Looking for a place to set up the sawmill

A few years ago Dad bought a small, portable sawmill.  Right now there isn’t a good place to stage the logs for cutting.  So we went out yesterday to look at the top of a hill that he thought would be good.  Ends up that it is too steep, so we may have to do more work around the camper to make the spot.

We both argued about the math, Dad later blamed Edie for having his books.

Met with the forester today

We talked mostly about making the implementation schedule more realistic. We are going to concentrate the efforts around the camper and maybe the west meadow.

We are also on the list for a grant to cover mechanical thinning. Most grants are matching grants, but this one is a full grant because we are bordered by USFS on at least one side.

Finding the Folly 2009

I haven’t been up since March and have really missed the hills.  I’ve been afraid of getting stuck in the mud.

Today was a glory.  Cool in the shade and warm in the sun, it was a nice change from windy Castle Rock.  No work today, but long walks and playing in the water.

Edie brought Dad up with her boys and Michael and I followed a while later.  Dad worked on the crawler and make a flat spot for a tent.  The soil is so nice up there, soft and rich.  I’d like to take a load home for my pots.

March 8, 2009

We went up for the first time since December this afternoon to check on the tractor.  Pretty dry, snow in the shade, but only a few inches.  Dusty.

The tractor started up quickly, so Dad was happy.

MTB cut up some logs which had been cut down last fall and we loaded them into the pickup.

It is time to start a calendar for this summer.  I’m meeting with the forester soon about various things.  More of that to come.

Dad at the crawler

Pretty dry. Breezy today too.

Update – Its Christmas Break!

Work began again and I stopped writing posts, but here we are again.  It is Christmas break and I’ve got an update.   September was very busy.  Dad was up two to three time a week cutting down trees and sectioning the wood.

Michael and Dad are moving logs to dry over a year for the sawmill

Most of the trees infected with Dwarf Mistletoe are straigt and board quality, so we are letting them dry out for a year.

Dad at the controls, Michael chains the logs for moving.

October found us mostly getting firewood in.  I’ve got the fancy new wood burning stove to fill, I’m sitting in front of it as I write.  There was an enormous tree in the pasture with the old farm equipment that fell.  Dad cut some and so did Michael and I.  I think I’ve burned it all.  I’m finding that it goes so quickly!!

What a strange angle, I can't remember why I was cutting like that, I think there was a reason.

Here I am again. Looks a little better.

Of course Michael did most of the work, I'm gratefull to him. Talus happily sat with us that afternoon.

Once we got the wood into Castle Rock, Dad and I split it.

The splitter is noisy, but really does the job. I'd hate to have to use a wedge and hammer

We got the forest plan updated and Dad met with the forester, Meg Halford.  Meg lives down the street from Mom and Dad.  Funny.   I’d like to get up this break, Edie used to go up in her Subaru.  I wonder if mine will go.

The shed, slowly

I worked on the shed last Friday. I spent most of the time prying off the rubber washers around the nail heads in order to have room to slip the pry tool under them. 

I just didn’t want to have all the big holes that I made last time.

My loyal companion kept me company until I started to pack up. That was her signal to run!

I worked about two hours and only got off three sheets. Not happy about this.

Bringing down the Dwarf Mistletoe trees and the broken down shed

This week Dad has been cutting down trees that we marked as Dwarf Mistletoe, but had to stop because some would have fallen on the old shed. My job Friday was to begin taking down the aluminum sheets that were the walls.

The nails are serrated and made to stay in the wood, not to be pulled out. Also they have a rubber washer around the flat end so the aluminum is not dented when the nails are hammered in for a tight fit. These good qualities make dismantling very frustrating.

Damn things were nailed in right!

For most of the nails I couldn’t get the claw underneath the head of the nail to pull it out. So I had to slip the flat pry tool behind the aluminum and try to loosen the nail there. Usually the aluminum just tore over the nail, leaving it in the beam. Very frustrating.

Dad was a good instructor. He is finally learning some patience. He even took some pictures of me with the digital camera.

Overheated and frustrated!

We removed this side of the aluminum, I hope the other two other sides go a little faster. I hope to get up there on Tuesday. I’m going hiking with the canyon ladies to Devil’s Head in the morning and I’ll spend the afternoon working. Probably have a nap in between.

