Sept 29, 2014 Timmberrr!!

Pizza with home-grown tomatoes!

Timber!!!

Friday 9/26.  Put a fire in to get the chill out this morning.  Fog and rain moved in a little after 10:00 am, but both were gone by noon.

JB finally unpacked his go bag as I had done a week or so ago.  So nice to have everything in drawers again.

After lunch we cut another cradle load of wood.  Stacked the larger pieces on the porch, and the rest in the wood shed.

I started reading Vince Flynns series of books, the first one being Term Limits.  Every time I read this book, I think, "If only. . ."

A very warm sun peeked through the cloud cover about 3:00 pm and blue sky began appearing.  Our high for the day was 58. 

Pizza Night!  Tonight, as last Friday night, we made a cheese and sweet onion pizza.  After we baked and cut it, we put on sliced, home-grown tomatoes from Larry and Elsie.  Oh my. . . , regardless of what some of you ex-Chicagoans might think.  Then we watched the last episode of Lonesome Dove.  I think JB needed more kleenex that I did.

Larry and Elsie drove up after Lonesome Dove was over with a new hand-held short-wave radio that Larry just bought.  It is much like JB's, and JB is going to program it for him.

Saturday 9/27.  Today began with 46 degrees and clear skies.  Instead of taking down one of the big, dead trees, we decided to complete our project of cutting up all the branch wood.  There was a lot of large, old, thick and gnarly branches left.  JB cut them into rounds and used the tractor to take them in three loads to the splitter. 

With time still left in the afternoon, we decided to use the tractor to take out all the rocks along our path to the north ridge, as they are in the way for mowing.  I tossed them in the bucket and JB drove them up the driveway.  It took eight bucket loads, compared to Lord-only-knows-how-many wheel barrow loads to create the path.  I felt a little melancholy about doing this, but the path is so well-worn that I think it will look just fine without the rocks.

The skies stayed clear all day and our high was 70.  A very pleasant day.

Sunday 9/28.  It was 53 and partly cloudy this morning, but the clouds soon disappeared and our high for the day was 68.

JB made German pancakes with peaches for breakfast.  Haven't had them in a while and they are so good!

I went on the morning walk with JB and the dogs.  On the way we hiked down to the tree we wanted to fell to look and plan our strategy.  After lunch we went down to do the deed.  Had to trim several branches to be able to get to the trunk and then it took almost two hours to cut it.  It simply would not fall.  Because it was on such a steep slope, JB did not want to be holding the big, heavy chain saw when it started to fall, as he wouldn't be able to move very fast. We finally got a metal wedge and hand saw, but after working with those for a while, an exhausted JB gave up.  I gave the wedge about 10 whacks, used the hand saw for about 10 cuts, and down it came - just where we wanted it.  What can I say. . .

Our son, Jake, called while we were in the middle of all this and said he needed to talk to JB for just a few minutes.  It seems that he had an American flag flown from the new USS America and a Lieutenant friend of his, who is part of the ship's crew, will give it to JB at the commissioning ceremony.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but his friend had answered an email Jake sent to both him and JB, and mentioned the flag.  Jake wanted to tell his Dad about it before he read his email.  JB was so choked up that I had to take the phone and offer his thanks.  Quite a physically and emotionally draining day, but a very good one.

Monday 9/29. It is 53 and clear this morning, and both of us are achy.  Will probably just take it easy today, as we can't slice the tree into rounds until we sharpen the chains for the chain saw.

Thought for the day: Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of those Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Governments. . . . it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their Future Security.  Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence