Right outta tha blue..

[DanG]

Startin' the New Year out right. Got a call a while ago from some fellow I never heard of.  Said he has about 30 "big" pines down, and was about to put the torch to them. My friends, Martha and Cotton(You met them, Harold) gave him my phone # and said I would probably take them. I asked him how big they were, and he said "about 90' long by 24" diameter." I doubt if all of'em are that big, but it sounds like a big pile of logs, and they are only about 5 miles from my place. I'm meeting him there at 9 in the morning to start hauling them home.
BTW, they've been limbed but not bucked, so I can buck'em the way I want'em.

[WoodChucker]

Congratulations, gotta love it when that happens!  

R.T.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Yep, nice folks. Ya gotta feel good about what yer doin, when yer friends speak up for ya. 8) ;D ;D

[WV_hillbilly]

  that's great that your friends help you feed your addiction . I'd say those are some purty good folks  you know there  .  

[shopteacher]

Old Butch says "Ain't no tree like a free tree".

[oakiemac]

Congrats ;D With the price of particle board, I've been waiting for some one to give a load of free OSB trees. :D :D

[Jeff]

I just had to buy 4 sheets of 1/2 plywood good one side for the kitchen floor. $27 a sheet. ARGHH!!!!

[redpowerd]

why would you do that to yer'self?
jus hold on,
gas'll be 28 cents
osb at 23 cents
tires will be free
jus wait

[DanG]

Red, you're a real dreamer! I like that. :D :D

Well, the "gold mine" turned out to be a used up shaft. :-/  I don't know why the guy did such a selling job, since the price was "free". ???  Turned out, the stuff had been down for a while, and was more like 8" dbh and 25' long. The bugs had had their way with it, and there was nails sticking out of it.  I did manage to scavenge 7 logs in the 12-14 inch by 20 foot range, and will get some more of them next weekend.

On the plus side, I had hired my Grandson to help me with the project. He had a friend spending the weekend, so I had to hire him, too. He is the son of a close family friend, so I was comfortable doing it.  We worked hard for what we got, but had a grand time doing a bit of work together, and the kids learned a thing or two. They have both helped me before, and will get better with every job we do. Chris, my Grandson, is almost 14, and Josh, the friend's kid, is 12.

Another plus, in my mind, is a contact I made. The landowner has an old D6 cable dozer, and had hired a guy to run it for him. I talked with him a little, and he says he runs across quite a bit of waste timber that I could use. I gave him my phone number, so we'll see what comes of it.

All in all, I may have broken even on the venture, with the expenses of the fuel and time, and what I paid the kids. But I profited immensely from the interaction with those boys, and from meeting people that may be valuable to me in the future.  

[Fla._Deadheader]

   Man, that stinks     Then again, the bottom part of yer post says it all ;) ;D ;D

[Tom]

Dang, your last sentence sums up the best part of life.  Ain't it grand?

[whitepe]

Well I'll be dang'd DanG
Sorry it didn't pan out better than that.   :(

[Norm]

Too bad the trees didn't work out better but sounds like you guys had a great time. I always enjoy working with young men (I hate to call em kids when they get over 12). My sons always like to show how tough they are by showing me how hard they can work. I think they're amazed that old dad can keep up with em. :D

[Neil_B]

Norm, I hope I can keep up with my guy when he's a teen. I really should quit smoking  :-/. Anyway, I'm 30 years older than he is but he's starting to catch up  ;) ;D