Making it through another year '21-'23

[aigheadish]

Of course I can find that policy no where whatsoever in writing, but that is how our state runs.

Kind of off topic but I'm surprised anyone can find anything in writing in New York, if for no other reason than the overwhelming amount of info or regulations. When I was reserving campground sites in some of the state parks up there it was amazing how convoluted the info was. Rules/regulations on top of rules/regulations, made it very hard to navigate with any confidence. I can't imagine what the medical stuff looks like! 

I'm happy to hear you get another year!

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, that new policy has been mentioned here are there for a couple of years now but never could we find it in writing. I just checked again this morning and after 3 different searches I found it. The document is dated 8-19-22 (tuesday), which lays out how a non-affiliated EMT can do a re-cert but it still contains it's own set of hoops. The only way I could make it work is if I could find a sympathetic CIC (course sponsor) to certify and sign off that I did the work and passed the skills tests. 4 years ago, that would be easy for me, now, not so much. But I will keep my ear to the ground.
 Today is another day and food shopping is the main goal.

[Old Greenhorn]

I have to confess, I haven't done SQUAT since GF. It's just too hot and I needed recovery time then maybe I got into a funk because of the heat. I read a lot of FF caught up on some email, put away most of the stuff from GF until next year but little else. I searched around for an HCP CPR class which I need to make my EMT cert fully valid. I think I found a place. Yesterday I was going to mow but could not get the lawn tractor started. I think it's the fuel filter needs replacing again.
 Bill finally called me to see if I was mad at him because he hadn't seen me. Seems he has a lumber order festering for a fence job that he's got to get done ASAP (overdue I guess). So when I gave up on the tractor, I drove down there where I saw all the damage he took on form the storm while I was away. Straight-line winds are not merciful. He had some big ones come down and most found a target. One of his chippers, a shed roof, a Willies Jeep he was gonna restore, and it was/is a general mess. He got the stuff cut and cleared, but it still needs to find it's way the the respective wood/log piles. All hardwood, mostly red oak. He's also got yet another leak in his OWB and is about past the point of suing the builder. Nothing but problems since the install.

 On the upside, he scored a bunch of circle saw parts: carriage drive, blade, shanks and teeth. I am going to see if I can find a new owner for these after I figure out what we have. The blades looks to be at least 3'+ in diameter, but they were buried in the truck bed. I have to clean them to find markings. I now nothing of these things....yet.

 We jumped in the gator and drove down to the log yard to find logs to use for the fence job. I don't know if we picked out enough, but it's a good start and I am beginning to get a better handle on how he picks logs to use, or ones to save for bigger wood. No 'right or wrong' just the way he wants it. It's his show, I might as well do it his way, but it's a continuing task to figure that piece out. I think my eye is getting better, but he is also starting to realize that he needs to cut me some slack when I have to make a choice and he isn't around. So far so good, pretty much. He also has some Black Walnut we may slab up and a shed he pulled off a job that were are planning on rebuilding into a slab drying shed, something I have been pushing for quite a bit lately. Time is money and slabs need years to dry, let's get it started. We will make a new floor and base farming from hemlock and set it on that. We are still arguing over discussing ventilation.
 So, no work done, just rough planning and after 2 hours of that and a couple of beers I headed home for dinner, updated my order sheet and tried to get my head back in the game.

 We got some hefty rain last night with some wicked wind when the front hit us. Today we are expecting more and it is cooler (now). I don't think I have much time before it hits, but I am headed to the mill in a bit and will try to make it work for me. I can handle 'working wet' when it's warm out, for a while anyway. He needs the order to get done. That storm set him back a week or more between his work and all the emergency jobs he picked up from it. One was about $18k worth of road clearing on a single property. Most of those jobs get opened first, then he goes back to cleanup, pull logs, and dress up the work later. He still has some from the March Ice storm to complete. Work, is everywhere.

 Time to get at it.

[aigheadish]

Can't blame you for not wanting to hang out in the heat. I've been the same, only mowing, not much else. This week is supposed to be much cooler, so that should be nice, but we're also calling for rain most of the week, so I won't be able to get out to work on the barn some more. 

