February 16-17, 2013

We stopped at The Thai House on the way out, which will probably be happening frequently since Sally loves Thai food. (Its growing on me.) It was another pleasant winter weekend, warmer Friday than Saturday. In fact, Saturday morning it creeped up to 40 and then dropped back to 36 in the afternoon.

Garden

We worked in the garden first, knowing Friday would be nicer than Saturday. I weeded, Sally pruned her rose, and later planted some beets, chard, and the rest of the kale.

Prune

I pruned the hollies, cleaned up the maple out front that the deer tore up, and pruned the nectarine, two pears, and two apples. This picture is of the trunk of the Goldrush apple, which I am certain will dye this year -- along with the peach which I didn't even bother pruning. The only fruit I will have left will be two pears, the tiny Pixie Delight apple, the nectarine, and a few black berries. I don't know how our forefathers survived off the land.

Cows

With the fence down, Jeff's cows have found there way onto our place where there is high grass. Now there are cow pies everywhere. It was funny because Friday we could see about 10 cows on our place while another six were starring across the lower section of fence -- where it was not down. They were trying to figure out how the others got over there. By Saturday most all of them had come across, though Jeff called them home somehow.

Walnuts

I cracked a bowl full of walnuts with plans to take them to my folks for picking, though Papa commented that the last ones were very dirty (due to my foot hulling).

Burn

Saturday morning Sally was going to town for Reflexology, so I walked down and burned the cedar limbs by the cedar grove near the fence, southeast of the pond. Most of the limbs I had hauled down in December after pruning around the bluffs. The others were from the tornado damage in that grove including one entire tree.

It went very well and I was done by the time Sally returned about 12:30. I was a bit surprised, rather expecting it take me the entire day.

Remove Scrub Trees

I had a little time and my hand saw in hand, so cut off some of the scrub trees growing along the edge of the bluff out back. I cut them years ago, but they keep coming back. Mostly elm and some other undesirable. There are a few oaks which I left. I then drug them up to our fire ring. Unfortunately I was not looking on my last trip and fell backward over some of the stone benches. Ouch! I then took the loppers and cut them into shorter pieces for burning.

Tour Tornado Damage

Sally had not seen the tornado damage, so I talked her into letting me take her for a tour last thing Saturday. We started in the corner, and Jeff came down at that same time. We had a nice chat and this was a great opportunity for Sally to get to know him.

We then walked over to where most of the cedars are down, the other side of the draw leading to the pond. Then we went down to just above the creek leading into the pond, where I found more downed trees (like the one pictured here to Sally's left). Such a mess.

February 8-9, 2013

A chance of rain kept Sally and Tender in town. It actually didn't start to rain until I was heading back late Saturday afternoon. It was mostly cloudy and mild both days.

Road Ruts

Here are the ruts Carroll Electric left at the bottom of our hill when they were out on the 29th, just after the 2" rain and tornado. There are even deeper ruts after the road turns to the south to go to the pond, the lowest spot on our place.

Plant Kale

Sally gave me Kale seeds to get planted, so this was the first thing I tackled. She wanted me to do the whole package, but I thought I had planted plenty when half way through. Those are some tiny seeds, just to be covered by 1/4" of soil. I also did some weeding while in the garden, it certainly needs it.

Cut Cedar Limbs

Next I went down southwest of the pond, and began cutting on the 10 or so big cedars that been downed by the tornado. It wasn't long before I got my Stihl pinched in a log and could not free it (amateur mistake). I had to go back to the garage and get the Poulan to cut it out.

I only got through about 4 cedars before it started getting dark. This next picture shows the mess of limbs. Luckily I was able to free up about 8 of my little pines that had been buried (bent but not broken) by the fallen cedars. You can see them leaning to the east in the center of the picture.

Crack Walnuts

I cracked a bowl of full walnuts so I would have something to do Friday evening. I picked walnuts while watching Casa Blanca.

Lop Cedars

Saturday morning I took my loppers down and started under the cedar grove next to the fence where there were lots of babies, worked my way up the fence and over into the pasture, and ended up in the wooded area near the corner where many of the trees are down. I cut 1250 cedars -- very rewarding to me while Sally thinks its a waste of time.

