Getting my house in order

[oakiemac]

I've been thinking alot lately about Mark M and his sudden passing. I only meet him briefly at the last pig roast but how he died has really struck close to home.
The very day that I heard that he died, I was loading logs onto a friends trailer. We had many logs to load that day and we had to haul them about 11 miles away. I thought it would take just a few trips but it ended up taking 4. We started stacking more and more logs onto the trailer in a big pryamid then I would hold the last one on the trailer with the bobcat as my friend strapped the load in place. Looking back onto it now, I can see that many things could of happened to cause a disaster. The strapping could of broke or a log shift then the whole mess would of came tumbling down on top of us. We were in a hurry and were trying to make as few trips as possible which is fine but we were cheating saftey in order to get this done.
I know everyone on this forum works hard with their logging/sawmilling plus many of us have other jobs as well. But I guess the one thing that we can never relax on is doing things safely. I for one am going to improve in this area. I have a 16 year son and a 12 year old daughter and a great wife-I have got to do things right. Getting in a hurry and trying to push the limits is a good way to get hurt.
While I'm on this topic, another thing that I'm going to do is tell my wife to contact this forum if I were to suddenly die. She might want to sell the mill or other equipment and she has no idea what this stuff is worth. I'm going to tell her that before she sells anything to ask here and get a good idea as to what it is worth. I know of a guy who was a huge fisherman and had many thousands of dollars worth of boats and tackle. He suddenly died of a heart attack and his wife later on sold all his fishing stuff at a garage sale. She had real nice lures and other equipment marked for just pennies. Somone finally told her what this stuff was worth.
I know a lot of you guys have spouses that run the mill and know as much as you do, but my wife would'nt have a clue on some of the equipment. So I'm going to tell her that if things go bad and she decides to sell, that this would be a good place to get an honest opinion on the value of things.
Take care all, and I hope to see you at the pig roast.

Steve Van Osdol (Oakiemac)

[Ironwood]

OAKIEMAC,


   Good points. I have an arrangement with several guys if something were to happen to one of us that we would look after the "dispersal and sale" each others goods, tools, lumber and such. It is a responsibility that we take seriously, as we all have loved ones that would need some guidence. Just a thought. REID

[DanG]

I have plenty of friends and family to look out for Linda's interests if I should expire, but it's an excellent idea for those that don't have this luxury.

I've already let it be known that if something should happen to me, I want the FF to be notified immediately, along with my military association.

[crtreedude]

We have a very good business and people like it a lot. One of the things that came up though was "What if something happens to you?" We are growing trees for ourselves and for others for 25 years - you never know what can happen over such a period of time.

Since people pay us to take care of their trees for years and years, we are looking into setting up a management trust - money will be set aside to continue what we are doing indefinitely with clear instructions how to hire people to do the various phases.

I think it is an excellent thing for friends who know the business to assist those who are still here in the value of things. I just told my wife Amy how impressed I am with this group on how they have reacted to what happened to Mark M.