I'm hard pressed to imagine trees falling at Bill's and not hitting something, there's a lot of machinery around up there and not much clear space for a tree to fall. Sounds like it was no people involved so that's good. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah it seemed weird Austin that there were some good hardwoods that decided to break, rather than the weak, dead, rotten ones. As I move around I see a lot more junk to clean up. Too bad I have no mushroom log orders because there is a good supply for the taking. I have yet to get up on the 60 acre side and see what went down over there.

Well yesterday I finally got back on the horse. The heat was a tad lower but the humidity was way up there. We had some rain in the mid-morning and again in late afternoon, both times while I was milling. We had no power from 1pm yesterday until 7pm as a residual of the Sunday night storm that took out the power to about 11,000 homes. I guess they took us all offline while they fixed other stuff.
 Because of that front that came through the night before (Bill was caught off guard) he didn't get around to staging the logs we picked out. So I started with getting those lined up on the deck and trimmed the way I wanted them.
 I managed to get out about 42 1x8x8-10' boards and cued up the 4th log before the heat was getting to me. I bucked all the slabs and brought them up just before 1pm. Bill was just pulling in and 'now' he tells me the guys are working on that job right now and he needs the 2x6's first, to keep them going. So I headed home, had lunch, rested my eyes for a bit, then headed back around 4pm and kicked out about a dozen 2x6x10's. He queued up a few more logs for today. I don't know if I can finish the order, but I should get close.
 Last night Bill calls with a new order, really oddball. 1-3/4 x 3-3/4 x 8'. I don't ask why. ;D OH, but he needs those first, for another job...TODAY. Not too happy with that. I'll see what I can do. This rush stuff is gonna have to taper off and soon or we are going to have a chat. ;D

 Time to get back at it.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Good to hear you are keeping busy and staying out of trouble. All that "priority" stuff reminds me of the many times I'd have to tell my boss "When everything is the priority, nothing is a priority. What do you want me to do first?" Then the monkey is back on their back and I'd do the work in the order he directed.

  Of course sometimes they'd just get excited and say "They all are" then I'd tell them "Then you are leaving it up to me and it doesn't matter what I do first."

  A good boss could tell you the order he needed it done. A poor one was just treading water and running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

  I like the concept of being able to salvage the fallen trees for mushroom logs and such. Even firewood use is better than just seeing it go to waste. Good luck. Stay safe, stay cool.

[doc henderson]

I guess you could put up the mushroom logs, and then send out an alert to your customers that you have some in stock.  Or send out feeler and harvest what people want now.  I assume they will perish in a month or so.  
At my work we have "stat" and "super stat" (short turn around time).  

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I took full advantage of the Ice storm this past winter and got a lot of logs out of it and too clients. Winter cut lasts 8 weeks or so. Summer cut is a couple of weeks. Frankly I am not looking for new work right now and the small clients that pop up often come in with a lot of 'overhead' and hand holding. I don't really have the leisure time for that now. But if somebody called me, I could whip up 40 logs for them in a morning just from what is laying over already and more given the time.
 I have lumber to get out and I rushed through the 'gotta have' stuff this morning and wound up delivering it to the job site, but I still have more to mill. So on the way back I stopped at home and had lunch and sat for a little bit, then headed back to the mill and hacked up a couple more logs. Since I started yesterday I think I only got about 800BF done and have a pile of slabs to deal with besides what is already in the boiler. We are trying to get rid of the ugly crappy logs on this small stuff and I am working with some very poor logs, most of which don't roll well, if at all. Crooked, bent, twisted, whatever, I got it, and they take more time than they are worth. I get paid by the BF, not the hour, so I blow through them as fast as I can and sometimes the slabs get a bit thick the get the sweep off. Hopefully I get these logs gone in another year or three.

 I got an email from LogRite today that my order is ready, so I will likely pick a day next week and drive over. Kevin wants to do the slab trimming while I am there so I can pick the lines. I'll have to pick a day and get on the road early to miss some of the traffic.
 One day at a time, first I gotta finish this lumber order, then get my mower running, then mill my cedar up, then...
 It never ends, does it?

