Wildfire Defensible Space...

8:29 am - 39 degrees out - clouds are moving in...

The last several days we have had sunshine! The nice weather was needed after several weeks of rain and snow. With this gorgeous weather, we have taken full advantage and have been busy outside working.

Tony cut down some more trees to help improve our defensible space around our home. A few years back we had a DNR (Department of Natural Resources) Fire Forester guy come out to look at our place and let us know how we would fare if a wildfire came through. The outcome of that visit was the knowledge that we would be on our own. We were told that ground fire crews would not be sent out due to the steepness and inaccessibility of the mountain ridge we live on. They may send out an aircraft to drop some fire retardant on our house but that’s about it. On the positive side, the DNR guy did say that we had a great start on the defensible space around our home and had the right to stay and protect it. {Click Here} to read more about that visit.

Down came six small Alder trees and one large Douglas Fir tree, and it took us two days to get it all cleaned up... 

...well almost all cleaned up.  We still have the large rounds in the driveway that need to be cut up and split into firewood.

Even though we are tired and sore from working nonstop for the past several days to get the trees down and cleaned up... progress feels good!

Learning How To Use A Crosscut Saw...

10:45 am - 48 degrees - overcast...

While we were at Tony's parents' house, his dad brought out one of his 5' crosscut saws - he has a collection of them.  Grandad showed the kids how to use the crosscut saw by cutting a round off of a downed tree.  

By the end, they were getting pretty good.

Mountain Traffic...

5:36 pm - 42 degrees - raining...

You would think that living up in the mountains we wouldn't have a lot of traffic or any traffic issues.  Well there is and we do.

On nice days there are people up here who just want to drive around in the mountains, or some are heading to a trail head to go hiking.  With all this rain we've been having lately, there are a lot of kayakers who are braving the swollen river - apparently its a great class four run. In the fall there are a lot of hunters out and about scouting getting ready for hunting season and even more during hunting season.  

Currently its the loggers who we're seeing the most of.  There is quite a lot of land around us that is owned by a large timber company and there is always something going on, so we run into loggers rigs, company rigs, equipment trucks, log trucks, semi's bringing in large equipment, etc. 

They were parked there to let everyone know to be extra cautious
on the blind corners, a lot of dump truck traffic on the that day.

Normally all the traffic isn't really a big deal, but there is one sharp hairpin corner on the gravel road to our house where accidents regularly occur.  And this morning the county road struck again...   

The lowboy trailer was too long and didn't quite make the corner.  They had to unhitch the trailer from the semi and unload the bulldozer.  They used the bulldozer to pull the trailer back onto the road.  After getting the trailer straightened out, they hooked the trailer back up to the semi and off it went, with the bulldozer following at its own leisurely pace.

 

It's not the first time this has happened {click here} and it definitely won't be the last time.

Last Load Of Logs...

9:40 pm - 72 degrees - scattered clouds with a slight breeze...

Several weeks ago we sent out our first load of logs on a self-loading log truck {click here}.  And early this morning the self-loading log truck (with the really nice driver) returned for the last load of logs (which left a few thousand pounds shy of a full load – and yes, the trucking cost is the same regardless if it’s a partial or a full load).

Unloading the trailer aka log dolly.

 

 

 

Everyone finds the
self-loading log truck fascinating.

 

 

 



Off to the mill he goes.

Logging a small section of our property was not the intent of this project.  Clearing a defensible space is {click here}, and we didn’t feel the need to remove any unnecessary trees.

Now that Tony has finished removing all the necessary trees, the next step will be to clean up the area... after we cut, haul, split and stack the pile of firewood that is.

Off To The Mill...

8:56 am - 62 degrees - beautiful day...

While we’re working on clearing the defensible space {click here} around our house which works its way into the pond area {click here} and the new driveway/extra parking area, a number of trees have had to come out. 

For the past several months, on nights and weekends, Tony has been falling, limbing, and stacking logs – one pile to be hauled off to the mill and another pile for firewood.

Yesterday afternoon a self-loading log truck came up to haul off the first load of logs.  We’ve seen log trucks loaded up but we’ve never watched a self loader before, they’re definitely a world unto themselves.  Half truck, half machine, a truly independent aspect of logging. 

 

After the trailer, also known as a log dolly (which is hauled in a piggy-back configuration), was unloaded and hooked up, the logs were able to be loaded on.

Loading logs takes quite a bit of skill – maneuvering the large logs and getting them balanced and placed just right on the trailer.  It was really interesting to watch.  

Over the bridge and thru the woods, off to the mill he goes.

