Making it through another year '21-'23

[Old Greenhorn]

All kidding aside I really like that hat. It's shorter than anything I have so does not need to be folded up when worn, except when you come inside  ;D, which was how I had it in the photo I think. But under a hardhat it works just super and I don't need the hardhat liner installed (which was never comfortable anyway). So yeah I meant what I said, it's my favorite winter hat now. My wife hasn't tried hers yet and she may not get a chance. :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Well the last couple of days I don't seem to be burning things up. The little stuff consumes a lot of time it would seem. Yesterday I packed up my first approval shipment of those cremains boxes and got them off to UPS. Boy those folks are mighty proud of their service! 40 bucks for an 8 pound box and a sassy kid at the counter I wanted to smack in the mouth. ;D I usually charge for folks that give me sass. But they are on their way.
 It's been warm, but moist, but really warm the last 3 days. I should have been working outside yesterday, but that dampness, well. I spent the afternoon rebuilding that loginator my client broke. He won't break this one. ;D two layers of 6/4 boards, glued and screwed. It's a bit heavier, but he should be happy with it. So that's done, did some cleanup and re-arranging in the shop.
 Today it was really warm in the morning so I texted Bill to see what he was up to. He was just finishing a big special tree removal and was headed back to the shop, I went down and met them hoping to do some mushroom logs, but these trees he wants out require mechanical backup for the safety of surrounding equipment and facilities. But he got a call that the Prentice loader he had bought at auction 14 months ago finally made it to town. He had to go to the yard up the road and pick it from the TT onto one of his smaller trailers to get it to his yard.. Apparently, this was a social event as he sent one of his guys to get donuts and coffee for a bunch of folks and invited me along. I opted for other chores I needed to do, but did take a load of eggs down and restock the stand on my way to town. I saw them all in the yard looking over the loader and planning the pick and drinking coffee, I waved as I went on by. and got milk, beer, and gas, I already had my eggs. ;D
 Came home, had lunch, piddled in the shop and tended the stoves. Eventually I saw Bill drive by with the loader on his trailer, so I finished up my little stuff and headed back down. We messed around with a bunch of stuff, never did get the loader off the trailer, just parked it for now. It will replace the loader on his log trailer, log truck, or forwarder, I don't recall which and it might change anyway. :D So we piddled on other stuff, I took two trees right next to his OWB and needed a push on one, which we did with that new bobcat stand on tracked machine. Pretty neat little gizmo, that one. While I was measuring and cutting he was throwing the logs in the grapple and loaded them in my truck while I was throwing the brush in the OWB. Then I took another RO that has been bothering all of us, because it's in a bad spot (Bill's wife put her first dent in her new truck with it and has scorned that tree ever since  :D.) It finally got the top broke in a storm a month ago, so I knocked that down. Only got 3 logs out of it, all small ones. We mounted some tires after that, and did a few other things and it was quitting time, so I headed home. I checked the shop stove and once again, it made me smile. 
 I documented on another thread how I have figured out the issue with my stove and have been trying an adjustment which is working out extremely well. Well it's working great to hold a consistent overnight burn with ease, but now I also notice that during the day I no longer have to keep adjusting the air inlet. One setting pretty much regulates the temp all day now. Noramlly I would have expected just a few coals when I got back late this afternoon, but no, I had a nice bed and the shop was at 65°. Since it's working so good, I decided to push my luck tonight and I set the overnight load at 8pm, rather that 9-10:30 pm when I usually do it. It's a decent load of wood, but not as stuffed as I usually do it. The temp was 67 when I filled it and put the setting down. It's 65 now and I am hoping it will be 55-59 or better by morning. Let's see how we do. I am easily amused.
 Tomorrow I am hoping we can it into a good pile of mushroom logs if Bill can cut me some time to run the equipment. Maybe I will get some play time on that stand up machine, it's kind of cool with it's cute little grapple.  I just need some 'seat time' to get used to it rocking back on those tracks every once in a while. Being in a seat is one thing, standing up is somewhat different. :D

[GRANITEstateMP]

Tom, my buddy uses a Toro Dingo for tree work. That is also a walk behind and that machine gets USED! Grapple, bucket, forks, and he has a fancy broom that he puts on to clean up at the end of jobs. Manual broom, not power, works on pavement and lawns.  More time on it, and you'll be walking it home to help with all sorts of chores

[Old Greenhorn]

Well he bought that thing in the early summer and since then, this is the first time I have seen it back in the yard. It just goes from job to job. His guys love it because it is gentle on yards and greatly reduces the amount of prep and cleanup on small jobs. I had moved it around a little when the salesman first brought it in for a demo (of course, it never left) but yesterday was the first time I got on it again. Very simple, nimble, and quick. What's not to like? The grapple will lift most logs and more than one might think although it is a bit smaller than the one on the toolcat, so lifting bundles of mushroom logs takes a bit more trips. The added visibility makes it easier to do more delicate things with it also. So many toys! Late in the season, the salesman brought by a used Bobcat SXS and that is still there too. ;D The guys just put on the hard cab doors, windshield and heaters this week. That is filling a nice niche between the JD Gator which needs tires and the toolcat for running around.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

  Congrats on the sale of your boxes. I am glad you did not smack the kid but be assured if you had we'd still write to you in prison. Besides, don't most prisons have a pretty complete workshop? ;) You may finally catch up on your projects. :D Did you sell to a vet or direct to a pet owner?

