Back at the lake for the summer. No trees across the road, just this birch which came down over the winter. It missed the shed.
So far everything looks good: electricity, water, phone, internet, satellite TV. What else does a guy need?
It's great to be here but it is a little chilly this morning - 38°. I'll wait till this afternoon to do some of the outside chores.
The log cabin looks good. The new floor survived the winter with no buckling.
The ducks are ready to be set free.
Much happier now.
It's still cold and gray outside but it stopped raining. A chance to clean up the deadfall in front of the shed.
Here's a tree that came down behind the shed. There are only three or four this year (that I've spotted).
I walked the path today and there were only three trees down. Three trees over 1/2 mile of path through the woods. I'm counting myself lucky.
I think I may eventually get the hang of putting out this old dock. It's still a bit of a pain but it didn't seem too bad this year.
Remember this shot from last year?
Somebody cut it down over the winter. I liked that arch.
Compañeros has literally risen from the ashes. Opening day on cinco de mayo was a huge success. Dorset was hopping.
Raking, raking, raking - boring, boring, boring.
A new timer for the outside lights. Based on latitude and longitude it knows when sunset is. Sunset changes by about 2 minutes per day.
5 yards of black dirt - roughly 12,000 pounds, about 80 wheelbarrow loads. This may take some time.
The truck drove over the septic tank and caved in the top. You don't want to see a closer picture of this.
No humming birds yet but ...
This is the first wheelbarrow load of black dirt. This really is going to take a long time
This is the scheme I'm using to get the dirt to the lower steps. Maybe I can dream up something better.
The old HP-6800 that was here for years finally died. This is a new Epson XP-330, one of the few that would fit nicely in the bookcase.
Removing the old broken septic holding tank cover. Not as bad as we had feared.
A brand new concrete cover.
Menards had a sale on hostas. I hope this doesn't just become deer food.
At last a sunny, warmish day. A good day to put the motor on the boat. (One of these years I'm going to wind up in the water with this motor on top of me.)
That's Ken Gabriel pumping dirt, broken concrete, and 15 years worth of ... stuff out of the septic tank. Let's hope this little adventure is over.
There will be no more cold weather. I've gone back to impatiens this year. And since I have so much black dirt I put some in the barrel.
I replaced the plastic tube on the Droll sunflower seed feeder. The ungrateful birds don't seem to care.
I got this winch at the fleet store. I have big plans for this.
Remember this tree that blew over last year (bringing down the car port and almost crushing the yard light)? This will be a good preliminary test for the winch.
Winch chained to a tree. That's a spare boat battery in the background (thank you Rob). Now, the moment of truth.
Holy crap, it works! I'm doing a little happy dance here.
Now I just need to get this to the burn pile.
The shade and the bulb on this yard light need to be replaced. This ladder is way too short - I need the heavy extension ladder.
I've been nothing but kind to this motor: new fuel pump, new fuel filter, cleaned the carburetor and still it's not right. Ungrateful.
The creeping phlox is slowly emerging.
As are the ferns.
My weekly Amazon delivery - a wireless remote. This is the next piece to my winch project.
This balsam just north of the cabin is dead. I'd like it not to fall on the house. I need someone to pull it due east.
First a rope tied to the tree as high as the ladder will reach.
The other end of the rope is tied to the cable from the winch. This winch needs a name - I think I'll call it Chris.
Since Chris now has a wireless remote control I can have it pull on the tree as I cut.
As usual I notch the front side, where I want it to fall, and then cut from the back. When it's close I tell Chris to pull.
Nice job Chris.
I still have the SketchUp file from last years cabin daybed rebuild. I also have the ImageEvent pictures. This should be easy, right?
I bought a bunch of 8' 1x4s a couple of weeks ago so I'm ready to start on the second bed.
The basic carcass is ready to assemble. If my memory is correct this was easy and the drawers were hard.
I told that old motor, if you don't shape up you're out of here. It didn't shape up so its gone and I get a brand new 20HP motor.
I haven't forgotten about the log cabin day bed it's just that it's the same as last year (and like last year these drawers are a pain).
The always stressful glue-up - don't make a mistake but HURRY UP.
While the glue is drying I think I'll cut down the 4 or 5 little dead trees south of the hill house.
As it turns out one of these guys was pretty big.
