Well after clearing that 18 acres of pasture down to camp, it was inevitable that I had to go back in the woods. This coincided with us getting several inches of rain. Around here the animals are lining up by twosies to get on the Arc, and is it ever muddy in the woods. This was good for us, in Northern Maine they got 16 inches of snow. But I am cutting Spruce Logs and Red and White Spruce like wet feet, so John, Wallenstein and I ventured into the woods, and let some daylight into the swamp. It takes (125) 12 foot logs to make a load of wood (5000 board feet) which meant slogging out 40 trees or so. As you can see in the pictures, I was muddy, John was muddy, and even Wallenstein got muddy, but the important thing is, the logs DID NOT!. It has changed now. Years ago muddy logs was just part of logging, but now they want clean ends. The sides of the log can be coated with mud because the debarkers take care of that, but mud on the ends dull the saws so they forbid that. The Wallenstein excels at this, picking up the log amd setting it on the trailer. I was some glad I was using my Bulldozer/Log Trailer. I know my tractor would never pull the trailer that is for sure. At times the mud was halfway up the tires and they would not even roll, just slide along in the black muck. Thankfully the bulldozer has plenty of traction and power to pull it. My greatest concern is not if the dozer could pull it, but if my little engine that powers the log trailer was being dragged into the deep mud since the hitch on the dozer is low, and unable to be picked up like a 3 point hitch.
By the Way: Some of the logs are quite small, these are not for commercial sale, but for my own use. Two years ago we could sell the "tops" of trees not meeting log criteria for pulp, but today with only a few paper mills left, there is no market for softwood tops. I have two choices; leave the tops in the woods to rot, or cut them right down to six inches and saw them on my own mill for myself. I dislike waste, and since this area is being cleared for a field, I want as little tops left in the woods as possible. So there are some small logs.
I like how you refer to 'Wallenstein' like another member of the crew. Nice setup you have there .... looks like fun!
A guy once told me that people who work by themselves a lot talk to themselves, and while I am not sure he was suggested personification of logging equipment; yep I do that too. If someone ever creeped up on me in the woods, they would think I had an entire logging crew at my disposal like Rygard Logging or something. "Come on Old John, you can pull her, ole Wallenstein isn't that burdened. "No Wallenstein, lift that log a little higher would you?" I would make the suggestion to Discovery Channel to do a reality TV logging show upon me, but I am sure they would die laughing first. My wife did suggest we do our sheep farm website with a farm blog; Adventures in Sheep Farming. There is some truth to that. One year we had a woman stay with us who was homeless and after three days she asked, "Is your life really like this?" Oh yes, chaotic to say the least. It was said right after she watched my 9 month pregnant wife chase sheep that got out of the pasture and then got violently ill. But katie is hardly a sissy, when she was 7 months pregnant she helped me put up 8 x 8 inch beams , 16 feet long in our house.
