A Fine Day Logging in the Parking Lot

[slowp]

We had a microburst hit this area of the valley last July. Unfortunately, this was almost all cottonwood. We put it up for sale and it sold!! It is being hauled to a fiber place. Chipping.

The skidder operator is 90 something years old. The weather today was downpour to drizzle to downpour. The parking lot is part of a former CCC turned Job Corps now leased by the State Of Warshington and used as an environmental education center. It is used by schools and groups who stay in the dorms. I went to band camp there back in the dark ages.

Here's the faller falling what was left of an alder.
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[slowp]

Some kind of fun with alder.

Here's the main saw used. This was a luxurious area to work in. A covered shed to gas up in, and within a short walk, a heated bathroom with flush toilet. There were no cookies being baked today. That was the disappointment.

Here's a still of the skidder operator.

Ahhh, a fine and miserable day. I just walked over to the skidder operator to say, "What?" and "No."

My peanut butter sandwich was soggy, and was called a "raw peanut butter" sandwich because I did not put jelly on it. My right boot sprang a leak and I had a squishy cold foot. I didn't wear my caulks in the parking lot. But these guys did the work.

 

[2dogs]

Ok now all you're gonna wanna do is log the edges of parking lots. You're gonna lose your edge. Watch "Apocalypse Now" is a traning video. Tell yourself "every day I log the parking lot the loggers get stronger. Ever day the loggers squat in the forest they get stronger."

 

[371groundie]

they didnt put racing slicks on the skidder for working on pavement?

 

[joesawer]

Ok now all you're gonna wanna do is log the edges of parking lots. You're gonna lose your edge. Watch "Apocalypse Now" is a traning video. Tell yourself "every day I log the parking lot the loggers get stronger. Ever day the loggers squat in the forest they get stronger."

LOL!
Hilarious!

 

[slowp]

I like it! I'll maybe see how they get it loaded today.

 

[chucker]

gotta love the wet side..... watch out for them slug hazards and crawlers!!! they will tear you up............ you anywhere near longview area?????

 

[Cedarkerf]

A new tv show in the works. Would be easier to film instead of driving up in the woods. Comming up next a school employee leaves her nissan in the parking lot will it be hit "aarrgh look out lookout who has the keys" this and more on the next episode of "Parking lot loggers" tonight at 7 6 central.

 

[slowp]

A new tv show in the works. Would be easier to film instead of driving up in the woods. Comming up next a school employee leaves her nissan in the parking lot will it be hit "aarrgh look out lookout who has the keys" this and more on the next episode of "Parking lot loggers" tonight at 7 6 central.

Yup. Yesterday the drama would have been, "Will the leaning alder smash into the storage shed and cost the logger some of his Green Gold profit? (break for commercials.) And what about the children who traipse around later in "the season". Maybe I better get a better camera? I like it.

 

[redprospector]

Last week me and bullbuck got to do some street logging. That's kinda like parking lot logging, just longer turns.
We had a wind storm hit and blew down a bunch of trees in town. Smashing houses, powerlines, and cars. I got to spend a few days on a skidder just like the one in your picture...........Well, almost like it. Mine's not near that purty.
Now the fun has started, taking trees off houses without doing any more damage.
Maybe there is enough of this kinda stuff around for them to make a TV show. Gotta be better than Axmen.

Andy

 

[discounthunter]

well now you did it. i want a thread with a story, this one time at band camp..........opcorn:

 

[slowp]

Next week I start prep work for the series, "Environmental Center Loggers".

Actually, I think the name has been changed to just "Learning Center."

The plot? A talented, insured, PNW faller must work in a beautiful but treacherous valley, where the sunshine is liquid. Sunlight does not appear here until the end of January, making the area ripe for madness and mildew. Powerlines, water hydrants and buildings are waiting for him to be just inches off. Inches from danger and insurance claims. He must work carefully, yet quickly, for the children will be returning to this pristine playground soon--so pristine that even the most expensive cell phone will not work here. The latter is a hardship for many. But not for our PNW Environmental Center Logger...

Then the crew will show up. A motley crew to carve the giant second growth averaging around 16 inches for the Doug-fir and the multi diametered maple plus one cottonwood, into fuel--fuel to heat homes. The fuel that makes this area warm, that keeps out population a little bit sane during the 9 month rainy season.

Environmental Center Loggers--the elite of the elite. Gentle on the land, but able to withstand the cell phone free environment. They "Understand".