Trim and Drag Cedars

I did further trimming to the grove next to the fence and then drug all those limbs over to the side near, but uphill, from the pile I had created in December. After lunch I brought the step ladder down so I could do some higher trimming that was needed. This area is now ready for a burn.

After lunch I started dragging the cedars from the two adjacent groves just above the pond. I formed a circle with them, with the plan to have the burn in the center. These limbs were from just 3 trees, with one more to go in this area. (And then there are all the ones SW of the pond.)

Near the end of the day Jeff came down on his tractor and we had a chat. No fence building this weekend. He was trying to clear his road through the woods so that loggers could get some of his big downed timber out for salvage. He is hoping to get enough money for the timber to replace his barn. He said he didn't have any insurance, just like Ben before who told him you just rebuild.

February 2-3, 2013

Since I was going to be working to help Jeff clean up, Sally and Tender staid back in town. It was a very pleasant mild winter week-end.

Northern Red Oak

My 5 year old Northern Red Oak in the front yard was not snapped off by wind, but was driven over. (Pictured in the last post.) It didn't make sense that the wind could have snapped this tree, and this time out I noticed tire tracks leading up to and over the tree. The vehicle barely missed the walnut I had planted next to it. I am sure it was Carroll Electric when they were out Tuesday to restore power. Why they ran this tree down I do not understand. I filed a complaint, also mentioning the road damage they did leaving (spun their tires, don't they have 4WD?), the pine the meter reader plowed into a few months back, and the power pole that has been sitting in our ditch for 3-4 years.

Pickup Debris

When I arrived I saw a vehicle and a trailer hauling some metal scraps back to near where Jeff's barn once stood. I grabbed my chain saw and headed over to help. Jeff wasn't there at the time, but two friends (Bailey and Ted) were using his (Ben's old) Kubotu buggy pulling a trailer. I joined them and we picked up the framing pieces which were scattered over the upper hill side. They had been picking up metal from the other side of the hill, the opposite direction from all the sheet metal I had seen facing us (north). Jeff arrived as we started heading toward a burn pile he had. Me, I would have salvaged as much of the framing as possible but Jeff was just going to burn everything.

Next we untangled and sorted all the metal gates and pens that were left where the barn once stood. The good ones (not too bent up) on one side and the mangled ones on the other. I think Jeff was reluctant to ask us to do much more, and apparently he didn't want to take the trailer back down the hill to pickup metal scraps because the field was still muddy from the rain. (Made me feel bad for driving my truck up after going through his gate at the bottom. I believe Ted and Bailey were heading off at that point, and I told Jeff I would go back down and work on the fence line some more, clearing trees and limbs.

Actually, when I got back down to that area I decided to drag all the sheet metal pieces (mostly 12' or 14' pieces of roofing) I could find into piles. This was quite a task since much of it was in the woods on a very steep hillside. I had to use the saw to free some of it up. Since it was getting late and I was getting tired I left a couple of pieces that were underneath some large downed cedars.

Wild Hogs

Jeff asked if I had seen any wild hogs. No, but others in the area have reported them. They are quite a nuisance and can really do some damage. Shooting them anytime of year is legal. There presence is not good news.

20 Trees Downed

The next morning I drove down but staid on our side of the fence. That's when I noticed down cedars in our groves just above the pond. One was over the fence, most had been uprooted, but some were snapped off. There were 5 here. So I spent the morning cutting the limbs from them and cutting the trunks to length for salvage. These were some large and tall cedars -- I guess which is why they blew down. They were laid over from the WNW, unlike Jeffs from the SW.

I returned after lunch to work on the fence line. But once I had driven high up on our side, I noticed more downed trees on our property over past the draw from the cave that leads to the pond. I walked over and found at least 10 more big cedars toppled. What a mess. Then I inspected the small wooded area at our SE corner and found 5 more big trees down, including these two nice hardwoods. So, we did not escape unscathed by the tornado (Jeff said someone came out and had officially declared it a tornado. He also mentioned that the Clark's lost 5 out buildings plus damage to their home, but their dairy barn was sparred.)