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   Do you do all of the sawing or are you just "batting clean-up" and sawing the near reject logs the other sawyer(s) reject? :D

    My last weekend job was one that started real slow with the customer having to finish clearing the site and setting up to stack and move logs around and generally learning the process. They were nice folks but not real fast combined with the hottest weekend of the year and we were dragging. The wife was really worried looking at the size of the log pile but the next day things went much faster and she told me her confidence level was now good. The helpers (Hubby and BIL) moved faster, scrap slabs went directly into a trailer reducing handling, etc. 

   Interesting info on the time line for summer vs winter mushroom logs. If the logs just lay where they fall, and I assume many are uprooted and not actually on the ground, how long do you have to harvest/salvage them?

   Do you just inoculate them one time and they keep bearing or do you need to or can you inoculate them again?

[Old Greenhorn]

Howard, I am the only sawyer, unless Bill needs to knock something out, but he rarely has time. I posted a video of the log yard months back and lets just say we have 'lots of inventory' but there are always junk logs. Bill cuts trees nearly every day and they come to the yard. Some are firewood, some are boiler food directly, and some get put up for sawing later and some are yarded until there is a saleable load of a particular species going for a decent price. He sold a triaxle load of white birch a few months ago, hard maple is always in demand, as is white oak. But for the other stuff we have many tons of inventory up to 35' long. I have yet to see any new wood coming in from last weeks storm. They get cut and cleared, then he goes back in following weeks after dinner and picks them up with the log truck or picker trailer.
 But the old stuff we are trying to use up, burn up, or cycle out. I can't seem to get ahead. We have a load of twisty pine that came in late fall over winter I am still trying to clear out. It just clutters up the cutting yard. We have a stock of 5' logs up by the OWB that is 6' high and 30' long. They don't get touched with all the junk that gets stuffed in everyday, not to mention the slabs I produce. The slabs I make in 4 hours gives him a days wood supply sometimes more. Even though he runs his OWB 24/7/365, there is more wood than he can possibly burn. I try to get wood out of whatever I can and cut thick slabs off to save time/blades/energy.

 Mushroom logs get inoculated once. If the laid over trees are holding the water flow and the leaves don't wilt they are good until I cut them. I still haven't driven up back to see how the woods look, we may have a lot down. The trees I did see, that weren't cut yet, seem OK in the horizontal position seem OK so far. If Bill cleans them out, oh well. If not I can take the branches when I get an order. As I said, not looking for ways to fill my day right now. ;D
 Pretty pooped tonight in any event.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Oaky so you get abused all the time and not just when there are too many dodgy logs. That seems fair. :D

    Thanks for the additional info on the salvage of mushroom logs. So if they are just uprooted you have a longer life expectancy than those that snap off or such. 

   I responded to a call from a man 20 miles away last Friday who had 4-5 beautiful, straight RO and a decent WO tree get uprooted that he wanted to give away just to get them out of the way. Several were 30'+ to the first limb and 26" or so at the base and very little flare. I scrambled for a source to load and transport them here but before I could find an affordable source the man called back a family member had a friend who wanted them so that fell through. The distance and transport costs were making them real iffy anyway. Like they say - Free logs are never free. At least they seldom are for me. 

[Old Greenhorn]

The only free logs I have found are those red cedar ones I got paid to take down and then had help getting them loaded. That worked out OK. I have also gotten a bunch from a client I like working with a great deal. He pays me for my time and we cut together. Then when that's done he gives me logs for firewood and sometimes a saw log or three.
 All these relationships are rare though and take luck to establish.

