Yesterday was a nice day. Oh sure, it rained. Again. I can't recall ever having so much rainy weather here in upstate New York. It wasn't a gully washer, just one of those miserable, dreary drizzly days.
It was Father's Day. My dad passed away a few years ago. Pam is in Florida, so there's no going to see her dad. That left Earl, my dad-in-law.
Earl is a pretty cool guy. I've mentioned him here a few times. For 83 years old, he's pretty spry and witty. He has no qualms about running the backhoe, especially when it comes to knocking down a mobile home, for example. Earl's wife, Judi, was in Florida with Pam and so Earl and I were "baching it". I had to go off the mountain for groceries, and picked up hamburgers and potato salad for a BBQ. On the way home, I swung by Bill's house and invited him. Bill and Earl have been buddies for a number of years, the kind of buddies who bust each other's asses and enjoy it immensely. Three guys drinking beer, eating hamburgers, and watching "The Patriot" on Earl's satellite TV... all in all, a good day.
Today Tim comes with his bulldozer to start grading our property and to get rid of stumps, logs, and rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. I don't know how America's early settlers dealt with all of this. I can't imagine cutting down acres of trees, hauling the logs away, pulling stumps, and moving all those rocks to make rock walls, all without chainsaws, log skidders, tractors and bulldozers. Amazing.
I'll head over there in a few hours to talk to Tim. I want to save as many of the big rocks as possible for landscaping and such, and certainly as many of the logs as we can for firewood. There were many that I couldn't get to with the tractor. The land is also stepped at different levels, and I need a road from the main pasture area down to the lower one. Many of the rocks can go there as fill, I suppose.
The folks taking away the old mobile home didn't show yesterday, probably because of Father's Day. That's a problem, because the land can't be graded there, but I suppose I can deal with that with the backhoe. I'll have to. Hey, if early settlers could do it with oxen, I should be able to with a backhoe and Bessie.
It was Father's Day. My dad passed away a few years ago. Pam is in Florida, so there's no going to see her dad. That left Earl, my dad-in-law.
Earl is a pretty cool guy. I've mentioned him here a few times. For 83 years old, he's pretty spry and witty. He has no qualms about running the backhoe, especially when it comes to knocking down a mobile home, for example. Earl's wife, Judi, was in Florida with Pam and so Earl and I were "baching it". I had to go off the mountain for groceries, and picked up hamburgers and potato salad for a BBQ. On the way home, I swung by Bill's house and invited him. Bill and Earl have been buddies for a number of years, the kind of buddies who bust each other's asses and enjoy it immensely. Three guys drinking beer, eating hamburgers, and watching "The Patriot" on Earl's satellite TV... all in all, a good day.
Today Tim comes with his bulldozer to start grading our property and to get rid of stumps, logs, and rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. I don't know how America's early settlers dealt with all of this. I can't imagine cutting down acres of trees, hauling the logs away, pulling stumps, and moving all those rocks to make rock walls, all without chainsaws, log skidders, tractors and bulldozers. Amazing.
I'll head over there in a few hours to talk to Tim. I want to save as many of the big rocks as possible for landscaping and such, and certainly as many of the logs as we can for firewood. There were many that I couldn't get to with the tractor. The land is also stepped at different levels, and I need a road from the main pasture area down to the lower one. Many of the rocks can go there as fill, I suppose.
The folks taking away the old mobile home didn't show yesterday, probably because of Father's Day. That's a problem, because the land can't be graded there, but I suppose I can deal with that with the backhoe. I'll have to. Hey, if early settlers could do it with oxen, I should be able to with a backhoe and Bessie.
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