   Keep us informed how this works out.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I didn't sell anything yet. I SHIPPED them (to a full service Vet practice). I will wait and see what the reception is on the other end. If they are not happy, I am not happy. I think I'd prefer they just kept a few to have on hand and pay me when they sell and I can replace them. But we will work all that out after we make sure they are satisfied, that comes first.

 I have mixed feelings about these because I really don't want to see anybody need one and not sure how I feel about making money off of someone's loss and grief, but on the other hand it is a necessary service that may help bring someone peace. So there is that.

 Also, it's your fault, so at least I have somebody to blame. :D ;D

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   I have been married for coming up on 46 years so get in line as I am used to be being blamed. :D

   You are not taking advantage of someone's grief. You are helping them through a very trying time so consider it an act of kindness. I promise you they will thank you for your help. 

    So you just shipped them to the vet so they can look at them. Maybe leave them a few months on consignment if the Vet is uncertain as to whether they will sell and if they sell the vet may want to buy replacements or you can choose to provide more on consignment if both of you agree to the arrangement. Good luck.

[Old Greenhorn]

I am sure, whatever we come up with will be equitable. "The Vet' knows what he is looking at and what he wants so I will let him decide. And if it doesn't work out we can Both blame it on you, because you gave "The Vet" the idea in the first place. :D  I don't think you have been following along in your reading here too carefully. :D But I'll leave it at that for now.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well, my biggest concern would be not to pith off the "vet". :D He might pass along your home address as a shelter for everyone's homeless and unwanted cats. ;)

[Old Greenhorn]

Well Howard, now I think you just gave the Vet another idea. I hope he doesn't follow up on that one. ;D Gee golly, you are just FULL of ideas, aren't you? :D

 By the way, we have been married 46 years and I know that having someone to blame is not really important but it can be handy.

[Nebraska]

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, first the overnight stove load went great. It was 61° in the shop when I woke and it was still the same when I went out there at 9am, amazing stuff that. It's 62 out there now I haven't worked out there all day, just put in some junk wood (not much compared to prior to the change) and it held all day. I went down to Bill's around 10, he wasn't there, off doing a road survey up a mountain in the next town. Walked the woods a bit with his dogs, then came home, had lunch, checked the stove (nothing to do there ) and made contact, so I headed back down, we BS'ed for a bit and got to it. He had some bigger trees that needed to come down for other reasons (shading his solar array) so I got to drop a few 22" DBH RO's which was fun, they were about 70' tall or so. We got some decent saw logs out of them as well as my logs. We also knocked down an 80' EWP for the same reason. We cleared a lot of dead junk in the process. Bill doesn't like that I only left a 1" hinge, thinned in the center on a big red Oak he had to push over (lean), thought it was to thin and before I cut it he half joked "save the little EWP there" which was 3 inch diameter. I dropped one fork on each side of that stem with my 'puny' hinge. Of course, the top of that tree took out 3 others on the way down. ;D
 We cut a new 'road" (path) into this section for the SXS to pull out my logs and that was fun. Opened it up a bit too clearing and cutting out the dead rotten stuff.  All in all, property improvement. I know little Inga likes to play in that area so now it's just easier for her to run around in safely without all those dead saplings and hemlock branches sticking out everywhere.

 I didn't count anything, but we loaded about 20 something in the truck to fill it and probably have another 15 or more I will pick up tomorrow.  I came home soaked through from the waist up with sweat, so a pretty good day in my book. But I am a little tired. The skid steer and SXS as well as a second man sure did make that go a lot easier. ;D :D I couldn't do those trees wiothout a pusher, because if it went wrong I would be doing a LOT of damage. (Crushed equipment trailers are really embarrassing, especially when they are full.)
 Tomorrow I will do the rest of the pickup and maybe can get Bill to help me actually put flags on the other trees I can take myself. He always points and say "that one, and that one, and yeah, get that one too." Five minutes later I don't know which trees he was pointing at. I need flags, then we BOTH know.
 I'm tired and it's time to feed the shop stove, then the house stove, then bed. Tomorrow is another day.

 Nebraska, you are, um, well, I don't know a word for it. But that's what you are. :D   You are just gonna let it ride? OK, I can go with that and we'll see how it plays out.