Working On The Mountain...

6:19 pm - 57 degrees - scattered clouds...

We have been very busy these past few weeks – both on and off the mountain.

 

On the mountain, Tony has stayed busy cleaning up {click here}.  Here is a photo recap of what’s been happening...

dragging logs to the staging area to
 get them out of the way



stacking logs

stopping to smell the flowers and catch butterflies

"staging area" - somewhere to keep all the good logs out of the way so we
can get to the underbrush and stack it into burn piles.

cutting off rounds to firewood length - easier to haul this way

getting a rough measurement of the tree 

moving kindling around

Log Planters...

5:13 pm - 58 degrees - cloudy...

My sister-in-law sent me this picture of stump planters saying I should add these to Tony’s to-do-list (not that he doesn't already have enough to do around here)... but these are really  neat!


So this is what he came up with...

 

Tony had cut rounds off of some trees that he had previously felled and
that's what he used to make the planters with.

These make a huge mess but they are so neat!  I wonder what I can use all
these shavings for... hmmm maybe the chickens would like it.

Kindling!

This finished product... a log round planter!  I love these...



...and so does Jack! 
Now I have to figure out what to plant it in and where to put it.

 

More Clean-Up...

9:42 am - 35 degrees - snowing (but not sticking)...

There are so many projects going on right now and even more that need to be done.  This life style is definitely not for the lazy.  Even with a solid daily effort, there always seems to be three more things that need to be done on top of the handful of things we want to do.

One of the things we’re (I really mean Tony – I’m just around on this one for ideas and support) working on is the clearing of the defensible space {click here} around our house which works its way into the pond area {click here} and the new driveway / extra parking area.

The defensible space and pond area are pretty high on our priority list.  We had a very dry winter compared to previous years and the rainfall for this year is already way down.  We’re thinking the fire danger for this year is going to be fairly high and start earlier than usual.  In this case, we would rather be safe than sorry.

While Tony has been clearing the defensible space and pond area, we’ve been talking about reworking the driveway.  We’ve been talking about this for several years now and we think we have finally decided on the general area.  This project is going to be a major undertaking.  There will be a lot of dirt to be moved and a lot of base and top rock to be purchased.  {More posts on the driveway to come.}

In the meantime, this area needs to be cleared.  Large trees that are within falling distance of the house are being cut down, limbed, and placed into a “staging area” just to get them out of the way.  The underbrush needs to be cleared out and burned along with the stumps and limbs from the trees.  This is the phase that we are currently in. 

 

When all the clearing is done, then the dirt work will begin to make everything look pretty again.

Clean Up...

8:40 am - 61 degrees - cloudy...

During the past couple of months, when the weather has cooperated and he has been home during day light hours, Tony has been falling trees.  When he comes home from his day job, he then goes to work on one of the many projects here on the property.  The past week however was spent doing a little bit of clean up. 

Tony has cleared and leveled a “staging area”, where he’s been putting all the trees that he’s felled and limbed.  Off to the side he has been stacking all the debris into huge piles that are ready to burn.  We have to wait until the cooler and rainy weather hit, which the weather report says is coming tomorrow, so burning may start as early as this coming week. 

Ollie likes to roll around in the cool dirt and supervise.

While Tony has been busy outside, I have been busy inside with Girl Scouts, school, working on my third book, and getting seed starts ready for our garden this year.  For seed starts I have tried planting the seeds in egg shells, peat pots, rolled up newspaper, toilet paper rolls, and plastic pudding cups – which are what I keep going back to. 

The plastic pudding cups are the only one that I cannot put straight into the ground, but they are also the least messiest to keep in the house with two extremely active children.  I line up all the seed starts in the window sills (which are two feet off the ground), and for whatever reason the kids have accidently knock every single one off the window sills...except for plastic pudding cup seed starts.  This is probably because they don’t take up as much room on the window sill, where as the others took up the whole window sill.  At any rate, this is how I am starting my seeds for this year. 

Even though I’m not starting my seeds in egg shells this time, I’m still saving them.  Egg shells can be used in a variety of ways to enrich your garden.  They provide a valuable source of calcium for growing plants and also deter certain pests without the need for chemicals.  Egg shells consist of 93% calcium carbonate and other trace elements that make them a practical fertilizer.  In the garden, for fertilization purposes, crushing egg shells (or put them in the blender to turn them into powder) helps them break down so that they may readily supply calcium to your plants.  Powdered or crushed egg shells are best placed around fruit trees, tomatoes, roses and in potted plants, though it will be of benefit anywhere in the garden.