Greetings from Florida!

[Jeff]

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Here I am in Florida, the land of the cabbage palms and the Crock-a-gators.  I worked up a sweat watching Tom shiver.  It was less than 70 degrees.  (That's 21.1111111 to you, Iain  ;D ) 


My first plane ride started with an early morning flight from Saginaw.  It was dark, crystal clear and beautiful, and I arrived in Detroit 45 minutes later.

Here is a photo of my plane through the window of the secured room where I was detained after an old acquaintance recognized me and mistakenly yelled, "Hi Jack!" (That's a joke Tammy) 

I arrived at Jacksonville International Airport and was picked up by Tom's wife shortly after being released from the second full body search area. (That's a joke Neslrite) 

Just thirty minutes later, Gael dropped me, and five Chicken Sandwiches, off at Tom's sawing job.  Tom was sure excited to see those Chicken Sandwiches! (That's a joke Tom)

I got to meet the fellows that were working with Tom. Wade and Rick.  Wade is fun and interesting to talk to, but you really have to keep your eyes open so that Rick doesn't run you over.  Wow!   What a worker.   

We got up this morning bright and early, well....  Tom did.  I didn't wake up until after coffee.  Maxwell House. (That's no joke,  Janet)   

We jumped in the truck and arrived at the job-site to find Rick already raring to go.   We were going to be sawing Long Leaf Pine.  I have determined that Long Leaf Pine makes one of the world's most annoying saw logs.  More about that later.

Here are a few pictures of the crew from this morning.


Rick, Tom and Wade


Rick and Wade stacking 14" clear Yellow Pine.


Tom and Wade probably watching to see if
I was going get out of Rick's way in time.

Now!  About that annoying pine.  When I got to Tom's job-site yesterday, I found out a couple of things that I hadn't realized, or at least thought about, when "working" around Southern Yellow Pine.  It don't make for a real good bench.  When the guys stopped for lunch, and after Tom had finished greeting his Chicken Sandwiches, and acknowledging my arrival, we all sat down to eat and visit for a moment.  I guess I never paid attention that everybody else sat on buckets.  I just plopped down on the nearest log.  Once we finished eating and it was time to go back to "work",  I went to get up and found that my pants were pretty much stuck to the log.  Hmmm-m!  Well, I did get stood up, and , of course, I reached back to brush off my pants.  Hmmmmmm-m!   After I got my hand unstuck from my rear, I realized that Southern Yellow Pine is a bit sticky.  Maybe even more than a bit.  I spent most of the rest of the afternoon prying myself away from various objects.   Well! I pretty much learned that a fellow should wear gloves and be careful around that stuff.  I knew that the next day I wasn't going to make the same mistakes. ....and I didn't.   Today went pretty well.  We got a big whack of logs sawed.   The only low-point of the day was that I developed a terrible thirst after misplacing my drink somewhere.   Other than that, it was a great day and I look forward to tomorrow, as I continue my Florida adventure. 

[woodbowl]

Welcome to sticky Fla. Jeff

[Radar67]

So the Boss got "sapped" right off. Have fun.

Stew

[DanG]

That's the way it is down here.  "Don't worry, be sappy."   :D :D

Great post, Jeff! 8)  Welcome to God's country!

ps:  Them's some purty yeller pine logs!! 8) 8) 8)

[farmerdoug]

Jeff, so you went from being depressed to being stuckup, huh?

Enjoy the cold wather down there as they are promising a cool down up here in Michigan.  Maybe we can finally get back into the woods for a while.

Farmerdoug

[woodbowl]

Are you and Tom mainly cutting 1 X's? How many Board ft today? How many BFPH?

[Corley5]

See ya in few days  ;D

[Tom]

???????????  Who know's  I don't count till I get done.   ......ain't done yet.  :D

[UNCLEBUCK]

 Oh son ! Youre in big bass country !  Boy that is nice logs isnt it . Never drank chek before  ??? Have a good ride home and enjoy the beautiful state of Florida !

[Bibbyman]

Yep,  Tom has got the same shirt on.  I think it's the only one he has.!

Have fun.  Keep out of the rain.

[crtreedude]

Just because Tom wants you to stick around doesn't mean you have to...  :

[ellmoe]

Jeff,
 Welcome to "sunny" Florida. Maybe you'all won't get the liquid sunshine were having in Cent. Fla. today and tomorrow

Mark

[Weekend_Sawyer]

Good post Jeff.

Have a great time, I envy you this vacation. I'm sure it will be very memorable.

Jon

[Mike_Barcaskey]

Great post Jeff (get some more pics!)

enjoy that nice weather. the next week up here is rain/snow, 24 to 32 degrees

[Jeff]

Off for some more fun and sun today! 8)

(soon as I figure out what the heck bit me on the back of ma leg an da gulf of mexico decides to go back where it belongs rather then dripping all over Northern Florida)

We got stickum sticks to saw so gotta get. I'll get smore pictures today.

