May 16, 2016 A Bear, A Turkey & 3 Downed Trees

Coming down!

Clean-up time.

Friday 5/13. JB didn't realize today was Friday the 13th.  If he had, he wouldn't have been so surprised at all the things that went wrong with the tree removers.  The trees came down okay, but getting up the road was the issue.  They brought the chipper, but weren't supposed to, and it got stuck just above Larry and Elsie's place.  Things went downhill from there, including having to call the owner to bring another truck on the day that his wife was due to have induced labor. 

While the men were Up Here, they also cut down the small, dead tree in the grove, which was very nice of them.

On my way Down there I saw a bear on our road.  It was probably a two-year old that was a couple hundred pounds and a beautiful light cinnamon color.  Such a great experience!  Further down there was a wild turkey hen on the road.  I had to come to a complete stop as she started running around in small circles in front of me!  Finally she took off down the road and then into the bushes.

Elsie and I had another good day, but after three days in town, I was definitely suffering from too much visual and audio stimulation. . .  It was good to be back up on the mountain.

Saturday 5/14. This morning was 48 and overcast.  It looked like the clouds were going to drop their load at any moment, but they held off until around 12:30 pm.  Then it drizzled for a couple of hours.

JB worked in the shop, sharpening the chains for the chain saw in anticipation of cutting the large branches and some of the rounds that are too long.

With piles of branches and tree-trunk rounds everywhere, it was hard to know where to begin cleaning up.  When the rain stopped, I started with the small, kindling-size sticks that were littering the ground.  I ended up taking several bags full to the wood shed and stacking them.  Then I began to clip the pine-needle clusters and pine cones off the ends of the branches from the tree that was by the porch.  It is a ponderosa pine and usually didn't have many cones, but this year there would have been enough to grow a whole forest full of trees.

After a few hours, it was time for a nap.  Still recuperating.

Our high for the day was 54 and rain started falling again about 6:30 pm for a few hours.

Sunday 12/15. It was 46 this morning.  The rain that began about 4:00 am continued to fall until just after 9:30 am.

After breakfast we moved a pile of large branches away from the south side of the house, then I continued clipping needle clusters and cones.  JB sliced up the small tree from the grove.

This project will keep us busy for quite a while.

Our high for the day was 58.  The sky was overcast all day, but it was a bit brighter than yesterday's gloom.

Tuesday will be my 69th birthday!  I'm not into birthday parties for myself, but I think that next year when I turn 70, I just may have one.

Monday 12/16. It is 44 and mostly cloudy this morning with a breeze.  We plan to move rounds to the splitter with the tractor today, and JB will slice the larger ones down to size.

Thought for the day: Give me one good reason to act my age!