Excavation and Deforestation

While Dad Rich has been down visiting, he decided to start an excavation corporation. Currently the business has one client (us) and one digger, which was delivered right to the client's property. 

The digger was delivered while Tim was at work, giving Ariel the first go as operator. The man delivering the excavator ran through the controls: "Just start pushing buttons and pulling levers and see what happens. You'll figure it out!" And it really isn't so hard to figure out. Getting good with moving many directions at once, getting things done quickly and well, that will take hours of practice. But making the parts move - only requires pulling a knob. 

Once Tim came home, he started putting in an hour after work every day until it was too dark to run. The trails that took hours to make with a machete have been run over with the excavator in minutes. Our future home-site is transforming from a blackberry patch to a mud pit. 

Between the time after work every day and some late night excavator simulator programs, Tim's getting the hang of precision work. He has put in a bridge from the top of the driveway towards the lumpy home hill. 

Our other new toy this week is a bigger chain saw and safety chaps to match. There are a lot of small alders growing like weeds on our once-cleared land, but also a few larger hazard trees that need to be dealt with. 

The first tree to take down was a rotting alder towering over where we hope to park the bus. It must go! Tim chopped the tree down and got busy splitting 8 inch rounds into slivers of firewood for our tiny wood stove.

Ariel ran the wheelbarrow, hauling the split wood back to the woodshed and stacking it. The woodshed, made of lashed alders and a tarp, is as of yet the best structure on the property and where we store all the good things handy to leave up there while working. 

There is still plenty more tree to chop up. I don't think we will be wanting for firewood for many years to come, especially in the moderate Whidbey climate where even in January we don't need the heat every day. 

Our next tree project has been to try to deal with a large "widow-maker" above our future house, above where we are working with the excavator...

We tried cutting down a large nearby alder to fall onto and knock over the caught tree. The alder fell, the whole thing shook, but now there are two trees stuck half way over instead of one. The problem has grown. 

Next strategy: distance chainsaw. After brainstorming the options, we decided rigging up a remotely controlled chainsaw seemed the easiest, safest, most legal option and we went to work on the Rube Goldberg contraption. 

With the chainsaw pivoting on a bolt, supported on a sawhorse, staked to the ground, with long lines running to control it from 100' away, Tim cut right through the supporting alder, holding up this mess of trees. The tepee of trees groaned and shook and swayed a bit, but still did not fall. Now we are waiting for a windstorm to finish the job. 

In other news the goats had their first visit to the property, now that they have been cleared of having the same ailment as Dad Rich, and decided they really liked the property better pressed up against our legs than tied out to the long run lines we've rigged up for their grazing pleasure. They will get used to it and stop crying when we are out of sight eventually.