[Old Greenhorn]

  Oaky so you get abused all the time and not just when there are too many dodgy logs. That seems fair. :D

"Abused" might be too strong a term (but probably accurate) I would say it's more I am persuaded to make roses out of lemons more often than I might prefer. But, it's a process and I am getting more and more to the point that I look at logs and say 'no'. As my eye and wits get better and faster I will grow away from the guy that says 'yeah, I guess I can get that wood out of those logs' to being the guy that says 'NOPE, I ain't wasting my time on that junk.' I will just start cutting those logs into 5' lengths, which is our universal signal for OWB wood. I have had some logs I work into a cant and get a good number of the target lumber out of, then when I pull it off the mill to stack it is junk with bug holes, falling cracks, ant nest, or whatever hidden inside. None of it is saleable and I throw it on the slab pile and get another log, but I lost all that time/fuel/blade wear and I don't get paid for making slab wood, so I just lost an hour or so of my time.
 We are getting better at working this out, but keep in mind, the goal here was NEVER for me to make a living as the sawyer. The goal was for me to help him out to get lumber cut between me doing my own stuff. Geez, at $.30/BF I ain't making out really well but he is getting things done and I have some extra change to work with, I think. We do a lot of bartering. I can't put in those longs days cutting lumber like MM can, I have other stuff that needs doing, every day. I take one job/order at a time. Then I move on.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I forgot to ask earlier but do you only saw for special orders or do you saw anything for stock? You mentioned repeatedly sawing specific sizes and quantities.

[Old Greenhorn]

Currently I saw nothing for stock. It's an ongoing discussion. I refuse to make piles of lumber that will not be stored undercover. We need a drying shed. Bill has about 10,000 BF of lumber out in the open rotting away. I won't add to it.
 I do 'oversaw' all the time to make sure we have enough to meet an order and that lumber is stickered and stacked, but if we don't have an order, it will wind up being B&B on the shop this fall. I don't go to the mill just to cut lumber, ever. If I go and run it up, there is a goal/target/order, or it's my own stuff (rarely).

[mudfarmer]

I don't think it is abuse if you are getting.30/bf and not paying for consumables, repairs, equipment etc. Sounds like an ok deal to me but maybe others will chime in  ??? Pine logs here are pushing $450/mbf before delivery so you add the sawing cost and..................... 

One client said "boy you sure won't get rich doing that" @ .45/bf (their trees they paid me to cut down) before prices on everything went sky high and several said it was too much. All is in what it is worth to them. The hourly rate at the circle mill was the best but last day was Friday because I had to go and switch day jobs (again).

I still don't think Cornell ever added me to the mushroom log map since last year, maybe you can put a word in  :D

[Spike60]

"I got 4 orders here and they all gotta be done first. BTW, I'm going to look at another job today and that one will have to be done first as well. Just do them all at the same time, it's easy."

I can laugh, cause I know Billy and his energy level, and I'm not on the receiving end of these daily changes in direction. But he's seen me turn away stuff in the store and he tells me I'm nuts for turning away work. I just tell him that the day will come when he realizes his band width isn't what it used to be and he'll have to do the same. Going to be a long way off for him, but it will happen.

[Old Greenhorn]

Spike, Bill ain't all that bad and he is pushing work out or not taking it if the client is a poor one. But for good clients, just like you do, he tries to make it happen. All I ask for is a bit more notice. He needs to tell me about the lumber as soon as he knows and give me the details. Direction changes do make me a little nuts when they happen after the fact. We will get there..... maybe.
 It is still nowhere near as bad as with my corporate job. Those folks have no soul or brain and would make impossible demands without any understanding of what they were asking. They never understood why I had no respect for them or ignored their demands as if they were children throwing a fit. They are wallowing in their incompetence now as I hear it through the grapevine.

 Mudfarmer, they are weak on doing those updates. You need to send a note off to Steve Gabriel with your details. They were supposed to update that map last fall so you could update your own information, but that never seemed to happen. I had to send 3 emails to get them to correct my website address. Steve is hard to get a response from unless he needs something from you. Academics...go figger.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I deduced long ago this is not a typical employer/employee set up and while it is nice to be compensated you'd likely be down there helping in your spare time anyway. There is great value in the social aspects involved here. I can just envision you and Bill duking it out on priorities or lack of prior notice then when done you grab your "growler" and you two go spend a couple hours with an adult beverage or two. ;)

   I'm pretty sure if you weren't enjoying it you would be occupying your time elsewhere. :D So let the beatings continue until morale improves. ;D

[Old Greenhorn]

