I'll drop in a few pics. See what looks happy.

You know the saying ... "If you can't say something nice ......" . Well, you've read enough. The hits and knees keep coming. But - that's the way it's gonna be. So; let's see .....

I did straighten up a huge, huge mess with my medical care. That's really been on my mind. It's not a minor thing for us. Moving has been a really complicated mess as regards my care. Progress.

When I got here ... I began picking up from the locals ... that they just HATE pine trees. What? Well, there are issues. Many develop a flaw half way up and later can break off in winds. Some can suffer from erosion. The 80 and 80+ foot trees need a clear .... ah .... 80 feet to fall. You can't have nothing for 80 feet around each big pine. We had about 8 standing dead down by the kid's swing and tree house area. Great. And, recent storms had brought down some limbs. From those heights - bad news. I had been advised that there was NO good way to approach felling them. Shake them, and you get a widow maker on your head.

I just simply cannot call in an "expert" on everything that's an issue here. So; yesterday morning ... I devised a plan. Use the tractor bucket as a shelter - under which to make my cuts. Hoping a limb from 80 feet might not do a Coyote/Road Runner routine on me. Pic to follow. We felled the lot. Some of these trees were probably 90'. And, probably 16" across at the butt. I cut a couple of them so clean .... that ... as the high back cut opposite the notch approached the cut off point ... the tree just stood there. I literally put out my hand - leaned/pushed .... and they went down. God knows what they weighed. And ... not really just bragging .... but .... they all went right where I called them. Tools are tools. 50+ years of using tools ... and a tractor is a tool - chainsaw is a tool - etc. So; they are down - laying in a pile.



Sorry. Forgot most pics are on Kelly's phone .... Got some movies on mine of trees falling.

I've continued on the bullet molds. And ... sorry - not trying to pour on the guilt ... the the cast iron adds three to four times the work. IF I retooled my holders and IF I could find a better stock size ... it would help. That's IF I were a professional three shift mold factory. No problem. I've cast enough to have recognized what I considered to be shortcomings on many production molds. And, I designed work arounds and my own solutions. Well then, after you do that ... then you decide to do it that way. That's when you remember .... oh yeah ... this takes way too long ... hahah. So; they are coming. Just slow.




It's been threatening to rain, and raining - forever. I'm sort of over the whole climate here. Please - don't pile on. And, yes - I do know it's going to get hot. It's a real shame we couldn't have moved in and began to work and enjoy the place. It's been nothing but fixing and refixing and re-refixing. Adjusting and re-adjusting and re-readjusting. Beginning to work before the shops are ready - and thus hunting stuff, and rehunting stuff .... etc., etc. Hasn't given the place a fair shake ... but it is what it is. Sorry - wish I'd had a better story for you. I could have lied about it. And then ... you'd have wanted to know why the ledger wasn't done if everything was so perfect. This way .... you just beg me to stop filling you in on the reality. hahah.

I'll post and drop in the pics ... Thanks for reading. I am clawing and fighting for as much solid work shop time as I can get. Guess you figured ... the miserable house in Md. hasn't sold ... not close. No suggestions as to the issue yet. We have absolutely THE best REALTOR team in the area on it. It's got to just be the Gary thing. We'll end up being the ONLY couple to ever move and attempt to sell their previous house. Yep - it's on my mind and it's making everything harder.

Pics ...

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2014 04:55AM by barnespneumatic.

Mold's look great, still working on the new place " huh".....The lack of airgun picture's are painful!!!!!! juuuust kiddin.........TIMBER

Hi Don,

I know. I feel this searing heat from the computer screen. I just didnt have a tree removal co. standing by or thousands of bucks for the job. Had a chainsaw, tractor bucket, knowledge, and two hours. I thought this am - I should have just kept my mouth shut ... Haha.

Good work lumberjack! Oh, the mold looks great too!

Was leaving for post office today - figured we better call. Md. Closed at 5pm. Here it's 4:30pm. Nutz. It was 4:19. Tomorrow it goes out. Priority Mail.

Should be a good tool. Built for the long run.

Gary

Thanks Jerry,

Memorial Day is coming. The family is coming by for a picnic. The kids are gonna be wanting to play around the treehouse and the swings, that were built here on the property by the previous owners. These trees have been bothering me for some time. But - when I saw the load of limbs that have fallen from them ... they had to go. At least now, they are on the ground.

Glad to see that you made it through this latest chore/trial safely. Dropping tall trees is an endeavor fraught with peril, especially when they've been dead for a while. Falling trees and tree branches kill and injure WAY more people up here than bears and moose do, but you never hear about that risk on the Alaska-themed TV shows since it's not "camera-friendly".

There's a lot of potential energy up there, if you do the math. As an example, a two-hundred pound branch (a little one) falling eighty feet is about 16,000 ft./lbs of energy...or roughly four times the muzzle energy of an elephant gun. Not too many people would volunteer to take one of THOSE to the head, hard-hat or not. The tractor bucket overhead is definitely a good idea.

I won't make any comments about how that 16,000 ft/lbs would likely drop the tractor bucket on your head... But I'm glad the job is done without injury.
I don't get to use a chain saw very often, but it sure is fun when that huge tree falls exactly where planned.

Scott