robutacion
Member
G'day peoples,
All my wood stories are getting a bit old like me and I haven't had any major wood excitement since the discovery of the McLaren Vale firewood processing plant is 2016 no longer in business, there is one bloke that I can see from the main road that has a big paddock full of all sorts of logs, growing almost every time I pass by, I try to find the place through the back roads and after some asking around I manage to find the property but that day no one was there that I could talk to so, one day, I will catch this bloke at his place and I will be able to look around for some logs I can use, hopefully, but in the meantime, I keep working on the logs I have in my storage paddock, cut them to manageable sizes and bring them home where I pile them on top of old wood pallets and covered with a big tarpaulin, I'm yet to take a single piece from that pile and process it.
With that said, I have been looking atone old She-Oak that seemed to start dying about 10 ago, I have been taking some pics every few years so that I could attempt to remove it when certain the tree was dead. The thing has a been as dead as a door hinge for about 5 or 6 years, I lost count on the dozens of times I mentioned to Merissa that I needed to get my act together and get the energy to go there with my trailer and chainsaw and cut the dam tree down before the Termites would make a mess out of it.
About 2 years ago, I notice that another She-Oak tree only 50 meters away died and dried fairly quickly so I now had a bigger job on my hands but still looking for some help and energy to do it. Quite recently I met a young man (31 years of age) is name is Corey he has Cerebal Palsy but he is well known in town for doing odd jobs to many people, he is harmless but not very vocal so body language and head signs are the best way to get a response out of him. I was told he likes to use a chainsaw and do wood work-related jobs such as chop firewood and stuff.
A few months ago I spoke with Corey and asked him if he would like to do a bit of work for me here and there and he was more than happy to do so, I have had him around the wood storage paddock, at the yard, work-shop and off jobs that are harder for me to do but he loves to do them for a few dollars and some beer, oh yeah, he loves his beer, low alcohol only, gave him some protective gear to keep him as safe as possible.
So, I started to think that Corey would just be the kind of help I would need to go and get not only one but two trees now, they weren't that big as most She-Oaks around here so, I finally got the courage and the motivation to get this short trip organised and so I did, I asked Corey if he was free this afternoon after 2:00 PM and told him what the job was about, he got really excited and while I was home servicing the chainsaw I was going to take (3), gas, oil and all the minor stuff, he rocked up with his 2 chainsaws that would probably cut butter in a summer day, both chains were stuffed but repairable and he obviously knew from all the gear he saw in the workshop that I knew how to sharpen chains.
Anyway, this poor Corey was so excited that he turned up at my place just pass 1:00 afternoon, and I was not ready at all so he waited.
All the chainsaw stuff was already in the vehicle I only needed to turn the vehicle around to attach to the trailer but in the process of taking a few things from the house such as cold water, my wallet, camera, keys and other stuff, I recall to put my wallet on the roof of the wagon, open the drivers door and put all the other stuff inside, got in the car, attached the trailer and there we went.
We were about 3 km from home when all of a certain I remembered that I had left the wallet on the vehicle's roof so, I turned around quickly in the hope to find it somewhere but I couldn't see anything, I stopped at home and looked everywhere in the hope that the wallet would have fallen inside the gate but that was not to be. I noticed a group of kids walking on the side of the road where my house is, they had already passed my place when I spotted them so and after realizing that the wallet was not in the yard, I turned around trying to catch up with these kids, I knew they had turned to a street on the right just pass my home but I never managed to see them but I noticed that where an old oval once was, the council has built a skate park with a bunch of kids playing in it, could they be some of the kids I was chasing..?
I stopped and asked one of the old kits in there but in no time I had the whole bunch near me obviously they thought they were in troubles or something so, I told them what happened and they told me that none of the kids there had arrived recently and that they had an idea as to who the other kids I saw may be, they were going to ask some questions and let me know what they had found, they knew where I lived.
I left a bit concerned about all the cards I had in the wallet, there wasn't much money in there $25.00 in fact and I was going to be on the road so, I was hoping that I wouldn't be stopped by the Police but I needed to do this job in the afternoon, half an hour was wasted going back and some heavy showers were coming my way so I need to move but not forget that was a good possibility now that I was driving on the same side of the road and the first time that the wallet could have stayed on the roof and slide out anywhere so I kept looking and about 1km from the house and already on the main road I spotted my wallet on the grass about 2' from the road itself, I was so quick to stop that the vehicle behind me didn't like my maneuver and gave a couple of "birds", I was not worried about that, I was overwhelmed to have found the wallet so the afternoon could only turn out better, for sure.
So, all these events prior to actually getting to the dead trees and get the job done made me already exhausted but I got to the spot and get working, I said to Corey in the drive to this place that as we would get there we had to work fast, not only we needed to get the 2 trees cut and the selected logs loaded in the trailer but also the possibility that if we would get caught in a big shower of rain, we may would get bogged, unable to get out of there so, from start to finish (load made and strapped) it took us 90 minutes, the rain did hold so we got out OK.
