The boys and I headed north yesterday morning and got to our friend's house a little after 9am. It wasn't long before I had my saw and tools unloaded and had a chance to eye the lot of trees to come down. I thought at first I could domino a bunch but ended up going with the safer route of one by one.
The tallest of the trees was about 50 feet with a number all close in size. They dropped the hot wires for the horse who then took off across the property. Then I got to cutting.
The first tree I took down was the one they were most worried about. It of course was a problem right off the bat. I cut the back cut and the tree began to fall, right against another tree. The thing got hung up up high and I was eyeing the support tree but in the end Matt and I pushed the trunk off the stump and it rolled off the hangup and dropped.
The the trees came down in quick order. I dropped 7 trees without a problem. They all landed right where I wanted them to, missing all the fence posts and laying such that they were rather easy to limb.
Then came 3 trees beyond the shed which went nice and easy. I then took a short break before attacking the last 4 trees. These 4 were closest to the house, garden, and sheds and the first 2 went down without a problem. That was when it happened. I had cut the face cuts on the third of the 4 trees and was making my back cut, I tried to reach for the wedge to slam in behind the chain but the tree rocked back and I thought it was going to fall opposite direction. Matt ran over and helped hold it up while I frantically ran and put the choke around the tree then quickly hooked up the come alongs and the chain. I ratcheted the come along and the tree began to fall towards me. It looked like it was going to land right on the shed but at the last second it rolled to the left and missed it completely. I was sweating bullets and had to rest for a bit to catch my breath.
After that excitement there was one tree left which was the closest to the house. I put on my spikes and climbed up the tree about 12 feet and looped the choke around. One of the other trees I had felled got limbed and we used it to pull with. I ratcheted it really tight then cut it down, landing it exactly right and missing the fence posts.
With the last tree down we had 4 chainsaws running cutting all the limbs from the trees and bucking many of the trunks. The big push was to get most of the branches out of the horse pen so the hot wire could go back up.
It was quite the mess on the ground when the trees were all down.
They have my chipper so will be spending the weekend shoveling the branches into it.
The kids then went out riding the quad. J had a blast riding around their property.
R and Aby spent the whole time playing together and ended up on the brush truck watching the kids ride their bikes off the jump.
It was nearing 1pm when the boys and I headed for home. I had gotten the message that my package had delivered so when we got home I was able to open up my 3 pounds of garlic that need to get planted. The Inchelium Red variety is from the Colville Reservation just to the west of us, so I KNOW it will do well here.
I was seriously worn out after the morning so much of my afternoon was spent resting as much as I could.
The cucumbers had a few ready for me. A bit smaller but the plants are still producing. It was only 20 but that make 1620 for the season so far.
I got the fire going in the pit then grilled our steaks for dinner.
I was surprised to make it past an hour soaking as I was expecting to be passed out.
Today I get the fiberglass rods for the front forks on my plane and I will get them installed. It's cloudy so we won't see the eclipse this morning. My glycerin is about done so will strain it, need to pull the couple of rows were the garlic will get planted, and I will grill again tonight.
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