That little patch of dirt by the boat house (behind the retaining wall) remains the triangle of death for plants. I need to think of something new.
I make a zero clearance insert for the miter saw. This makes it much easier to make all the cuts for the thin cedar planks lining the inside of the drawers.
It looks like that mound of dirt has been pretty well taken care of. The remainder here has been leveled out (sort of) in anticipation of rebuilding the car port.
This is the first bass which is close enough to warrant a picture, and that is stretching it (only 2.5 lbs). Lot's of little ones and northerns.
I'm out of glue and cedar planks. Another trip to town tomorrow.
This tree in front the log cabin is twisted and hung up in another tree. It makes terrifying groans when the wind blows and frankly it scares me.
I think I'll use Chris again to see if I can't pull it free without getting close to it.
Chris is pulling as hard as it can but this is about the outer limit of what it can do. What is holding this thing up?
Well, that was dramatic. When it finally let loose is was loud and all of a sudden. It jumped over about 4' when it can down. I'm glad I was 20' away.
This is cool. I can drive under it and get the top of my car cleaned. Even so, I'm afraid it will have to go.
I need to plane down some 3/4" pine paneling to 3/8" to sheath the drawer fronts and the ends of the bed frame. I'm using a pillow case instead of the shopvac to collect the chips.
I've finished nailing the 3/8" sheathing onto the drawer fronts and ends. This, like most things this year, took longer than I think it should have.
It's close. The carcass is done as are the drawers. It just needs a top which I'll add after it's installed. Now I have to get the old bed out of the cabin and somehow get this thing down there.
Here's the old bed (hinged top removed) looking nervous.
Using a canvas drop cloth it was easy to slid it out the front door. That thing weights at least 100 pounds.
Here I have Chris pulling it up the hill. Yeah yeah, I know, but if I can't have fun with this stuff it might become work.
The new one looks pretty much like the old one doesn't it. I still need to make a new top and I should screw it to the wall.
Cousin Dorothy arrived today - we have many things to do.
There's just not that much left in that little triangular patch by the boat house. I guess nothing was meant to grow here.
Dorothy and I transplanted that lone little phlox plant and have now removed about 6" of the dirt and leveled it off.
Here we have 6" of sand replacing the dirt. Perhaps I'll practice my 9 iron shots.
This is a hint of what I'm going for, but I don't like this one so much so I'll probably pull these up and try again.
Another 4 pounder. This is on the north side of the narrows.
Dorothy and I have been building a bat house for the last couple of days. The inside here has a plastic mesh for their little bat feet to cling to.
And here it is finished. It's built using the cedar boards scavenged from the old day bed. That little gap in the front is by design.
Bat hotel open for occupancy. (How on earth did we get it up there?)
Dorothy flies off to Detroit. It's always fun when she comes to visit: lunch at the 502, dinner at Douglas Lodge, bat house, road work, downed trees and a 4 pound bass.
I picked up lumber to make the top of the day bed. I need to edge glue 4 1x8's and 1 1x6.
Well that's pretty much it for the day bed rebuild. The left drawer scraped the floor when it's open all the way so I'll need to plane an 8th of an inch off the bottom. Maybe tomorrow.
4.2 pounds - they're getting bigger.
It rained last night. Why is watching a bonfire so mesmerizing and soothing? I'll bet there's some evolutionary thing going on here.
The socket next to the TV stopped working. I tried replacing it but as it turns out the problem is in the wiring in the wall. Oh dear.
What an incredible bag of snakes this has turned into. Getting a new wire down to the garage is ... difficult. I'll try again tomorrow.
At last, the outlet is wired up (correctly, the old one had a floating ground). I still need to plaster, paint and replace the baseboard heater.
There, that was easy. The wall is patched, painted and the baseboard heater is reinstalled. I need to get a light almond cover plate the next time I go to town.
This is my second stab at the triangle of death. Still not exactly what I was going for but OK for now. The raccoons will have the final say.
This are the switches for the porch light and the light above the table.
See that white wire capped off with a wire nut. That is suppose to be the neutral for the light above the table. In fact its neutral is cumming from another circuit altogether. Very bad.
This needs a little plaster at the top there but I'll wait until I figure out what (if anything) to do about that incorrect neutral wire.
A bit of wind last night. I heard this crash down a little past midnight. I can never guess which trees are going to come down - this one looked fine.