[GF]

Explains why Tom has that red shirt on all the time, it must be stuck to him with some pine sap, and he's skeerd to change it.  You all have a great time down there.

[Cedarman]

If I had nice big, round, long, straight logs like that, I'd stay up all night just to watch them and make sure I wasn't dreaming.  What nice logs. And nice warm weather.  Didn't see any mud, just sand.  Nice.

Jeff, you didn't get sap stained from sitt'n on that log too log?

Have a great time!!

[Murf]

Jeff, I surprised Tom didn't tell ya ta sit in da sawdust pile ta fix all dat sticky sap on yer butt.  :D  :D

Ow, wait a minute er three, yer ridin' home in Tom's truck idn't ya?  :  :

On further cogitation mebbe dat idn't such a grand notion after all...

But it would be funnier'n watchin a 3-legged dog with itchy ear........  :D

[leweee]

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nice cup holder, Boss 8) Great to see they got you to "stick" around the mill. :D :D :D

Have fun on your working vacation ....us northeners are enveious now that winter is back .....good timing Jeff 8)

[Corley5]

We're outta here see ya guys in Fl ;D ;D ;D 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Tom]

It's a hot time in the old town tonight.   Rained last night a bunch.  Lightning too.  Jeff slept through it all. :D

Today we did some more of the same things we did yesterday.  sawed some 14" boards, lots of vertical grain 1x4's and 1x6's and drank coffee.

Jeff doing something
He is still having trouble with the pine sap.   Things like gloves don't slide on or off very easy and it's hard to keep track of drink cans.   The worse thing is when the front of your trousers stick to your thighs.


We broke a brand new blade, right out of the box.  The weld gave way.  it was in 14" cant and just gave up the ghost.  Wade and I worked with it until we got it loose and put another new blade on.


Getting tools from the tool box, Jeff is still having a bad time with pine sap.  The one thing that WD-40 is good for is taking pine tar off.  I had some Rust Reaper in the truck and he had to find it to get the cap off of the WD-40.    Things just keep gettin stuck in the wrong places.


While Rick, Wade and I were working on the blade, Jeff was set to the log pile to select some good prospects for Rick to buck for the mill later.


Wade got tired of seeing Jeff working and went to the log pile too.  I lost a worker.  He took the picture of Jeff with the logs but then wanted one of him with the logs too.   So, here is Wade with the logs.


Here we are trying to get rid of the wane on an 18" board that ended up being 14".  The young fellow at the other end of the board is Jarret.   He is a cousin of the fellow that owns the logs and comes to help on the farm after his high-school classes.  Usually he shows up around 2:30 and is a great help.


Jeff was running around being the photographer and found this view of the mill that I've never seen before.  He was standing out in the swamp amongst the Rattle Snakes and hadn't even given it a thought.    We'll make a Swamper out of him yet.


He was sitting behind me for a long time.  This log was his stool and he was enjoying the fresh oranges that we brought along.  It so happens that I have a friend whose mother has a grove across town.  She made sure that I had a big box of fruit.   I hope we can visit her soon and let Jeff pick his own orange.   Here is the view I had of Jeff when I finished sawing the log.  Where did he go?   


OH!  There he is!   He had gone to the truck to get another orange, or a sandwich or something.  He has been having the hardest time keeping track of his Big Orange drink can too.  It seems that everything he touches gets stuck.


Our day is done.  We count noses before getting into the truck.  Don't want anybody to get left.  It's a little trick that Bus Driver Wildflower taught Jeff, so we adhered strictly to the suggestion.


Our trips never are non-stop.    We had to stop in Bryceville at Fouracre's General Store for Jeff to get a Coke (pop  :D )   


Then another side stop to get a picture of the Forestry Service's sign and a short visit to find that I needed to come back to see my Ranger friend.

This is great.  We've had a super good time and it isn't even the weekend yet.  8) :D

[sandmar]

Great pictures Guys! Looks like a fun day with nice logs.Jeff it does take awhile to get used to all the pine sap,but the lumber is worth it. We are cutting it green and nailing it up ASAP on our barn.Needless to say,some of the boards are BLEEDING

[sprucebunny]

Looks like Jeff is having fun ;D I really like the pictures. Thanks, Tom and Jeff 8)

Hope you will still have a couple of those big beautiful logs left when I get there ;D

[Tom]

Jeff want's to know, "what do you need nails for?"  If you just stick them up there, they shouldn't come down......  even in a hurricane.  :P :-\

[Brad_S.]

As I'm reading about Jeff dealing with pitch, I'm envisioning the "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation" scene of Clark reading a magazine in bed after setting up the Christmas tree. :D