What I did today....

[Sackett2]

Saw a ad on Craig's List, firewood, a mix, already cut up, but difficult to get to on a hill; $75- more than a cord worth.
I checked it out, wow, this was going to be a challenge. I figured I could cart loads off the hill with the bucket.
First was that he had a long narrow driveway with no turn around spot.
Then you had to drive around the trailer and weave your way through the trees to the area he had cut the wood. (he's cleaning out a overgrown area of his property) I saw many piles of wood, most not large but all cut to fire place size.
We agreed that if i would do some brush hogging for him I could have the wood. As i left his place I wondered if it was possible to get my 16 foot trailer up to the wood.
So a day with the warm sun Saturday and Sunday dad and I headed up there. Unloaded the tractor at the base of his driveway and took the hog up to his yard and dropped it off. then using my 3 point trailer adapter I pulled the trailer up to the house. we walked a path and lowered some stumps and planned a route up. We caught the trailer jack and bent it back, and hung up on a few points. As your driving the tractor you have to position it to allow the trailer to miss the trees AND keep moving the 3 point up and down for in one piece your dragging the jack, the next the tail is caught on something. A real challenge. Had to lock the rear wheels together once but we got the trailer up there twice, and carted two loads of fire wood off there. I left the tractor up there and will go back this next weekend to hopefully get the last two loads???
The trailer suffered the worst of it, the jack bent, took the trailer plug off (but we found it) ripped off a marker light wire.
It was a challange, and I won.

 

[Bird]

Glad you won, but was it worth it?

 

[EddieWalker]

Great story and adventure!!!

I enjoyed reading it and was wondering if it was worth it too, but then thought that if I had started on it, I would have stuck with it to, regardless of the effort. Pics would sure add to the story, but then, my imagination is making it look pretty good too. LOL

Eddie

 

[Sackett2]

Yes it was worth it. Dad was plumb out of firewood for his shop. Free firewood isn't as easy to get anymore; and this stuff is already cut to fireplace length. We got more wood this weekend at less overall work then ever before, and at age 73, anything to make dad's life easier. Best est, we have about 3.5 cords of wood so far.
Pictures: Damm, I keep forgetting the camera, for I focus on what I need for getting the job done first. I will try to get some pictures on the next trip

 

[LBrown59]

Glad you won, but was it worth it?

Round here I'v had trouble giving it away when it was easy to get to and load.
That some one would pay for it in such a difficult place to load and tear up their trailer getting to it ; that i find amazing.

 

[Sackett2]

Round here I'v had trouble giving it away when it was easy to get to and load.
That some one would pay for it in such a difficult place to load and tear up their trailer getting to it ; that i find amazing.

Just a little crazy. The damage to the trailer is light and easy to repair-much easier than some of the attachment rebuilds I have seen on TBN! I don't mind the inconvenience of this stuff for my Dad, god knows I owe him. He still does sooo much for me....
I have a spare jack and this one bent easily back into position and still works. (Its been bent before) We won't officially repair it until we are done with this job, may even put a new hitch on it for safety.
The trailer plug just pulled apart, don't even have to re-skin the wires.
One tire has a flat this morning- no big deal we are planning to put trailer tires on it soon (it has old car tires on it now) but we don't want to do it while tugging it around the woods. We are looking for a spare rim and decided a spare tire would be a good thing too!
It's amazing how time and the "rules" have changed around here. We live in a tree area; Dad worked 30 years at a lumber mill- we never paid for wood growing up. But the lands have been developed or locked up, we find ourselves scrounging for firewood. Where you live was how it was here 30 years ago...

 

[Sackett2]

The flat tire was a torn sidewall- stole one of the bald summer tires off the wife's car, and my best friend had a chevy rim with a tire on it so I now have a spare for the trailer!
The weather stayed nice, so I took 2 days off work (isn't much work anyway) and headed back up to the firewood. Left dad at home, give the 73 year old bones a rest. He started stacking firewood at his shop, Curtis (My stepson) were going to load the trailer. We got up there, have the way around the trees mapped out now, getting the feel of all the jiggling needed.
My Photographer is my step son, and is autistic- so sometimes the pictures don't always show what I had hoped
Picture one shows the tractor and trailer in place. we came from the area up the hill between the trees.
Picture two is the trailer all loaded up.
Picture three is crawling down the other hill with the trailer in tow.
Picture four is the entire amount of wood we got!! This building is dads new woodshop.

I then put the hog on the tractor and cleaned up some of his areas. I chopped up some saplings that would have taken him days to get cut and burned. Working up amongst the trees i was very thankful for 4' hog. When doing large open areas I wish for a 6', but much of this kind of work the 4' is a godsend.

Besides the firewood for dad, we made a new friend. The guy with the wood was right beside us loading and offered to help dad stack it at home. He is a great person ho we will stay in touch with.

 

[Sackett2]

Some asked if it was worth it for the firewood, here is a picture.
Yes it was!

 

[Bird]

A lot of work, but that oughta keep the home fires going awhile.

 

[Oleozz]

You did all that in one day? Come on in to Pa., I could use you for a couple days. Looks great, stacked nice and neat.