We left off part two with the veneer logs up at the landing. Let's see how they got there from over 1000' from where they were cut. Here we see the bulldozer as it made it to the landing. Lester gave me a ride this time. That road was really smelly, or maybe it was Lester?
He carries the cut lumber on his forks, and he is also pulling a sled that either has more cut lumber on it, or the veneer logs. This road, and landing are in such bad shape that the sled was getting stuck in the mud. When it would get hung up he would pull ahead with the dozer then winch the sled to it. Rinse, and repeat several times each haul. Below is another picture of that landing.
Usually these mills have bundles of slabwood that they sell, but after picking lumber up from here a few times, I noticed there never was any bundles there. I asked Lester where they all were at. He told me that he has been taking the four feet in diameter banded bundles, and dumping them into this road, and landing. The whole bundles were never even broken apart, and spread out! Under all that mud is countless slab bundles going all the way from the landing, and down that 1000' of road! Lester said that that road doesn't have a bottom, and I believe him!
Now we are in early spring, and they are just about done with these woods. Lester called and said that they did the last of the grading, and that they found a little more curly maple for me to pick-up. When I got there, I noticed Lester was walking around like he had a brick in his drawers. "What happened to you?", I asked. He smiled, and replied, " $%#^&* poison ivy!" Lester like most everyone else working these wet woods were wearing muck boots instead of the work boots they usually wear. The pants are tucked inside the boots, so you don't get your pant legs all wet and muddy. Makes sense until you see this:
Ah yes! The poison ivy vines growing up the trees. As you get more to the edge of the woods you will see this quite a bit. The poison ivy has enough light now to thrive.
Lester doesn't like to wear socks (It's an Amish thing), and paid the price. When he cut the logs to length, he was also cutting through the poison ivy vines which had climbed on the trees. The sawdust went onto his pants and down into his boot. So he was basically walking around on poison ivy sawdust all day. He said his feet were so raw, and swollen that he had to buy a larger pair of muck boots to fit them! Another hazard of being a logger.
As I left, I took one last shot of the woods as it was just about finished being cut. Here it is below:
Yes, it is quite a mess, but from this end starts a new beginning. In a few years this will be a brushy field with lots of deer, song birds, and other wildlife calling it home. This is what my woods looked like in 1976 when it was logged. Now the trees are grown again, and many are ready to be harvested. It's a renewable resource.
Thank you for reading. I hope you all have a great holiday season!
Kevin Koski
Curly Maple Wood
Dry Kiln owner/operator
