The View From My Office

Me and my pole trimmer have been working along the skid road that Mike uses to bring trees off the hill. In the woods, many trees have been showing signs of the stressful, hot, dry summer of 2015. These are trees that had  bug issues, or some root rot beginning already. The brutal summer added to the problems.

Mike has been going around to the damaged trees and harvesting them before they die completely and become unsaleable.

It is my task to use the pole saw along the trails so that the branches of the tall fir trees don’t slap Mike as he runs the bulldozer along the paths. The trees naturally grow into the open space of the roads.

Areas are so steep that the John Deere Gator cannot travel this hillside even with 4 wheel drive and I refuse to ride on the caterpillar with Mike (that is just too scary).

I enjoy the walk up the hill even though there is quite a bit of huffing and puffing just to get up the logging road.

The branches that I trim are dropped from the trees and left in the skid road. When Mike comes through with the bulldozer, he pushes them to the side for me.

The effort it takes to get up the hill is worth every step. During the walk, climb, scramble, I am on the lookout for deer and elk tracks. I observe coyote scat and am mindful that bear and cougar can be nearby. And I watch for signs of the fall mushrooms starting to appear.

Last but certainly not least, the view from the top is spectacular. In the distance is the valley that leads to the closest town 10 miles away.

Up here there are no sounds, most of the time I can’t even hear Mike with the chainsaw or dozer.