for me (and shaped one into a chair for his youngest).

My daughter's came up and found their inner PyroPrincess and were throwing as big of logs as they could drag into the pile.

Giant Marshmallows, hotdogs, ice water (It was HOT by the fire) were on the menu. The kids all played tag in the pitch dark empty pasture-to-be area.

My girls finally headed for bed a bit after 10pm (I do not know how they talked Mom into that one, but good for them!). LstInThot & his crew rolled out at about 11pm. in 4 hours we had reduced the pile significantly. I did one last push on all 4 sides, and said a prayer that the roaring fire would not spread, and I rolled back to the house at midnight.

At one point we had flames shooting almost 20' skyward, and sparks were going up at least 50 feet and were visible from 1,000 feet away down the driveway. The "front" of the fire was so hot just getting close to the edge to toss something in hurt your face and made my lips feel like they were chapping.

Towards the end, one particular treetop/branches was burning with BRIGHT GREEN flames well over a foot tall. We wished we'd had cameras...

I just drove up the hill (before my 1st coffee even) at 0500 and it was down to a 3' tall and 7-8' wide pile of coals and embers smoking and and glowing red.

It was a great lesson in burn pile mgmt, and an even better time with solid awesomely nice people. Good boys too!

I will also say it is pretty flipping awesome to stick the bucket into an 8' tall pile of logs, stumps, and slash on the non-burning side, put the tractor in low, 4x4, hit the diff lock in the mud and just lift/push into a roaring fire! A nice, powerful tractor is simply the coolest tool EVER!

My next fire I will start as I begin to work during the day so I can feed it with the grapple as I work. Maybe atop a really nasty stump I don't want to spend all day grinding!

What a great evening!

Thanks again to LstInThot and his crew (the nephew I think said it was the biggest and best fire ever).:thumbsup::thumbsup: totally awesome friends.
Be well
David

 

[Gizmo2]

2 hours on the seat today helping a neighbor building his house. I moved rock and graded a side driveway. He was doing it with a wheel borrow and shovel. He was a happy camper when I was finished. Good day.

You did not let on that it was fun for you, did ya? Either way you're a good neighbor.:thumbsup:

 

[Gordon Gould]

2 hours on the seat today helping a neighbor building his house. I moved rock and graded a side driveway. He was doing it with a wheel borrow and shovel. He was a happy camper when I was finished. Good day.

You are a good neighbor. The kind to have. You may have done him a bigger favor than you think.

That is what convinced my wife we could afford a tractor
She and I were picking rocks for the new lawn when we were building. We were using 5 gallon buckets and a 4-wheeler. A neighbor came over with his tractor and york rake and helped us out. When he was done she said "Wow, those things really are useful."

 

[Gizmo2]

You are a good neighbor. The kind to have. You may have done him a bigger favor than you think.

That is what convinced my wife we could afford a tractor
She and I were picking rocks for the new lawn when we were building. We were using 5 gallon buckets and a 4-wheeler. A neighbor came over with his tractor and york rake and helped us out. When he was done she said "Wow, those things really useful."

My wife always helps out on outside projects and just last Saturday she said again "boy it sure is nice having the tractor" she has been saying that for 23 years. The point is, IMO, you cannot afford NOT to have one. At least for us. BTW she always runs the hand shovel and rake so she makes me be extremely meticulous using the tractor and usually there is not very much for her to do in her department.