I see now that it was rotten inside. It's suppose to be 1000° this afternoon so I decided to at least cut it up before it gets too unbearable.
Bad, bad storm last night. For an hour I could hear scores of trees cracking and crashing down. Here is looking left from the hill house door.
And here is looking right (north) from the deck.
7/21/2016
The morning after the storm
(MOVIE)
The morning after the storm
(MOVIE)
Here's that giant balsam at the bottom of the stairs. It just clipped the gutter.
I was afraid I would be in the market for a new car
Fortunately, since it uprooted instead of snapping off it did not crash all the way to the ground. It did not crush the car.
Alas, it will be a long time before I am able to drive anywhere. That's suppose to be a view down the road.
I thought I had escaped any structural damage but no - that is a hole in the hill house roof.
I started to cut up that big balsam blocking the garage.
When I cut off the second chunk the weight and tension from the root ball made it snap back upright. Very strange - but cool.
This is big. I've cleared the steps to the log cabin. This gives me hope that while this whole cleanup is going to be a long tough haul it is doable.
Now I can see about rescuing the log cabin.
Here's the south side of the cabin with all the trees taken off.
There were only these four guys leaning against the cabin. I hope they've learned their leason.
Bill Vlcek boated over to lend me his (almost) brand new Stihl MS271 chainsaw. This is a sweet machine. Thanks Bill, I'll be happy to break it in for you.
Now I need to see about clearing the front of the cabin.
Well, at least stuff is off the roof and there appears to have been no damage. I'll clear away the brush later.
I still do not have a good game plan yet for these trees leaning on the south side of the hill house. This will have to wait.
My friend Geoff arrived today - ready to cut wood. We worked on the road from 12:00 until 6:00 and are about 1/3 of the way through. (I'm sure this was the hardest 1/3.)
Barb, Lyle, Bill Mills, me, Geoff and Burney behind the camera. 3 chainsaws and 3 brush haulers - good progress. Still, at the end of the day, we're now 2/3 done.
Here are some of the empty water bottles. We drank a lot of water. When it comes to slaughter you do your work on water.
Geoff on his way home. I cannot thank him enough for his help. My original guess of 2 guys, 2 chainsaws, 2 days was simply 2 optimistic.
Lyle and Burney came over to help me clear the road from the cabin end. We worked from 9:00 until it started to rain at 2:00. We cleared 45 yards - this section by the house is a mess.
As long as it rained I'll see if I can burn up some of this stuff.
7/27/2016
Stop Motion.
7/27/2016
Montage.
This is why the going has gotten so slow. The 1/3 of the road closest to the house is much worst, almost no clear stretches. Neighbors are cutting in while I'm cutting out.
Here we have a picture after last nights burn. One pile down probably 50 more to go.
What a difference a day makes. That's Justin Fischer (no relation) his wife and 11 year old son and .. tada .. a Bobcat. In three hours they punched through the last 300 yards..
This is Bill Mills who worked with them to get it done. Lyle, Latitia, Barb, Burney and I where there to greet him. This reminded us all of Promontory Summit.
What a great machine. Here Justin is maneuvering around to the south side of the hill house.
After cutting away the two balsams that were on top of the big birch leaning on the house he was able to lift it up with the bucket.
We eventually got a cable around the top, strung that to the right around a big downed red pine and back to the bobcat to pull it out of the way.
The Laskeys brought pizzas for us. Even if we did mostly just watch the bobcat work we deserve a break.
While Justin and family and bobcat go back out and tidy up the road some more the local crew decide that I should do another burn.
Rob & Terri arrived. Even after seeing all the pictures it was still Oh My God, I had no idea. I guess you have to see it in person.
Rob & Andrew ready to cut up and burn some trees.
The front of the log cabin down to the lake is pretty much done. We've left the trunks of the uprooted trees long so we have some leverage when we try to winch them out.
We keep plugging away at it. These are the steps from the boat house to the hill house cleared at last.
Here's an aerial view of the damage.
I think we'll try to start another burn pile closer to the hill house.
I found the bat house that Dorothy and I made. It appears to be OK. I'll find another tree and try again.
8/4/2016
Progress report.
Andrew's girlfriend Crystal arrives. A doctor in physical therapy - we need her here.
Seriously? Another tree across the road. Terri was coming back from town. She had to leave the car and walk in.