The small trailer (5x7) was loaded high, the wood was dry so a lot lighter in weight than if green but still, the logs were heavy and the whole load was super heavy. We got home and started to unload the trailer, I have not taken any pics of the job when on site, I have pics of the trees that I will show on another post but after I had 2 wheel-barrows already put away that's when I thought of the camera (tablet) so I got it out of the vehicle and took some pics of the load with Corey on the background in a couple of them.
Well, I had promised to Corey that we would have 1 beer each when we would get home and then he could have the second beer after we were all done putting everything away, the tough of a cold beer got Corey going, he took that beer down before I had time to have a sip out of mine but that was OK, I rarely drink beer or anything alcoholic. The wood was stored in two different places and when we were done with the wood, we put all the chainsaws and gear away (undercover) the rain was coming I was sure, as it did about 9:00pm but we managed to get it all done and unloaded from 2:30pm to 6:00pm, unnecessary will be to say that I was absolutely and totally bugged, legs, back, arms, hands all hurting so while Correy was finishing is second beer and get paid some spending cash I came to the house had a nice hot shower a good meal and rest in front of the computer while sharing this long story with you all.
I know that some of you miss my old wood stories, they were not a problem when I was more involved with hunting/gathering woods but I'm no longer doing that but and regardless of my lack of energy, strength and motivation, I don't think that I would ever stop completely from looking around for something I could use and either don't have or don't have much of it which is starting to happen with some of my tree species that I never got much from the start, my eyes and ears still work.
As I said, the only pics I have for you guys today are from the load we brought home, less a couple of weel-barrows loads already taken but still, there is no doubt that trailer worked hard as it did my 20 years old Holden Commodore wagon.
These 2 trees are almost what is left from the experiment the council and a local nursery created about 30 years ago by planting a strip of genetically modified trees, the intention was to create a tree that would be a mix of the Hardness and resilience to Termites and other local pests from the Bull-Oak or Buloke combined with the quicker grower, nicer grain and bigger size trees, hoping that the new trees life expectancy would increase considerably that looked that it was working until about 15 years after they were planted, for no particular reason they started to dye with 95% of them already non-existent, many years ago I applied for a permit that would allow me to remove the absolute dead trees for the purpose of salvaging as much wood as possible for woodwork and make it available to anyone that would be interested in it, my first lot of trees cut under this permit was about 12-13 years ago, there are about 2 or 3 left that are still surviving after all this time the question is, will I have enough strength to salvage any more of these special trees, possibly not, will see.
The name I gave to these modified species was an abbreviation to what they really were so She/Bull-Oak was born for me and everyone else that has been buying these blanks since these last 14 years.
OK, OK folks, the pics are finally coming, I hope you enjoyed the story and the wood, off-course.
Cheers
George
All my wood stories are getting a bit old like me and I haven't had any major wood excitement since the discovery of the McLaren Vale firewood processing plant is 2016 no longer in business, there is one bloke that I can see from the main road that has a big paddock full of all sorts of logs, growing almost every time I pass by, I try to find the place through the back roads and after some asking around I manage to find the property but that day no one was there that I could talk to so, one day, I will catch this bloke at his place and I will be able to look around for some logs I can use, hopefully, but in the meantime, I keep working on the logs I have in my storage paddock, cut them to manageable sizes and bring them home where I pile them on top of old wood pallets and covered with a big tarpaulin, I'm yet to take a single piece from that pile and process it.
With that said, I have been looking atone old She-Oak that seemed to start dying about 10 ago, I have been taking some pics every few years so that I could attempt to remove it when certain the tree was dead. The thing has a been as dead as a door hinge for about 5 or 6 years, I lost count on the dozens of times I mentioned to Merissa that I needed to get my act together and get the energy to go there with my trailer and chainsaw and cut the dam tree down before the Termites would make a mess out of it.
About 2 years ago, I notice that another She-Oak tree only 50 meters away died and dried fairly quickly so I now had a bigger job on my hands but still looking for some help and energy to do it. Quite recently I met a young man (31 years of age) is name is Corey he has Cerebal Palsy but he is well known in town for doing odd jobs to many people, he is harmless but not very vocal so body language and head signs are the best way to get a response out of him. I was told he likes to use a chainsaw and do wood work-related jobs such as chop firewood and stuff.
A few months ago I spoke with Corey and asked him if he would like to do a bit of work for me here and there and he was more than happy to do so, I have had him around the wood storage paddock, at the yard, work-shop and off jobs that are harder for me to do but he loves to do them for a few dollars and some beer, oh yeah, he loves his beer, low alcohol only, gave him some protective gear to keep him as safe as possible.
So, I started to think that Corey would just be the kind of help I would need to go and get not only one but two trees now, they weren't that big as most She-Oaks around here so, I finally got the courage and the motivation to get this short trip organised and so I did, I asked Corey if he was free this afternoon after 2:00 PM and told him what the job was about, he got really excited and while I was home servicing the chainsaw I was going to take (3), gas, oil and all the minor stuff, he rocked up with his 2 chainsaws that would probably cut butter in a summer day, both chains were stuffed but repairable and he obviously knew from all the gear he saw in the workshop that I knew how to sharpen chains.
Anyway, this poor Corey was so excited that he turned up at my place just pass 1:00 afternoon, and I was not ready at all so he waited.