A traditional pose.

While Dad and I were at this job, Michael was limbing and bucking the big tree that Dad cut down the other day. Bucking is forest service term for cutting the trunk into sections. Fancy. Another fun USFS term is swamping. Guess what it means?  Hint: is has nothing to do with stinky wetlands.

I

It was really hot out. Think about the chaps.

A very hot day

It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the hills – the trip to Maryland and Washington DC and working last week (on a team writing the district biology pretest) so Friday MTB and I headed up for a hike.  The day was hazy, maybe from the California fires, and hot.  We took a leisurely hike along the creek bed, to the north meadow and  a little beyond into forest.

There are some large thistle by the camper that were in full bloom.  I don’t know what this insect is.  Any ideas?  Is it a bee or a bee mimic?

We came across a very pretty flower that I have a photo of from a few years ago.  MTB tried to key it out, but without success.

Back at the camper, Dad has been working on expanding the area for the sawmill.  He moved the mill to the space below and moved all the old logs that had been taking up space.  Next week we will remove some oakbrush from the bank and expanding the area.  Both jobs with the crawler.

What I learned from Talus’ adventure and road maintenance

Monday I planned on taking the dog for a hike and then helping Dad. His plan was to install a new tool box on the old crawler, move the sawmill and work on flattening and widening the sawmill area.

While he was working on the first job Talus and I walked the loop that goes west from the camper, north at the potato patch east on the ridge and back down to the camper.

I had my GPS with me and really wanted to get the loop recorded. I’d like to transfer the information on to a topo map.

On the ridge, near the path to the fern meadow Talus took off, I caught a glimpse of two brown figures jumping away and a fluffy, white bottom hopping over a log.

I chased after her and called for about 10 minutes. I decided I had better look for her, but would need my lunch, water and leash before I set off. I knew she would get tired, but I was afraid that she would have been so intent on the deer that she may have lost her way. This has happened to other dogs.

So, I ran down to the camper, told Dad what happened and was inhaling some chicken salad when a very hot and tired dog showed up. I gave her water and food in the shade of the camper shed and there she stayed for the rest of the time. I was very happy to see that she came back, I should know, she always remembers our walks, even after years and we have hiked all over the property over the course of her 9 years.

Dad decided not to move the sawmill, but to work on the road to the ridge instead. I got to try to move and smooth earth, but kept on making bigger and bigger holes. Dad is an expert, of course

When I got home, Talus was just too tired and achy to get out of the car:

This is what I now know: I can trust the dog to take care of herself most of the time, flattening a surface with a bulldozer is a lot harder than Dad makes it look.

All in all a good day and I learned a lot!

The Forest Stewardship Plan Implementation Schedule

Without the implementation schedule that the forester developed the plan would be overwhelming.  2007 and 2008’s jobs seem to be manageable for us. Especially now that we have the crawler.  The plan is for 10 years.

The property is divided into 10 different stands.  This year we are concentrating on stands 4,5 and 10.  These are on the eastern part of the property.

With the crawler we need to upgrade the access trails on these stands.  The trails will serve as fire breaks and access to other stands.  The plan recommends not adding other trails until needed.

In addition to access trail upgrades, our major efforts will be dwarf mistletoe removal.   If possible  trimming is best, but most of the trees are infected high up, so cutting the tree down is the option.  In most of stand 4 thinning is not necessary,  and in stand 10 we really need to try to save the ponderosa that is left from the mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation from the 70’s.  We need to concentrate on keeping the large, established trees.  Spraying these large trees against MPB may be a last resort.  Climbing trees with sharp saws may be in my future.

2009 is a big year.  We need to start removing the ladder fuels in stands 1 and 2.  An example is Gamble Oak.  Also in stands 1,2 and 3 we need to construct a shaded fuel break.  I’m unclear about what this is and how it is different from a fire break, so more on that later.  And lastly, if the spring is nice and wet we need to start planting ponderosa pine seedlings in stand 10.

Insect and disease inspection and control is an ongoing job.  I’ve heard that MPB is starting to be a bigger problem in the foothills.