This is the first burn in a new burn pile (BP3-1). For those counting this is burn number 12.
Chris arrives. I expect him to make sure I spend more time fishing.
Rob & Terri leave (Andrew & Crystal left yesterday). They were all troopers - we got a lot cleaned up. Thank you guys.
This is to let you know that we're doing more than just cutting and burning trees
8/11/2016
Cutting and burning trees with Chris behind the log cabin.
We decided to remove a stump just for a change of pace.
As long as we're just looking for a change of pace why not go old school and use a block and tackle to pull it out and move it.
And it's gone. There are about 20 more of these in "the yard". I'm going to have Backhoe Pete take care of those.
I'm still alive. Cut, stack, burn, repeat. It's what we do. This is burn number 19.
A day off from clearing trees. Chris and I went to Walker and had lunch at the 502. It feels strange to not hear a chainsaw whining.
Big day today. A crew from Backhoe Pete showed up to take out the stumps.
The big machine plucked the stumps out and the little machine put them in the dump truck.
We filled three trucks full of stumps in six hours.
8/26/2016
Removing stumps.
Chris caught a 4 1/2 pound bass this morning.
We replaced the broken hand rails on the stairs to the log cabin and to the boat house.
Barb & Burney Fischer had us over for dinner: bass and northern and a great bottle of wine (thanks to Rob & Terri).
Chris heads back to Florida after a month of lumberjacking. Thank you Chris. (Oh, did I forget to mention that he won the bass tournament this year?)
The guys showed up to pour the concrete pad for the new stairs. I'll need to use the ladder for a couple of days.
Larry & Carl May showed up this morning to replace the stairs to the Hill Cabin. Out with the old ...
... in with the new. Eight hours later brand new stairs. The balusters are required by code.
Does the bare dirt on the hill wash down toward the lake? I guess so.
Hummingbirds have left for the season and just in time too - it was cold this morning.
This is 60 yards of black dirt in preparation for planting grass seed. If I can get it established before I leave maybe the hill won't wash into the lake.
I've started opening up the path to widow's point. Three days - 75 yards. This is the view behind me.
This is the view in front of me. I know it looks bad but I can see standing trees up ahead so maybe I will cut my way out of the worst soon.
4 pounds off the dock. Who needs a boat?
Beth and Rick arrive. Nice to see them, it's been a long time. Their friends, Adair and Dick, are arriving tomorrow.
Justin, Megan & Jedediah are spreading the black dirt and planting grass seed.
9/24/2016
Here is the yard after fresh black dirt has been spread.
Beth, Rick, Adair & Dick leave. They were a lot of fun and they taught me how to play Mexican Train. Come back anytime.
I'm still plugging away on the path. I've cut past the major blowdown area so it will go faster now. The only down side is I need to lug the chainsaws farther.
Geoff came up today and will stay for a couple days. We have a couple of projects to do.
We finished clearing the path. This is a view from the cleared lot south of me looking north toward the cabin (about 3/4 miles).
Here we are next to the boat house wedging a big submerged log up next to the bank. I'm pinning it in place with 6' fence posts. I'll need to back fill it with rocks.
Since it's duck hunting season here now I think I'll bring these guys in.
This blurry picture is Geoff leaving (at 6 in the morning). Thanks Geoff, we got a lot done in a couple of days.
I closed up the cabin today: blew out the pipes and put anti-freeze in the drains.
10/12/2016
After (most of) the cleanup around the cabins.
Busy, busy. Roofers stripped off the old shingles yesterday and put on new one today. Well most of them, they'll finish up tomorrow.
The satellite dish needed to be realigned so I had the DirecTV guy move it to the back of the house since there aren't any trees blocking the signal now.
11/1/2016
The salvage crew has started to clear the downed trees. Even with theses big machines this will take them most of a week
11/1/2016
The big machines continue to clear dead fall.
A view looking south. While clearing downed trees the power line was severed - no electricity: no water, no lights, no TV, etc. I'll use the gasoline generator to let me close up and leave tomorrow.
11/17/2016
This is a look around to the south and east. What a mess. This too will need some burn piles. The new power line will be plowed in from Widows Point next spring from the south.
11/17/2016
The loggers have finally finished. This is a little look around to the north and west. This needs some more cleanup next year.