mud.....

[slowp]

Here we go.

222 PM PST Tue Dec 8 2015

The Flood Warning continues for
the Cowlitz river at Randle
* from 6 PM Tuesday until late Thursday night.
* At 2:00 PM Tuesday the stage was 16.0 feet.
* Flood stage is 18.0 feet.
* Major flooding is forecast.
* Forecast... the river will rise above flood stage around 6 PM
Tuesday and crest near 22.2 feet around 10 am Wednesday. The river
will fall below flood stage Thursday evening.
* Impact... at 22.0 feet... the Cowlitz river will cause major flooding
from the vicinity of Randle downstream through Riffe Lake... with
dangerous inundation of many roads including US Highway 12...
residential and commercial areas... and farms. Flooding will occur
all along the river including headwaters... tributaries... and other
streams within and near the Cowlitz river basin.

 

[chucker]

sounds like old times when the cowlitz was lapping at the allen street bridge in kelso, had to raise the bridge to let the junk flow through! alas, this is no more!

 

[catbuster]

I'm not having a mud problem, but moreso that I told my guys we'd be done Dec. 1 and that's when my equipment lease was up. So they're just sort of making stuff happen with my smaller gear.

 

[chucker]

I'm not having a mud problem, but moreso that I told my guys we'd be done Dec. 1 and that's when my equipment lease was up. So they're just sort of making stuff happen with my smaller gear.

kinda like doing the best with what you have instead of what you thought you had, that was'nt your's to begin with..... better to make a single dollar with the tools i have than to pay 3 dollars to make a dollar with someone else's tools that were not mine! nothing like working for someone else's dollar!

 

[Jim Timber]

Doesn't look like next week is going to help either of us Dave. They just showed rain in the 80%'s for the next 9 days after tomorrow.

 

[chucker]

more rain! just what we don't need!! with anymore rain, I wont need to bother the trucker to load an haul the 2 semi loads waiting on the deck now ... more rain I will be able to raft them to the mill.... lol

 

[chucker]

if we are to get more rain jim, I will probably need to set up something like a stern wheeler boat to skid logs! just imagine the old allis d15 "FARMER LOGGER TRACTOR SKIDDER" with pontoons and a paddle wheel? what a sight. LOL

 

[Jim Timber]

You've been busy!

Who's taking those logs?

 

[chucker]

pont's logging mill in bowlus. worked steady since the mid summer storm with out much of a break till now? after the holiday's heading north to the border for some tree work around vermillion.... just need frozen ground and a little snow to make things slide easier an cleaner!

 

[Jim Timber]

Is that a different Ponts than the Little Falls one?

The LF guy offered me $50 a cord in his yard for red oak on a trailer. When I questioned it he said half of them were usually rotten in the middle anyway. It was a few years ago, but stumpage was over $300/cord at the time.

 

[chucker]

same outfit! good guy to deal with decent prices for the wood in quantity but not 100 cord lots!!so far done 3 contracts of 30 cord with 2 more to deal with by the end of the year. you would need to take him a load of your average/better stuff so he can judge the quality and deal from there! I have never seen stumpage go for 300.00 a cord! best could be around 125.00 per cord to buy from a source. 18.00 is common for less than grade and 40.00 for grade to veneer!

 

[JMartin385]

That is some nice looking timber chucked pretty similar to what I'm into right now if I could only keep it out of the mud I'd be set. Truck driver blew a hydraulic line yesterday said he would be back first thing this am never showed up and he's not into answering his phone so we kept stacking skids before we knew it out landing was stuffed to the point where we could fit another single log.

 

[Jim Timber]

I probably caught him on a bad day.

I'm not sure what the plan is for this winter. I got most of my road up to my high ground done, and can almost get a semi turned around in the "garden", but I don't know if I'm going to get serious about cutting and stacking wood, or if I'm gonna hole up and stay warm this winter.

 

[chucker]

same here jm, the landing is full and no room to expand with out going to the next contract.... mud sucks big time!!! I want cold, snow and below freezing temps! I am tired of being a fair weather "FARMER LOGGER TRACTOR SKIDDER OPERATION" ... lol I like the eskimo operation lots better than muddddddd. in frozen conditions I can up production by 50% with out back sliding !!

 

[Jim Timber]

I was making good progress pushing over a ridge into a gully when we got that 1.5" in 2 days and the deep freeze. I thought I was done earth moving for the winter and pretty much called it quits in the woods. Now everyone's whining about it being gooey and I have more trees I want to rip out by the roots.

I'm ready for winter. Just get on with it so we can get it over with. I've got a couple cords stacked I'd like to spend a day or two bucking and splitting. No trouble getting pickups in and out of the yard anymore. Might as well sell what I have laying around anyways.

 

[JMartin385]

Yea chucker I'm ready for that frozen ground I have another 3000 board foot left on this contract then I'm moving on and I'm stuck waiting on trucking I literally have no room left either way I have to wait for the truck because my stacks are so wide I have to push the log s to the driver so he can reach them if not his truck would become a permanent part of the landing lol.

 

[Jim Timber]

They're saying 30's again next week too now. Just can't get a break can ya?

 

[chucker]

nope!

 

[catbuster]

Lake affect snow warning here. Now... It's 35, so it'll be really wet soon.

And... I disagree. When it doesn't make sense to buy your own tool, it makes lots of sense to pay to use someone else's tool if you'll be in it for less money than buying your own. I'll lease equipment for $75K/piece per year rather than go another $4.5M in debt. The economics of my business are probably much different than a tractor logger.

 

[JMartin385]

Shut down