[Nebraska]

I'm mostly tired Calving/lambing/ kidding season is up on me.  Was lucky...(blessed)  last night on call all four worked out pretty well.

[bigblockyeti]

I'm mostly tired Calving/lambing/ kidding season is up on me.  Was lucky...(blessed)  last night on call all four worked out pretty well.

I was at the Biltmore a couple weeks ago and they had a pair of very pregant goats.  I asked if anyone was on call or if there were live feed cameras so someone could give assistance when needed.  The attendant told me they just pretty much take care of themselves.  I was a bit surprised by this as the budget for pretty much any and everything around there seems substantial.

[Old Greenhorn]

'Mostly tired' is how I feel tonight, but not as much as I expected although my legs might be a tad wobbly from climbing over rocks and logs all afternoon. I can imagine how this 'season' goes for you and it just take it as it comes, shift to shift and hope for the best, then get some sleep and do it again. Am I close?

BBY, I don't see your location, so I have no idea which 'Biltmore' you are talking about. Is it a semi-tourist place? Sounds like they are more concerned with what the patrons see than what is going on. The livestock is just window dressing?

[Old Greenhorn]

Ah well, another day another dull chain. :D As mentioned before, working on mushroom logs trying to catch up to the existing orders. Also as mentioned, we got a bunch Saturday. I went back yesterday and Bill's Pop was there while Bill worked on his truck to fix a broken headlight. I cut up some more and threw them up on the 'landing' and had to carry them about 40' to the truck, which is when I really feel those 10" logs. I think I got about 40 logs over the two days. Bill said he was going to 'work on the house' so I cleared out so as not to distract him, came home and did other stuff, but I mentioned that Pat and I were going out to diner at a local watering hole (The Hickory Pit). 
 On the way out to dinner I got a call from my regular client that does mushroom workshops, he is working out his schedule for the year and already has a few on the calendar. Wanted to make sure I could supply his logs. More work. ;D  SO we had dinner and just as we were paying up, Bill walked in, so we stayed and had another round with him and watched some kind of big football game going on. Bill mentioned that after I left his place, he decided to drop another 7 big stems or so. About half were EWP, no use to me, but some nice straight saw logs. He bucked and pulled all the saw logs up on the landing and left the hardwood (RO) tops for me to cut through for my logs.
 So this morning I went back and grabbed his SXS and found the path in (with inches of clearance around truck bodies and stacks of septic tanks :D). I was marking and cutting for a while and 'felt' something behind me. 


 

 Apparently the dogs have pretty much given up barking at me when I come in. They will still bark like mad to announce that I am walking up to the house, but I guess I am just another part of the furniture in the yard now. ;D This one is Hercules and he is just a puppy, still at the dumb/clumsy stage. I think they got him last spring and he is sweet, dumb, and very loveable and affectionate. He drives the other dog, Sadie, on old gal, some kind of sheepdog and very smart, crazy with his antics and playful behavior. He is twice her size already, but she sets him straight when it's needed. For a while we didn't know if Herc would last on this place because he was fascinated with the chickens and killed several, but we seem to have him broke of that, thankfully, because he's a sweet dog in all other respects and I like him.
 Anyway, Herc came by to keep me company and try to help. He was up my butt for a bit, but when I started the saw back up he moved about 30' away and just hung out, (he's learning) when I started picking and moving logs, he was trying to help. So I worked with him on getting sticks and he would get them, but take them somewhere else and put them in a pile. Never got to the log stage. :D He's a good boy and nice company anyway. 
 Bill's guys came by to grab a truck, trailer, and skid steer. They visited and few minutes and went off to the job. Then Bill came by for some other gear, dump truck and chipper, they were all headed to the same tree job. He visited for a bit, then got back to work too and headed out. I got my second load in the truck and headed out too, it was full.
 As careful as I am, I still find dirt in the logs and when I hit it, the chain goes out quick. So after my first load, I just grabbed another saw and finished up the last dozen logs with that. Not worth the time to sharpen there. I haven't run the 450 in a few weeks anyway, so it needed to run. Got home, returned several calls, had lunch, unloaded the truck, sharpened the 562 and did a beer run (it's important to lubricate the machine). I should have shuttled firewood into the shop and house, but I just ran out of time before diner.
 Thus ends another day in paradise.
 I was supposed to have a client coming for a pickup at 2pm and had other phone calls to return. The client canceled and we made a better plan for Thurs. or Friday. I can finish his order by then.
 Tomorrow I will whack another tree, collect those logs and then go from there. That will be 4 days straight working on logs and my old back is starting to get tweaky again. Cutting and bucking is easy light work, carrying to the truck, then unloading and carrying to the pile is what I think wears me a bit. But, I am hanging in there and not popping advil yet more than normal. Tomorrow is another day....