Well you very nearly made me spit milk through my nose with that 'employer/employee' comment. No, not hardly, not in any way, shape, manner, or form. It is a symbiotic relationship. We never really get to arguing beyond strong discussion. If at any time it goes beyond that, either of us can choose to bow out on that particular issue or job.
Yesterday he texted me not to go back to the mill in the afternoon because it was too hot and getting hotter. I ignored him and got a couple more logs done. Last night he said I have time and there is no rush to finish the fence order. This morning I finished it off because I need to move onto other stuff. Of course today they stopped work on the fence to do another rush job so..... But I don't care, they get it done when they get it done, not my problem or concern. :D

It's done. I came home, took a shower, made lunch, and now I am off to do some of my errands.

 As Spike mentioned above, working with Bill is a 'known entity'. Like everyone else, there are things he is very good at, and some things that could improve. Communications is one that would help if it were better. Planning for him is tough because of the client base he has and emergencies that pop up, pushing other work out. I don't envy him for that workload. ;D

Life is a learning process and we are both learning.

[Bert]

This reminds me a lot of the relationship with my father in law. I would be Bill in this arrangement but not the same scale. If I send him a text and say I've got some wood to split when your ready does not mean please come in morning when the forecast is for 90 degree weather but he interprets it that way. I'm busy with 3000 things and he's retired. Its his choice and I appreciate that. He did his time. I'm just saying I've got some work for you if you want it. His strong work ethic, like yours I'm guessing, causes some stress.

[Old Greenhorn]

Any stress is minor...so far. ;D
 Today's main task was to get the lawn tractor running and get the grass cut. I tried Sunday, but no go. It was pulling fuel into the fuel filter. So I got a new filter from down at Bill's and changed it out last evening. Still no joy, then it just wouldn't crank with a full chrage on the battery. I thought it was the solenoid from all the cranking I was doing. Happened before, a few years ago. I quit for the night when I started getting ticked off.
 This morning I fiddled with the ignition switch which was very loose and after a bit it cranked. I also recalled a problem I had in the past where the fuel pump diaphragm dried out and would not suck gas until I ran the engine at full rev. SO I fed gas into the carb and got it started for a few seconds at a time and it started pulling gas. Eventually it started and ran fine. I shut it down and it restarted no problem, so I mowed everything and out it away feeling victorious. I had lunch and answered a email for a property consult job, which turned into an appointment later in the day after a phone call.
 My wife has been on a tear lately about all these companies who will not let her discuss billing issues because the account is in my name, credit card companies, cable, phone, celss, etc. So she gave me a list of companies to call and get her name on the account. Some are easy, others are over an hour on hold. Not a lot of fun. I still have one left. Cable companies SUCK!
 During dinner we had a line of rain come through, nothing really heavy, just good rain for 15 minutes, then done. I am sitting at my desk and hear this CRASH. I go out and look. We took a 4" dead branch come through the garage roof, an ugly hole near the peak. Looks like a leftover from the ice storm. We took two trees on that roof with no damage back in March, now this one pops through. We have a chiro appt tomorrow, but besides that I guess it's ladders and roof work. After I finished assessing the damage I get an order from Bill for 50 1x8's and 7 2x6's. I have already scheduled a consult job Monday and planned a trip to Logrite on Tuesday, plus the roof work tomorrow and Saturday. I am not sure how I am going to piece in the shingles and I have to find some shingles to do it with. At my age, I hate roof work.

Tomorrow is another day I guess.

[Old Greenhorn]

After my last post I was texting Bill to 'polity inquire' as to how that lumber order came up so short. He just texted back he would stop in on the way home. A bit later i heard a back up beeper and assumed he was backing the 550 in my driveway. I walked out with a beer in hand for him and found this:



 

I gave him the international arm signal for "What the hell is this?!" and he just laughed and said the "price was right."
 Now he is trying to figure out what to do with it. Toy hauler, maybe?
 I sure don't have to go far for entertainment around here.

[Hilltop366]

Mobile bar.

He can call it "The blue bird of happiness"

[WV Sawmiller]

Employer/Employee  Customer/Contractor

(There, I fixed it. :D)