22 April 2014

In the morning, using the steel cable and tractor, took down two trees that were leaning the “wrong” way, i.e., over the wood walkway.  No problems doing that as a one-person operation.  Fyles Brothers propane truck arrived late morning to replenish the 14 gallons that Dolores has sucked down in the last week.  Thirsty little Devil!  Started raining (as forecast) at noon, so headed into Brandon after lunch to do errands.  Bet you think I was after more ice cream!  Was still raining when I returned to Fern Lake and didn’t think it wise to climb a wet and slippery 28′ extension latter propped precariously against a severely leaning tree to attach the steel cable, so made a spaghetti sauce instead and prepared for the meeting tomorrow with Sean LaFlam (general contractor) and Dennis Senesac (HVAC subcontractor project manager).

21 April 2014

Spring is officially here: last of the snow melted today and I saw the first black flies.  Finished removing the trees that were in the house foundation excavation area, then started on the ones that need to come down to make way for the sauna building.  Only had one go bad (mis-cut the hinge, whereupon the tree tried to go down 180° from where I wanted it), but used my newly purchased 100′ long steel cable and the tractor to rectify my mistake… and keep the tree from landing on the wood walkway, which would have been beyond ugly.  Still a lot more trees to take down (plus those at the waterfront that are blocking our view of the lake), and most of those are leaning over the walkway and will have to be pulled down with the tractor.  Another wonderful dinner at Chez Lapidii, with Lynne also in attendance.

20 April 2014

Went with Lynne & Perry into Burlington to enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet Easter brunch with Alverta, Steve, and Mary at the Sheraton Hotel.  Won’t be eating again until tomorrow… at the earliest.  Got back to Fern Lake mid-afternoon and spent a couple of hours reestablishing the house perimeter stakes that somehow got flattened during this past week’s tree removal activities.

19 April 2014

Took down, bucked up, and hauled away the slash from eight more trees at the house site.  All the trees on the north, east, and west sides of the house that needed to be removed now are awaiting their final resting place inside a wood stove.  There still are a dozen trees on the south side of the house site that Mr. Jonsered will attend to early next week.

18 April 2014

Finished cutting up and hauling away the last tree that was down as a result of Wednesday’s Attack of the Beavers.  Figure there are another 15 or maybe 20 trees that need to come down to clear the house site… plus several where the sauna building is going… plus a bunch down by the lake that are blocking the view.  Looks like the beavers will be busy again next week!  Washed and waxed the Kubota, something that SHOULD have been done last fall.  Quite a bit of corrosion evident from sitting covered with salt all winter.  Even from 6 miles away, could hear Gifford’s Wild Blueberry calling me, so went into Brandon to take care of that summons and pick up some more bar & chain oil (which doesn’t taste nearly as good).  Spent much of the afternoon cooking and cleaning.  Marty, Merry, and Lynne came for another scrumptious mega-calorie lasagna dinner with all the trimmings.

17 April 2014

Spent the day removing downed trees and brush from the house site.  Only took me 4 hours yesterday to create a mess that will take me two full days to clean up.  Was pretty whipped by quitting time, which JWB (stirred, not shaken) only partly attenuated. The problem with sitting around doing nothing all winter is that the first few days of real work are beyond brutal… especially when you ain’t no spring chicken anymore.

16 April 2014

Two inches of snow arrived overnight. 80° on Monday and snow on Tuesday… what’s not to like?!?!  Dropped 15 trees at the house site this morning, all landing where I intended.  In the midst of that endeavor the tax assessor showed up.  We had a nice chat.  Unfortunately he was really impressed with the woodshed…  Took off my logging tool belt preparatory to having lunch and discovered that my cell phone was no longer in the pouch where it had been “secured”.  Merde alors! (If you’ll pardon my French.)  Trees and brush and snow everywhere I had walked all morning.  But sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good… just as I reached the last area to be searched, there was the phone sitting in plain sight on the ground.  Spent the afternoon getting the Ranger back running, turning the Kubota back into a skidder, and hauling brush and logs away from the mess I had made in the morning.  Also spent time searching for the phone AGAIN, ‘cause this time it had fallen out of the pants pocket in which it was “secured” (I apparently having learned only part of a lesson earlier today). With the high temp today in the upper 30’s there was nary a mosquito.