How I spent my week off from work...firewood style

[Duramax hd]

Just wanted to share some pictures with you guys from my break from work. I got to spend a lot of time outside, and got not even half of the tasks I had lined up for myself, but I had a blast doing what I got done, and most importantly I got to spend some real good time with my father, and nephew.

First up, is this pine tree. I have a cool video of me felling it, but need to put it on youtube so I can share...pics for now. Tree had been 'topped' in sandy (so I was told) and was in pretty rough shape. I've lived in my house for 1.5 years, and in that time, all the branches pretty much dried up, and died and were sagging big time. My dad lifted me up in the FEL, I climbed to what we thought was a good anchor point to tie off to, and hooked her up. It was REALLY windy that day, and we shouldnt have been cutting this large of a tree down, but with a 10k lbs backhoe we firgured we had enough to pusuade her in the right direction. Aside from a big gust of wind pushing her while I was making my back cut and pinching my bar, all went really well! this was the first time really giving my new 576xp a good workout. what a beast is all I can say. My 562xp and my buddies 362 bucked and limbed up most of tree...more on how the saws compared at a later date. This was A LOT of fun doing with my dad and nephew.Made some great memories. My nephew had never seen a chainsaw let alone see a tree get taken down. He seemed to like it, but when I was 14, I think I was a little more excited about this sort of thing than he was. The GF even joined me for a little of the burning party I had outside!....anyways here are the PICS:

Next up is my firewood proccessing. I had been working on my load of rounds on and off for a few months. I knew I NEEDED to finish while I was on my break from work. I hit this pile hard! There was a total of 9 dump truck loads of round when all was said and done, and to add to that, I had a tree guy burry me in wood, that I havent even looked at yet! good problems to have. My old man helped me a lot with the splitting, and so did a guy a work with. We are bartering his labor for a few cords. Im hoping to get 10 cord out of this pile. You guys can comment how much you think is there.

 

[farmer steve]

good "vacation". puttin that new holland to work.

 

[066blaster]

Nice pics.

 

[zogger]

Nice expedition man, looks like fun! some good wood in that pine trunk to go with your other huge pile.

I would agree on your assessment as to quantity, best I could scale it from the pic I think closer to 11 cord.

 

[Jetterbug]

Nice little vacation!

 

[svk]

I got to spend a lot of time outside, and got not even half of the tasks I had lined up for myself, but I had a blast doing what I got done

It's an ongoing battle but you got a great amount of work done. I spent three partial days in the yard last week and probably only got about 2 cords done as most of the time was spent on limb/brush cleanup.

Cherish the time with your family and friends. My dad is gone and kids are not big enough to help in a big way yet so I am a one man band at this point.

 

[Duramax hd]

good "vacation". puttin that new holland to work.

Thanks man. That new holland is an amzing machine. I dont have much to compare it to, but it has exceeded our expectations on its capability by far!

Nice pics.

Nice expedition man, looks like fun! some good wood in that pine trunk to go with your other huge pile.

I would agree on your assessment as to quantity, best I could scale it from the pic I think closer to 11 cord.

Thanks zogger. Expedition is an understatement. I also pulled a few all nighters working on my truck as we had some unseasonably warm weather for 2 days, and since I dont have a garage big enough for it, I took advantage of the weather and was able to get a motor in it, and it up and running. Thats what took me away from proccessing and picking up my wood!

Nice little vacation!

I was ready to go back to work believe me. I'm only 27, but push pretty hard on a daily basis outside of work, and doing that for a week and a half really wore me down. One of the nights I was out splitting in the darm until 10pm and my body was giving up before the mind was.

It's an ongoing battle but you got a great amount of work done. I spent three partial days in the yard last week and probably only got about 2 cords done as most of the time was spent on limb/brush cleanup.

Cherish the time with your family and friends. My dad is gone and kids are not big enough to help in a big way yet so I am a one man band at this point.

Thanks buddy. I spend a lot of time with the family and always did growing up, but for a few years there my old man and I had our differences, and we really didnt hang out or spend much time together. I really regret those years, and can never get them back, and am trying to make up for them by spending as much time as I can with him and the rest of my family while everyone is healthy and here. Sounds like you'll have a little army when your kiddies grow up! Looking forward to reading about them on here in a few years!

 

[Ronaldo]

Love those pics, thanks for sharing! Looks like you have nice equipment(saws, tractor, etc.) and that certainly helps make the wood working more fun and efficient.