Well, the “milling” part of our milling trip is now officially over as our second large chainsaw is now refusing to work. It started yesterday when my only reward for laboring constantly at the pull cord was a resounding backfire, which at least was entertaining for the spectators involved.
All is not lost though! We still have the small chainsaw running and that means we can cut trees down and prepare for our return in two weeks (not to mention we can prepare for the supply shuttles coming in a few days).
So yesterday, as my dad tried to revive the big saw, I went to cut trees down. But before I get into this story I need to give a little context. The other day Steve pointed out to me this label on our saw…
It specifies that only people with “experience and training” should be using this saw. I pointed out the only logical conclusion, “If only professionals are supposed to use the saw, and we are using the saw, then we must be professionals!”
So off I go with just the little saw to take out some trees, and the first one they bring me to is way too big for my little saw to cut through. That’s fine, I’m a professional after all. Besides, I watched a YouTube video about this once. It all depends on me plunging into the tree like I’m holding a lightsaber, and cutting up to the hinge in both directions, then removing the part that remains in the back where my saw is large enough to cut through. And, like a pro, I did just that…and then I watched as the tree fell 90° off course. Apparently, the cuts I made were not even with each other, which created a new hinge and the tree preferred the downhill hinge over my alongside the hill attempt.
The tree fell across the gully and made an impressive bridge to the other side, in fact, it was such a good bridge you could say it was put there by a professional!
The Kovol guys took over at this point. They built a platform at the center (about 20 feet high) and hacked at the log with axes. The log slowly gave in to its own weight and came to rest in the wash. Unfortunately, my photographer was still trying to repair our big saw at this point, so the only photo I have is from after the bridge was brought down.
So today we went about cutting this tree and another into manageable chunks. Nothing noteworthy happened other than a chain breaking…
Now the rain has come and driven us away from our work, which is why I find myself blogging at 1pm.
Still, I feel we made enough progress for our build trip to continue in two weeks, even if we need to continue full time milling while the building happens.
Ok guys, now for something completely different! Let’s do a caption contests! What do you think should be the caption for the photo below? Put your suggestion in the comments!
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