Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Trees


 
I’ve been really busy the last month with limited time for blogging.  It seems some trees had taken over my time. Dead ones that is.  Huge ones like this oak.  Actually, there were eight just like it that had given up the ghost in the last two years, probably due to “oak wilt” a fungus born disease.  I had much experience clearing out dead trees to burn in the furnace in our old house next door.  Then with several quite close to our new house in the woods, I opted to save big money by having a local tree service put them on the ground leaving me to cut up, clean up and dispose of the remains.  And what a job that was…..

First I had to clear path thru some obnoxious buckthorn so the big truck lift could get into the backyard to deal with the dead oaks.









 

Then make a deal with a neighbor who gets the logs to heat his house while I get them cut up on the ground and hauled away. Fortunately Dewey has a tractor with a scissors fork lift that can lift and carry the giant logs next door to his property and a number of wagons to haul the smaller stuff. 
 

Finally, there were mountains of branches to be cut up, twigs and leaves to rake up and all to be burned.  That was my job.  Busy Busy Busy.  Maybe I'll go fishing next week....:)


 

28 comments:

  1. sorry about the loss of the oaks, but glad they are surely not going to waste. :)

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  2. Big big job, one for professionals for sure to take them down. From there converting them to split fire wood, I can feel my testosterone rising just thinking about it.

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  3. wow, what a job! Now I am glad I am in the city because there are now some dead pinon trees on the lot of my old mountain home.

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  4. Wow. That is one BIG job! But it was good that you could handle some of it yourselves and make good use of the wood. While it is sad to see those beauties come down, at least there was a positive in the end of their lives.

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  5. So sorry about your oaks! I'm impressed that you decided to cut and split all that lumber. We do the same with trees that die on our property but I get the the tree surgeon to cut it for us. My husband splits the logs when he has a big stack of grading.

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  6. That job deserves several fishing trips and several big catches!

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  7. It's surprising how much material is in one of the oaks. I've taken down four birch in the last few years. they are much smaller than oak but still a lot of work.

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  8. I always hate to see a tree die. You certainly did have a big job. Our town is full of live oaks and in one part that oak wilt took over one year. We have many streets with a tree right in the middle of the street.

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  9. Wow, what a huge job. Good going!

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  10. That's a lot of wood! Glad you decided to be reasonable and let someone else do the biggest part. There's still plenty for you, it seems. Must feel good to have it done, mostly. :-)

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  11. Big JOB... You deserve some fishing next week for sure...

    we have an Oak with a fungus --and have a tree service spraying it --trying to save it... So far, it's doing better....The future? Who knows...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  12. Your words just made me feel tired after reading about all the work you accomplished lately. I imagine it was kinda a sad affair to take those large oaks down. Time to go fishing for sure! -- barbara

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  13. I think fishing next week sounds like an excellent idea. Always hard to lose trees-but glad you have a neighbor that can put them to good use.

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  14. It's certainly a job for experts. I can see me eyeing my trees with a certain amount of dread.

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  15. Tough work, I don't trim many anymore. I had a home that I heated with wood and was surprised how much time I spent getting all the wood ready.

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  16. TB
    Looks like a couple cords of oak, nice for the winter.
    And that's a nice walleye, my favorite fresh water fish to eat.

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  17. Our threatening big dead tree was not in an area the cherry picker could get to. So I watched totally amazed at the guy who climbed up the tree, chain saw at his waist, and cut the tree down bit by bit. Good luck with the fishing.

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  18. That was a big job and lots of wood. I've seen similar hauls at the local saw mill.
    Fishing and lots of R&R definitely called for.

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  19. I'd say you most certainly have earned some fishing! What a lot of work.

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  20. I hope we never get Oak Wilt or our woods will be empty. Yes you should go fishing! That is hard work sawing up firewood...but good exercise:)

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  21. I hope this Oak disease isn't anything like Dutch Elm or Ash Borer.

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  22. Those larger logs look like they would have made good saw bolts - spoken from the wife of a man with a saw mill. :)
    I love rough sawed oak more than any other.
    That looks like a lot of work. We had to have a row of towering ash trees taken down a couple of years ago, as they're all dying.
    When we were up the north shore of Superior the other day I noticed the birch were standing dead.. I'm told they're all dying up that way.
    I do hope you get out fishing!

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  23. What a big job!!
    It is sad to see our trees die. :-( We have a sick apple tree. Hoping it will over take the illness. It is called Firerot.

    I hope you get out and fish next week.

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  24. It is sad about the loss of your oaks! Had those oaks been here the past two years, the oak wilt would have easily been hard on our trees due to the severe drought. I'm hoping ALL the RAIN we are getting this year will restore the moisture in the deeper ground levels!!

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  25. And yes, YOUR way of tree disposal was great!! And YES, you should go fishing. :-)

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  26. Sounds like you have been busy with some hard labor ~ yup time for some fishing for sure.

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  27. I'm impressed. That was a HUGE job and no wonder you didn't have time to blog ... but you were missed !

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  28. That looks like an enormous job - I don't even want to think of the possibility or our huge oak tree needing to come down! Good luck getting in a little time for fishing!

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