All the chainsaw stuff was already in the vehicle I only needed to turn the vehicle around to attach to the trailer but in the process of taking a few things from the house such as cold water, my wallet, camera, keys and other stuff, I recall to put my wallet on the roof of the wagon, open the drivers door and put all the other stuff inside, got in the car, attached the trailer and there we went.
We were about 3 km from home when all of a certain I remembered that I had left the wallet on the vehicle's roof so, I turned around quickly in the hope to find it somewhere but I couldn't see anything, I stopped at home and looked everywhere in the hope that the wallet would have fallen inside the gate but that was not to be. I noticed a group of kids walking on the side of the road where my house is, they had already passed my place when I spotted them so and after realizing that the wallet was not in the yard, I turned around trying to catch up with these kids, I knew they had turned to a street on the right just pass my home but I never managed to see them but I noticed that where an old oval once was, the council has built a skate park with a bunch of kids playing in it, could they be some of the kids I was chasing..?
I stopped and asked one of the old kits in there but in no time I had the whole bunch near me obviously they thought they were in troubles or something so, I told them what happened and they told me that none of the kids there had arrived recently and that they had an idea as to who the other kids I saw may be, they were going to ask some questions and let me know what they had found, they knew where I lived.
I left a bit concerned about all the cards I had in the wallet, there wasn't much money in there $25.00 in fact and I was going to be on the road so, I was hoping that I wouldn't be stopped by the Police but I needed to do this job in the afternoon, half an hour was wasted going back and some heavy showers were coming my way so I need to move but not forget that was a good possibility now that I was driving on the same side of the road and the first time that the wallet could have stayed on the roof and slide out anywhere so I kept looking and about 1km from the house and already on the main road I spotted my wallet on the grass about 2' from the road itself, I was so quick to stop that the vehicle behind me didn't like my maneuver and gave a couple of "birds", I was not worried about that, I was overwhelmed to have found the wallet so the afternoon could only turn out better, for sure.
So, all these events prior to actually getting to the dead trees and get the job done made me already exhausted but I got to the spot and get working, I said to Corey in the drive to this place that as we would get there we had to work fast, not only we needed to get the 2 trees cut and the selected logs loaded in the trailer but also the possibility that if we would get caught in a big shower of rain, we may would get bogged, unable to get out of there so, from start to finish (load made and strapped) it took us 90 minutes, the rain did hold so we got out OK.
The small trailer (5x7) was loaded high, the wood was dry so a lot lighter in weight than if green but still, the logs were heavy and the whole load was super heavy. We got home and started to unload the trailer, I have not taken any pics of the job when on site, I have pics of the trees that I will show on another post but after I had 2 wheel-barrows already put away that's when I thought of the camera (tablet) so I got it out of the vehicle and took some pics of the load with Corey on the background in a couple of them.
Well, I had promised to Corey that we would have 1 beer each when we would get home and then he could have the second beer after we were all done putting everything away, the tough of a cold beer got Corey going, he took that beer down before I had time to have a sip out of mine but that was OK, I rarely drink beer or anything alcoholic. The wood was stored in two different places and when we were done with the wood, we put all the chainsaws and gear away (undercover) the rain was coming I was sure, as it did about 9:00pm but we managed to get it all done and unloaded from 2:30pm to 6:00pm, unnecessary will be to say that I was absolutely and totally bugged, legs, back, arms, hands all hurting so while Correy was finishing is second beer and get paid some spending cash I came to the house had a nice hot shower a good meal and rest in front of the computer while sharing this long story with you all.
I know that some of you miss my old wood stories, they were not a problem when I was more involved with hunting/gathering woods but I'm no longer doing that but and regardless of my lack of energy, strength and motivation, I don't think that I would ever stop completely from looking around for something I could use and either don't have or don't have much of it which is starting to happen with some of my tree species that I never got much from the start, my eyes and ears still work.
As I said, the only pics I have for you guys today are from the load we brought home, less a couple of weel-barrows loads already taken but still, there is no doubt that trailer worked hard as it did my 20 years old Holden Commodore wagon.
These 2 trees are almost what is left from the experiment the council and a local nursery created about 30 years ago by planting a strip of genetically modified trees, the intention was to create a tree that would be a mix of the Hardness and resilience to Termites and other local pests from the Bull-Oak or Buloke combined with the quicker grower, nicer grain and bigger size trees, hoping that the new trees life expectancy would increase considerably that looked that it was working until about 15 years after they were planted, for no particular reason they started to dye with 95% of them already non-existent, many years ago I applied for a permit that would allow me to remove the absolute dead trees for the purpose of salvaging as much wood as possible for woodwork and make it available to anyone that would be interested in it, my first lot of trees cut under this permit was about 12-13 years ago, there are about 2 or 3 left that are still surviving after all this time the question is, will I have enough strength to salvage any more of these special trees, possibly not, will see.
The name I gave to these modified species was an abbreviation to what they really were so She/Bull-Oak was born for me and everyone else that has been buying these blanks since these last 14 years.
OK, OK folks, the pics are finally coming, I hope you enjoyed the story and the wood, off-course.
Cheers
George
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till this happened.