Clear Fence Line

I spent the afternoon going back up and down Jeff's fence line that borders our neighbors to the south. There was one large tree that was laying directly across the fence which I could not figure how to cut without the saw hitting the barbed wire. That was the only one I left. I even cleared off the stub of the large white oak which was still suspended above the fence just before our corner. To get it, I used some logs I had cut to stand one -- leaned up against the fence to keep from toppling off. Since I had 5 logs cut to length (3 white oak and 2 red oak), I backed the truck up as close as I could, rolled them down to it, and loaded them up.

January 30, 2013

About 7:30pm on the 29th I got a call from Jeff, out neighbor to the SE that inherited Ben's farm. He said a tornado had come through and he lost his barn, lots of trees, his fences were down, and he was out looking for his cows. He didn't know how our place had fared, but wanted to let me know. I am so glad he did, and immediately made plans to go out first thing the next morning.

We had had warm and humid weather which clashed with a cold front that came through. There were reported tornadoes south and east of Fayetteville, but no mention on the nightly news about Madison/Carroll counties. Just pictures of some downed trees and a few roofs blown off. The only good thing about this weather system is that it brought two inches of much needed rain (total for the month, 2.3"). Wednesday was to be windy and cold with a high of about 32.

Everything looked fine at our place except for this Northern Red Oak I had bare root planted five years ago – just snapped off, and it didn't have any leaves on it. One of the Adirondaks was blown over, but that was it. We even had electricity. (Jeff later told me that Carroll electric beat him out to his place, and had cut two big trees that were across his drive.) I snapped this picture of his hillside (if you look closely you can see barn debris and downed trees), loaded up my chain saw, and headed over to Jeff's.

There were five other men there with him when I arrived, huddled behind his garage to get out of the wind. His garage, house, and well house were fine, but his barn another 100' to the NE was gone -- much of it down the hillside facing our place. This picture shows where the barn once stood. (The blue pieces are steel pins you link together, many of them badly mangled.) He said he was sure the cattle were in the barn at the time, because they always go there to get out of the rain. He was still looking for two cows and there was one down in the ruins of the barn, but hanging on. He was trying to warm it with a heater. He also didn't have water because some debris had hit a yard hydrant and broken the PVC it was tied into underground.

Most of the men disbursed, two staid with Jeff and went looking for the other missing cows and to patch up some fence on the eastern side. I volunteered to clear the trees and limbs off his fence to the west, the lower 40 of which is shared with our property. I told him not to worry about the cattle getting onto our property, and even though much of the western fence was down he didn't think they would get out.

This big pine across the fence was the first tree I cut, looking to the south where you can see our barn and house in the background. (Gosh, I forgot to even check our barn until the end of the day -- all OK.) I cut the trunk just past where it was laying on the wire, and once the load of the tree was off the base it raised right up and off the fence. I figured that was good enough.

These big oaks were down right along the fence line, and given the criss-cross way they fell it sure looked like a tornado. Most trees were laid down to the NNE, but down below there were many big cedars uprooted from the WNW.

Jeff's property is to the left and ours to the right. You can make out the downed fence along here. Our SE corner is where the wooded area to the right starts. There were two huge white oaks across the fence right over the corner -- fell from the owner to the south of our property and west of Jeff's (don't know who is the owner of that undeveloped land). We had this cedar blow over (actually a good thing), and lots of trees and tops in our field from the wooded area right before the fence and from our neighbors property directly south.

These big pines were snapped or uprooted on Jeff's side just up the hill and still looking to the south. You can see his fence line in the distance beyond the draw, which was a tangled mess. That is where I worked mostly, cutting limbs and trees off the the fence. I burned 4 tanks of gas and sharpened the saw twice.

Jeff was going to see if he could get someone to buy some of the downed timber. He had several walnuts down, and I know you can get a nice price for those -- but in no way a replacement for the loss. There is sure plenty of firewood, but no one has need of any since the ice storm almost 4 years to the day past. On my last trip up the hill I loaded what sheet metal scrap I could fit in the truck and hauled it up near where the barn once stood. I told Jeff I would be back out on the weekend to try and help out.