Trees

I noticed my neighbor on the ridge had someone cleaning up her dying trees at the edge of her yard. She has had these guys out there before doing work for her. I drove by slowly to see what they were doing.

One of the big guys gave a regular country wave as I started to go by. Now, by nature, I'm not the sort of person who just stops and talks to strangers. But. 

I'd been having trouble getting any recommendations for people that cut down trees. There are so many services that have sprung up in the past few years, it makes your head spin. I've called and had no luck. I've had others search for me with no luck.

So I stopped. I figured, no time like the now.

I'm little, this guy was HUGE as in very tall and very imposing. However, he smiled and walked towards me.

I stuck out my hand to meet his big meaty paw and said:

"Hi, I see you are dealing with Linda's trees. I was curious if I could ask you to stop by my place and look at two trees I have that need some work so they don't fall down on my pole shed."

"Oh sure we can! We have to finish up this job and do another job over at the church," he pointed across the ridge. "But we can come down and take a look at what you need this afternoon. I'm Don Stussy, and he pointed to another fella and that's my brother. We do trees."

I looked over and saw the Stussy Tree Service truck with a boom on it. Perfect. These guys were local and have been around for at least 30 years. 

"We did Linda's fencing back a while ago too." He offered.

"I recall that! You did a great job."

I gave him directions to my house and then waited for them to show up.

The guys showed up later and walked around the two locust trees I've wanted trimmed or cut down for years.

One of them walked around one of the trees and said, "Well dang look here, you can almost see through this tree." He pointed out where holes were in the upper trunk.

"Ma'am, these will come down, don't know why they haven't. I see what you mean, be a shame to ruin your nice pole shed."

The guys walked around and sized things up and we chatted.

"We'll be here next week after we get the church done," Don said. The others nodded. "We'll cut them down and you can use what we leave as posts. $800 bucks a tree, how's that sound?"

"Deal." We shook hands and I'll see these guys next week.

I've only been trying to find someone to do this job for 5 years. Granted, with the garage mess no longer there, the job will be much easier to do. 

No wonder I've never found these guys on the internet, they don't do internet. They are good ol' boys with cell phones and no time for social media. However, word of mouth is how they get referrals. 

Don handed me a card that was made out of card stock and home printed and laminated. I wrote down my cell number on the back of another and gave it to him.

Looks like I'll have a huge brush pile when all is done. Bonfire this winter anyone?

Not only that, I'll be able to look up at the NE sky in the future too!

Success

The De-construction project has been successful. I have one more project that needs to be done this fall and then I am finished with project work for at least a year. 

I'm pretty much worn out from all that I've gotten done the past 6 months.

This is the part of the ugliness I looked at for so many years. We do have a beautiful place in this hollow. Really, we do!

But when anyone pulled up to the house to visit or make a delivery, this is what they saw just north of our house.

I, of course nagged my husband for years to get the place cleaned up. However, he was never well enough to tackle this overwhelming job.

I hired Patrick from Midwest Excavating to get the job done. This is a shot from my 'security camera' that I captured when Patrick was working. You can see the proximity of the mess to my back door.

I had to look at that mess for 14 years. You've seen this shot before.

The view from my back door became this:

Now 3 weeks later? The grass has filled in around the concrete pad and it looks so much different. Another shot from the top of the machine shed.

I put items in the gravel there for two reasons. The ground under parts of it were still a bit soft and I don't want UPS or any other heavy vehicle leaving ruts. I also need to go over the gravel area a few more times with a magnet to pick up any nails or chunks of metal. 

I worked on revamping the east side garden yesterday. I'm making a mess, but I am moving some of the bulbs that are next to the house to another spot. 

This summer:

After two days of cleaning up the weeds and the dead stuff:

Hey! No messy dilapidated garage in the background!

I pulled out all the border rocks and had to dig out two trees that wanted to grow next to the foundation. I dug out the grasses and cleaned out the flowers. I normally leave all it winter for insects and birds. This year it really needed a clean up. I didn't want to wait for Spring.

