This is by far one of my most cherished photos and really for only one reason... Yes the White Pine was a nice one, freshly felled in a little snow for ambiance, my chainsaw was in the picture, and my daughter and wife was there to see it all. But it is what you don't know that makes it beautiful. My Daughter had just asked "Why I would cut down such a tree." Listen up Dad's... Yes the world has influence on your children for sure, but they listen to you the most even when they don't act like it. There is something about a Dad, they just crave their approval. So when Alyson asked me this question it was a chance to wipe out all the anti-logging talk that teachers had given her. The tree was actually being milled into flooring for our home, and the small trees around it would be allowed to grow, just like my Great Grandfather allowed this tree to grow. Logging does not kill the forest, it prunes it and allows resources to be gleaned from it. That was what I was explaining to her, and that is what made this moment; captured in a picture, cherished.
Great post, LodgedTree! I've got literally DOZENS of "favorites", one of the things those faves have in common is my baby girl. She's my youngest, and she's a full-blown country girl already. She's ALWAYS out helping me process wood...... This one's from a few years back, all of the wood in this pic was burned last winter after 3 years of seasoning...... And this one is of my middle son, when he was 1 1/2yrs old, with a big buck I shot up on the mountain.....he's almost 16 now....... My oldest son and my wife at his graduation this summer. He was born at 1lb 10oz, and wasn't given much of a chance to live. And then we found out he had autism.....they said he'd never graduate a normal curriculum, he proved them all wrong!! And the love of my life with our two youngest at Emerald Isle this past summer....God is GLORIOUS!! Cherish those little ones, bring them up with a strong sense of family values and morals......those tender years slip away really fast....
Scotty Overkill - You indeed are a lucky man with reason to be proud. That last picture is nothing short of awesome, in the presence of all that is beautiful of Gods creation, you see in the picture what really matters-if that pics not framed on display in the house...forget it, I know it is...
Good looking family and great pictures. Glad to hear your son proved them wrong and I more then likely know why. The answer is very simple, you and your wife never told him he couldn't do it. Support and love is all most need to succeed at anything.
Every year we go out and pick out our own Christmas Tree as a family. Its in our own woodlot and some years they have a nice shape and some years they don't, but the idea is simple, God gave us a resource that we have to take care of and he let a seed drop, nurture and grow into a tree that he knew we would use for a Christmas Tree to celebrate his birth. Nothing wrong with going to a tree lot and picking one out either, its just for us we can, and try to tell our four daughters that even though our Christmas Tree is not perfect, neither are we and yet God still uses us for specific purposes.
One of the things we often do as a family is just go out in our woods and enjoy it. yes I log it, but that does not mean I destroy it. We have even does this in the middle of winter, making a fir-bough campsite, starting a fire and cooking up hot chocolate with water from a nearby stream. We have been told we are so mean as parents because we don't allow computer use on weekends, none have cell phones, and we eat together as a family at night. Yeah we are mean now, but it also will make great memories. One year we even went out and bough $60 worth of geo-stones and "salted the mine" so to speak. I went out before hand and hid them, then took the kids and wife out and let them look for precious stones. With a little help and a hammer, we found them and broke to open to great glee. Only if you have little daughters do you know that ear piercing screech of little girl glee. Katie and I know in a few years they will like boys more then their parents and slowly distance themselves from the nest, and we are okay with that, its just how it works, but today we are making the most of family time.
You know it is funny, there is this group that asks the presidents the same question at the end of their presidential term what they feel the greatest problem is facing this country. I won't turn this into a political thing, and like him or hate him, President Bush Jr at the end of his election....mind you the most powerful man in the world at that time, and who knows more things then I would ever want to, said something interesting. He said it was the demise of the American Family that was America's greatest issue. I agree.
Thanks guys, and especially you Scotty OverKill, I have a lot of respect for you and your own family! Me, I always wanted a son and nearly cried when we found out we were having another girl, but I know this, in the not too distant future, those boys will arrive! This is the picture we put out on Facebook and Emails announcing we were about to have our fourth child. Note the color of the baby shoes! We wanted a boy so bad, but now cannot imagine life with anything but girls. Jeesh, even our sheep are all girls (all 84 of them). This was posted in October of 2012 so the May 2013 was in the future then and an announcement. We thought it was kind of a creative way to get the word out!
What you really said is, "because your daddy is a tree killer reincarnated from the 1800s honey,,,,get some". JK, great pic and story. They grow up too fast.
