I’ll Just Move This Over For You

I have really been enjoying my time in the forest acting as the Go-Fer, choker dog, fire watcher. It is much cooler here under the tall fir trees with the views of the canyons in the far distance that peek out through the foliage.

We have been finding snacks in the form of a few huckleberries and blackcaps (like tiny black raspberries) that are turning from grey to red to black in progression up the stalks they are growing on. And have even found a few ripe wild blackberries, the ones that are ground creeping and tug at your ankles as you walk by, a friend refers to them as ankle grabbers so now I call them ankle berries. They are still not quite ripe but I figured I had to eat the couple that were getting close before deer or bear got them.

Once and a while I get to help when falling a tree. When I get the nod, my job is to set a couple of thin wedges as the final cut is being made and keeping them firm while tapping them in with an axe. With the saw running, there is no chance to get any direction from spoken words, so head gestures have to be monitored. When the tree begins to tip, my task is to get the heck out of the way so that it can fall, but it is not always easy because the underbrush of vine maple, willowy wild hazelnuts, waist high Oregon Grape and sword ferns that tangle around legs.

When he trims the ends on those logs that have defects or root rot, Mike cuts off the butts of the logs. Being the helpful person he is and that these pieces are way too big for my saw to cut, he makes what would be refuse cuts into 16 inch segments so that I can process them into firewood. At this stage, each cut weighs several hundred pounds so he scoots them over with the use of the blade of the dozer to a fairly flat area so that I can come along at a later time and split the pieces into manageable chunks to haul them out of the forest.

I have been splitting the chunks into 40 to 50 pound wedges in order to be able to lift them into the Gator for their trip out of the woods. One butt cut could be enough for a Gator load since it is so green, freshly harvested and full of moisture.