I transplanted 20 or so tulip bulbs to another area as they were getting so crowded. I moved 2 Blazing Star bulbs out away from the house. The birds love the seeds from that plant.

I took out Iris plants by the score and still have more to move around. In 10 years they have multiplied like crazy so I'm going to find some a new home. I also trimmed back the spreading phlox and replanted [hopefully] them by an area that is too difficult to mow.

The flowers around the porch are still going like crazy. Zinnias, Cosmos, Borage that has re-grown and re-flowered, and the Nasturtium flowers...wow.

I should just plant those flowers. They are so much fun. They have tried to take over the porch but I cut them and the morning glories back. They are now shining along with the marigolds in this fall weather in yellows and oranges. They are still attracting bees and showing off along with the orange cosmos which are very bold and beautiful too.

By late afternoon, the dogs and I decided to go out to the 'camp' and hang out in the hammock. As the afternoon cooled off, both dogs piled on me and we kept cozy enough to take a nap together.

The view above wasn't too bad either.

When we headed home for supper, these two insisted on riding the 4 Wheeler with me.

I do wish they would be the ones to open up the gates for us to pass through. Oh well, they are cheap help!

I worked hard all day while my little co-workers supervisors looked on.

Sunday.
It looks like a day of rest and relaxation for us. 

Progression and work.

 First a shot of the pile of 'scrap' as it progresses with the old scrap Dude Don and his brother.

14th of March, my son, Jeremie,  is working on cleaning up in front of the crushed garage.

The 24th of March. Not a huge difference, but the two riding mowers that were buried in the weeds were moved out next to where I park. I asked Don what did he intended to do with them. I was afraid the mowers would be left there in my way.

He'll be back Saturday with his trailer and winch. The mowers will finally find their way to Mower Heaven. 

In June of 2013 we had a huge rainfall with extreme winds that dropped trees on our garage. Our

vehicles were not damaged. 
But the garage was.
The cars were not parked in the garage

at that time.

Rich got sick the next year, so
we never got around to fixing things.

This is the part of the winter 'pasture' and a small pen we used for the special needs equine we raised that needed special daily care and that was close enough to the house that we could walk out and take care of them. Eventually that part of the yard became part of the pasture.

I've decided to return it to yard this year so I started pulling all the t-posts and collecting the hot wire. 

I finally did get that one fence post in the photo pulled after some more heaving and pushing.

I pulled and moved 25 t-posts. 

The view out the window in the future will show a mowed yard where the yellow is and further out will be a field. I plan on riding in the field. 

The equipment that is to the left of this photo will be sold at auction. Two manure spreaders, two trailers, a tractor and other 'good' stuff that had become part of our landscape.

I'll fence the meadow back in after the bulldozer has done its work and I've seeded it down. Over the summer, it will be brush hogged to keep the weeds down. I don't want to use it as pasture for a long time. With only 3 mules, I don't need as much pasture.

The big shed looks like a disaster area at the moment, but sort of an organized disaster. Don and his brother are quickly sorting, the good, the bad, the ugly. I keep the ugly. Like old tarps, nasty old cardboard boxes, broken plastic pails, and other such wonderful things. 

All of the tools stay along with all of the wood working tables, welders, and other things that will go well at an auction. 

I am simply amazed at how well these guys work. I will spend Sunday tagging things around the other shed that I don't wish them to take. There is a nice chain link kennel that I will save along with a few other things. 

Once they go in the busted old garage, I can have Frank come an demolish it.

Below is a photo of part of the north end of the summer meadow. Pat--the guy who will do Forest Mulching will clear this section for both the mules and I. 

When the mules are rotated out of this area, the pups and I will be practicing camp outs. Years ago hubby had a deer stand in that mess. 

I've climbed into it and love the view. Pat will clear out all the briars and brush around it so I can sit above the forest and watch the day break.

I've yearned to do all of this work for many years. Rich always felt he could get back at it. 

His scrap stuff was his baby. He used to do scrap work and earn money. He also used the scrap to create things that we needed around the farm. His talent in welding was known far and wide.

