Boyd Gathwright
12-05-2004, 12:02 AM
Standing Storage
<O:p</O:p
…. This is the time of the year I consider the standing storage I have around the property. There are two this year, one rather large locust and the other a medium locust tree. One has been intimidating a portion of our fence line for the past couple of years, the other was just plain dead and waiting to hit the ground. Although both of these trees could very well take out part of the fence line in a high windstorm. Not wanting to tempt fate any more than I already have, I decided I’d better do something before Mother Nature decides to do it for me. I’m not looking forward to repairing the fence line in the dead of winter; it’s just too cold for that kind of work around here. Since both of these trees are dead and within ten feet of the fence line, that poses a problem for using the tractor. The trees are leaning toward the fence and are close enough that it is difficult to get in between the fence and the trees with the tractor and push the trees back away, toward the woods, away from the fence line. In this case, I decided to come in at an angle and “push” with the bucket of the tractor. The smaller of the two trees went right down, clean as a whistle. The other tree was a bit more stubborn, first I pushed from one side then I would push from the other. To compound the problem, the tree was thickly covered with heavy vines. Pushing it was not really the problem, the vines were, and they held the tree up, keeping it from falling. So then I got in as close with the tractor and curled the backside of the bucket around the tree and pulled the tree down. Once down on the ground, I can push it out in the open where I can operate on it, cut it up with the chain saw. So I paralleled the tree on the ground and hooked it with the backside of the bucket once again and tried pulling it backward on out into the open, no go. Even though most of this tree was broken off at the trunk there was still enough attached that she just would not break loose. At this point, there was but one thing left to do and that was to cut the tree with a chain saw as near to the trunk as possible and that’s what I did. Went in with the tractor again, hooked the tree with the backside of the bucket once more and pulled most of it out. Finished the job by going around the other way and pushed it, head on, all the way clear of the wooded area. Then I took the backside of the bucket again and raked the tree of the heavy foliage, vines, and pushed them clear of the tree area. Since locust is a very hard wood, excellent for firewood and even better for fence posts, in the ground for about twenty years before deteriorating, but in this case I decided to use it for firewood. It was too big at the base for fence posts, about little over a foot to a foot and a half. For those of you that don’t get to do this sort of thing I thought you might enjoy reading about it. Sort of like I took all the work out and just left the story for you to read without the sweat.
<O:p</O:p
Enjoy, you may have to do this some day :eek: ;) .
<O:p</O:p
Boyd
<O:p</O:p
…. This is the time of the year I consider the standing storage I have around the property. There are two this year, one rather large locust and the other a medium locust tree. One has been intimidating a portion of our fence line for the past couple of years, the other was just plain dead and waiting to hit the ground. Although both of these trees could very well take out part of the fence line in a high windstorm. Not wanting to tempt fate any more than I already have, I decided I’d better do something before Mother Nature decides to do it for me. I’m not looking forward to repairing the fence line in the dead of winter; it’s just too cold for that kind of work around here. Since both of these trees are dead and within ten feet of the fence line, that poses a problem for using the tractor. The trees are leaning toward the fence and are close enough that it is difficult to get in between the fence and the trees with the tractor and push the trees back away, toward the woods, away from the fence line. In this case, I decided to come in at an angle and “push” with the bucket of the tractor. The smaller of the two trees went right down, clean as a whistle. The other tree was a bit more stubborn, first I pushed from one side then I would push from the other. To compound the problem, the tree was thickly covered with heavy vines. Pushing it was not really the problem, the vines were, and they held the tree up, keeping it from falling. So then I got in as close with the tractor and curled the backside of the bucket around the tree and pulled the tree down. Once down on the ground, I can push it out in the open where I can operate on it, cut it up with the chain saw. So I paralleled the tree on the ground and hooked it with the backside of the bucket once again and tried pulling it backward on out into the open, no go. Even though most of this tree was broken off at the trunk there was still enough attached that she just would not break loose. At this point, there was but one thing left to do and that was to cut the tree with a chain saw as near to the trunk as possible and that’s what I did. Went in with the tractor again, hooked the tree with the backside of the bucket once more and pulled most of it out. Finished the job by going around the other way and pushed it, head on, all the way clear of the wooded area. Then I took the backside of the bucket again and raked the tree of the heavy foliage, vines, and pushed them clear of the tree area. Since locust is a very hard wood, excellent for firewood and even better for fence posts, in the ground for about twenty years before deteriorating, but in this case I decided to use it for firewood. It was too big at the base for fence posts, about little over a foot to a foot and a half. For those of you that don’t get to do this sort of thing I thought you might enjoy reading about it. Sort of like I took all the work out and just left the story for you to read without the sweat.
<O:p</O:p
Enjoy, you may have to do this some day :eek: ;) .
<O:p</O:p
Boyd