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After being told about the damage to the hydraulic system (caused when the RV bottomed out while crossing Steve’s field en route to the parking spot) Chree renamed Delores “Dolores” (Spanish for pain). Spent much of this time logging a portion of the softwood stand on our property in Calais. My uncle and cousins planted a 3 acre field with Christmas trees back in the mid-1950’s… which were never harvested. Consequently, today the trees are much too close together, which is keeping the stand from optimal growth. From the pictures you can see what the stand looks like before and after thinning, and the piles of sawmill quality and pulp mill quality logs that resulted from many days of very rigorous exercise. Mr. Jonsered has had a workout! Hopefully my efforts will result in a couple of checks from the mills… and that my labor will net at least $1 per hour… maybe even $1.25! Was cruising along Waterbury flats (one of the few straight and level stretches on I-89) at a sedate 65 mph, taking Dolores back to Pete’s RV to have the hydraulic system damage repaired, when out of nowhere she started shaking so violently that I could barely see the road. Felt like a flat front tire on mega-steroids, only worse. Every drawer flew open, three wine glasses shattered, the wall clock flew off the wall and all the hands flew off the rotating stud), the toaster (which had quit working just that morning) was completely decrumbed, and, in short, the RV interior was totally trashed. Fighting mightily, I managed to keep Dolores on the road and upright, but came very, very close to a major wreck. Fortunately there were no other cars around me when the “incident” happened, as I took the whole road to get her stopped and then over to the shoulder. After I stopped shaking, thoroughly inspected the wheels and suspension… and found absolutely nothing wrong! So, very gingerly put her back on the road, slowly building back up to highway speed. No problems! Got to Pete’s RV a ½ hour later and added a suspension system inspection to the list of repairs. And they found? Absolutely nothing wrong! Had them replace the front shock absorbers anyway, as bad shocks (which could be worn out without external evidence) or bad struts (which are easily inspected and looked fine) are (all agree) the most likely cause of the shaking. On the afternoon of the 24th, Russ Barrett, The Vermont State Forester for Washington County, came up to walk the land and verified that the correct choices were being made regarding how many and which trees to cull. Whew! After two weeks in the shop, Dolores seemed eager to get back to Fern Lake, where we arrived, shake-free, late afternoon on the 28th.