This 'stuff' was his, he couldn't part with it even when he was sick and dying. I honored him by not nagging [too much] about getting rid of the 'stuff'. I almost feel guilty about sending his 'stuff' off with Don and his brother.

The pen in front of the house will be returned to yard with a flower garden to attract bees, birds, and butterflies.

On Wednesday afternoon, I did take some time out for myself. Charlie is always under the weather for a few days after his Distemper shot. Hannah had a booster, so the two of us took a late afternoon hike at the Reserve. We visited the ponds and listened to thousands of Peepers!

We saw some turtles and watched some Canada Geese.

Hannah and I met some bird watchers. We talked about puppies, turtles, geese, swans, and beavers. Then we continued on our little walk.

Hannah had her first solo hike without Charlie and led the way.

I let Hannah trace our steps back and she did an excellent job at it. She retraced our trail almost step by step until we got to the Visitor's Center.

I cannot believe how much work I've been able to get done this month. I had figured it would take me years to accomplish anything noticeable.

But

I know a guy

is working.

They call it a Slash.

 I did some more digging into logging forests and the messes that are left behind. The loggers only take the logs that will earn them money. The tops are cut off and left lay. Other trees are damaged by the logging and are left standing. Trees that are cut and discovered hollow are also just left to lay.

They call it Slash.

The mess can serve a purpose. The logs decay providing nutrients to the soil.  The debris can prevent erosion and will provide cover for animals. 

[To me this didn't seem as though it would prevent erosion...however....]

The tree tops apparently provide food for deer as they are browsers and will eat the ends of the branches.

Yet I keep thinking that the people who own the land are not conservationists. I doubt there will be any replanting of the trees, but one can hope that trees will grow back. Well trees would grow back IF there were seeds left behind or saplings untouched.

The damage done to the oaks may be permanent and spread as Oak Wilt is an issue in our area.

I imagine that in a few years, this forest will produce amazing fungi and slime molds as well as a some sort of transformation. 

Yesterday afternoon I got a text from Glen the Hunter. He leases the part of the forest I photo'd and the woods all the way through the valley. Glen is a bow hunter and only hunts the land for a few weekends a year. He parks often at the edge of our property to hunt. We made an agreeable arrangement for access to the meadow about 6 years ago.

He always texts me to let me know when he is coming to check cameras or when he is hunting. He is from the Kenosha area of Wisconsin where I used to live. He generally stops and visits a bit each year. 

I texted back, asking him to give me his opinion on the logging on the land he'd leased for hunting. At the end of the day I got a text back with an apology for not stopping out to visit. 

"It is a mess!" His ATV broke down while checking on cameras and he said they had a terrible time dragging it out. If one could read through the lines of short texts...he was as shocked as I was. A bit later he texted me back and said that the owner ... said they would 'clean it up'. The emoji sent with it was a figure shrugging. 

I replied that the only cleaning up of that magnitude would be by bulldozer. My opinion.

Glen then asked if I'd keep an eye out for property for sale, as he sold property in Kenosha and was looking for property in our area.

We talked a bit. I'll skip over most of it. Glen then offered to purchase my place and let me live here. Bold move by text, but his heart sounded like it was in it thinking he'd help me out by a huge influx of money.

This was the third time someone had expressed wanting to purchase my place this past week.

I of course wouldn't do such an arrangement. I would be a tenant in my own house and there would be too many variables that could occur.

I think Glen was rather shocked at the condition of the land that he has leased now for the past few years. He leased it because of the amazing forest. I doubt he will lease it after this year.

Last night I was trying to get to sleep and I couldn't help but think about the forest to the east of me.

Can you imagine the fire danger if we have a drought?
Yeah. I should just pretend the forest next to me no longer exists.

Slash can be cleaned up with forest mulchers which are machines with large grinders. It can also be cleaned up with bulldozers which pile the Slash for burning.

I highly doubt that the absentee owner of the land will put that kind of effort and money into cleaning up nearly 500 acres of forest after it is logged.

I learned something new today. 

Slash.

It seems an appropriate word for this kind of logging.

Never thought of it in this manner.