[Nebraska]

 

 

 

 

Guess what came from little Brown Santa Claus..   

[Old Greenhorn]

Well hey, look at that! (Maybe Howard will put it all together now?).
 I hope they work out for you and fill a void.

[aigheadish]

How do I get a shirt!?

Nice display Nebraska.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Here Kitty, Kitty. Do you and all your homeless friends want to go to New York? :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Howard, once again, you lost me. :D Have you figured out where these boxes went?
Austin, gee I dunno. I don't have much of a shirt budget, actually right now I don't have much of a budget at all. :D :D These shirts aren't as cheap as they used to be. I needed that shirt for packing to keep the box tight. Apparently it was not enough, but that's another story. If I sell the mill (more in a bot), then maybe I will order some more, but really I just got them for the business to wear when I was out in public and needed something clean to wear. ;D
--------------
Well yesterday I took two nice trees but only got 20 (bigger) logs it they wore me out because those dang things are so heavy. They filled the truck bed.  I'll be glad when this client picks up his load tomorrow and I can go back to 4-6" logs. I messed around in the shop the rest of the day after unloading, I was pooped.
 Bill called in the morning yesterday and asked if I would consider selling the mill finally. He has been gently harping on me for almost a year now. He sees no point in me keeping that mill since I have little support equipment, it beats the heck out of me, and he has two mills I can run anytime and do any of my work I choose. He also thinks the cash would allow me to get some equipment upgrades in the shop or whatever I need to move forward, wherever that is. Anyway, it seems he found a guy that might be interested. SO I thought about it a bunch and today I went out to look the mill over and get it running. It hasn't been fired up in more than a year and a half, since I started running his mill. It took a little bit, but it fired right up. I had to oil and grease some stuff and free things up, but in about a half hour it was humming and I left the old blade on it, rolled up a 5' long 26" ash log, took a opening slab off, then a 3" slab. All good to go. It could use a little more of a wipe down, but it's in good shape. I sent a text off to the potential buyer. If he changes his mind, I think I will start whacking up some of this stuff I have laying around. The old gal isn't looking too bad.


 


 It did feel good to make a little sawdust of my own. Selling the mill would give me some working capitol, which would help, and frankly I have not been using it. If it does sell, I will have to come up with a plan to get my logs down to Bills and get them milled up and upgrade my air drying racks with hard rooves (roofs?). We'll just see how it goes. I am pretty sure I can sell it for more than I paid for it. Of course it's in better shape than when I bought it.

 We will see what tomorrow brings.

[doc henderson]

funny, but I was just thinking that you really no longer need a mill at your place assuming you and Bill cont. your symbiotic relationship.  any way, put me down for a shirt as well!!!   8) 8) 8)  You would be one of the few that can sell in the bubble and not need to buy in the bubble. In a few years and the bubble bursts, you can buy a bigger better newer mill for less than new cost from someone who thought they needed it but never really got the hang of it.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

As I mentioned in the past if the insults continue you should not be surprised if your name and address get posted prominently in key locations suggesting you are looking for any and all stray cats and dogs to adopt. Just feel free to drop them off day or night. ;)

Unless you think you and Bill are likely to have a knock down, drag out break up where you would no longer have access to his mill then selling your mill now may be a real good idea to realign some cash into areas where it might be more useful. I would look at the possibility of what happens if you lose access to Bill's mill and consider what that that would do to your operation. Would it shut you down or just be an inconvenience?

Good luck.

[Old Greenhorn]

Howard, sorry but I missed the insults. None were intended for sure, after all who's your buddy? We don't need no more stray cats, although the coyotes need to eat too. :D I just didn't think you had figured out what was going on here, but I guess you are up to speed now.
 Yeas, as far as the relationship with Bill goes, I expect it will continue until I become senile, forget who my friends are and lash out at everyone. I often think that Bill is more concerned with my welfare than I am. I just hate these 'fork in the road' choices. But honestly I think selling it is the right and best thing to do. But we don't even know if this guy wants it yet.

 Doc, sorry, you've been on my list for a long time, I just never seem to get around to it. I guess I have to order some more shirts. Last time I ordered shirts (first 5 months of the COVID thing) it took 4 months to get them and it cost me a lot more than I thought or expected.

[aigheadish]

I don't want one for free, Tom, tell me what you want for one. I'm happy to pay a few bucks (or 30whatever) to support a buddy! 

Also, did we talk about selling that mill to me? I feel like we did but my memory is poor. Let me know if your potential buyer backs out and if you are serious give me a price to make me consider a bit more. It's another thing that I don't really need, and the wife may beat me until I make some neat stuff for her (she's wanted a tv stand for a while), but I'd be interested. Especially buying used from someone I know that takes care of their stuff...