16 September 2009

Up to South Burlington to do some maintenance and repair work for Alverta. Looked at pickup trucks on the way back to Leicester. Found a 4.0 liter Ford Ranger in Brandon... at a dealer with a not-so-good reputation and for only $7,000...

15 September 2009

Rained on and off all night. Stump fire still smoldering. Spent the day driving to Pittsford, Center Rutland, Junction Auto, and back to Center Rutland looking at pickups. No luck... but did decide that the 3.0 liter engine in a Ford Ranger is just not powerful enough for my needs, e.g., hauling logs out of the woods.

14 September 2009

Did garlic sauce removal laundry and internet search for pickup trucks at Lynne's in the morning. Stump fire still smoldering. Established stakes for shed turnaround retaining wall arc. Again attempted to use Egyptian water level to establish shed elevations and again got very inconsistent results. Stepped on another yellow jacket nest. Amazingly, even though they were buzzing all around, I did not get stung. Unfortunately, a couple of trees close to the nest will have to come down. Should be exciting... Took the first picture of the house site from the tree stand.

13 September 2009

Did a little branch trimming and cut two small trees at the house site. Now, once Bob LaPorte removes a couple of rocks and the stumps, will be able to drive from the leach field site to the shed site via the house site. Took inventory of the firewood stacked up alongside the driveway and elsewhere... well over 8 cords is drying nicely. Late morning Larry came and took away the Kubota. On a hunch, went across the road to Dave and Ceil Todd's house to see if they knew how to get hold of the Leicester Fire Warden, whose phone had been called at least 50 times (no exaggeration) this summer, but to no avail. In all those calls I never talked to the Fire Warden once -- no voicemail!!!! and the phone was only ever answered twice... by a young child who obviously didn't do so good in relaying a call-back message. All those calls were to find out what kind of permission was needed before burning stumps and/or brush piles. Ceil Todd knew instantly who to call - the Fire Warden's father (OF COURSE!!!!) That august person said, sure, go ahead and burn... and he would let his son know what was going on. Returning back across the road, matches in hand, the weather turned downright ugly -- gusty winds and threatening rain. Not the time to light a large bonfire! But an hour later, rain squall gone (the only daytime rain, by the way, in the last two weeks) ole One-Match Doug, fire-boy-in-charge, tried to light the stump pile... five times. On the sixth try (being a fast learner) I actually built a fire with real firewood upwind of the stump pile, whereupon the blaze started with gusto. Unfortunately, no longer having a loader / backhoe, there was no way to move the stumps around the edge into the fire, so after 8 hours of burning (halfway through which a quick plunge in the lake just felt sooooo gooooood), only about 2/3 of the pile was consumed and the fire was down to a very, very large pile of embers. Dinner was, (what else?) hot dogs roasted on a green stick over the burning pile... along with a bottle of cheap wine... Does life even get any better?

12 September 2009

Putting away the groceries after a morning trip to Middlebury, picked up the infamous jar of Bove's Roasted Garlic sauce by grabbing hold of the lid. Said lid was NOT secure! When the jar hit the floor (sans lid) sauce again went everywhere, including mounds of the stuff on the RV dining area carpet and onto the only pair of "good" jeans and running shoes that I had (note the past tense). Dolores now has a SERIOUS case of measles. Grrrrr... Figuring the day couldn't get any worse, was time to fire up the Stihl and cut down another white oak... this one with a 22" butt. Even though I completely miscut the notch and hinge, the tree fell right where it was supposed to: still on our property but right towards the Glassner's house. Being nobody's booby, had waited until after the Glassner's left for New Hampshire before dropping the tree. By the end of the day all evidence was removed - and logs sufficient for all needed shed beams were in the skid pile. Even though the Kubota's gas gauge was firmly on "E", back dragged the Glassner's driveway until it was smooth.

11 September 2009

While doing some shed design calculations over breakfast, realized that the logs set aside to be sawed into beams for the woodshed just ain't going to be big enough. Need to get six 8" W x 9 1/4" H beams out of the pile, which takes a log with a minimum 12¼" diameter to get a beam that big. So felled two white oaks at the house site, both with 20" butts - and managed to hang up BOTH trees. However, the Kubota proved quite adept at pulling them down. Gotta love the power of hydraulics... and the reach of a backhoe! Took inventory of the logs now on the skid and am STILL short the makings for two beams.

10 September 2009

Finished moving stumps from around the property to the BIG burn pile... 12' long x 8' wide x 6' tall. Used the backhoe to dig out several more stumps from the shed turning circle. Moved mucho loader buckets of compost to cover roots of the big white pine next to shed cellar hole. Bob LaPorte came by after dinner for a beer and to eyeball the retaining wall job -- to be done when I return north in early October.