Dusty Cool Down

Mike and I have been doing the clean up process in the forest. Our log landing is not a big space so we are making do by choosing which logs make up the pile and leaving others staged in the forest. Issues at the mill had us small tract woodland owners on hold until they had enough log scalers (the ones who inspect and grade the logs as they arrive at the mill) to be able to handle the loads arriving. Yes, even the forest industry is having trouble getting labor for smooth working operations.

Now that the self-loading log hauler has gotten that specific load out of the landing, the rest of the logs need to make their way down the hill for the next load. Mike goes around with the bulldozer and catches those logs that have been made and left while we were cherry-picking other logs for that particular load we had scheduled to be hauled from the log landing.

While Mike is hooking up logs, I am doing the same clean up on a much smaller scale. I go around to the various tiny log decks of the refuse made by his big logs and cutting enough for a Gator load. With the saw loaded on the front and 16 inch pieces in the back. After fire watch, I head out of the forest and down the relatively mild angles of the main forest road while Mike hauls the logs down a very steep skid road to the bottom of the hill. We meet up at the landing to mutually unhook the logs so Mike can finish limbing up any errant limbs or knots, re-check and possibly re-cut to correct length and deck them into the growing pile.

On this day, I caught up with the dozer and his one hard pulling log at the junction where our two roads diverge. It is a nice shady area even though the dust lingers in the air for quite a while after we stop. The heavy log that Mike was pulling from the backside of the hill had worked the dozer particularly hard and he chose to let the bulldozer rest and cool down for a spell before the final drag across the flat and down the steep.

Since he was parked blocking my road, the intersection and the road across the top of the hill, I was able to do my own little cool down time and finish my library book that was loaded onto my cell phone. The cool down time was pleasant indeed.