[Gathnet] Big Saturday

[Jonathan Gathman]

Dear Gathnetters,
   Today was a big day, work wise... I mean physical labor here...

   Some of you know that we moved out in the country, well, the road we 
live off of (Oaker) is not maintained by the county or anything, but by 
us.  It's a bit harder than most, because much of it lies along a stream 
(for right-of-way reasons).

   Well, there was a pretty, old tree that really looked nice, but we 
began to realize was quite dangerous.  While the road crew (that's us) 
was trimming last year with a Lift, they looked down the tree, and 
realized it was quite hollow.  The tree actually belongs to the person 
whose land it's on (right-of-way).  He said he'd get a crew to do it, 
but wasn't able to get to it for more than a year.

   In the meantime, this tree started dropping huge branches in the 
road, only a minute after someone drove under it.  Pretty scary, since 
we now knew it was fatally weakened, and it was only a matter of time 
before it dropped a huge branch on one of us, or perhaps fall over entirely.

   Finally, he agreed to let us do it, provided we clean up all the 
wood.  Since most of us have wood stoves, we assured him it wasn't a 
problem. ;)

   Today was the day.  We had about 10 people helping, and 5 of us had 
chain saws.  We were able to clear the road after about an hour, but it 
took us about 4 to get the wood hauled, etc.  But we've got a good start 
on next year's heating. :)

   If you look at the pictures, notice how wide the tree is, but early 
on, we realized there wasn't a lot of wood in that width anymore.  Note 
the little Crecent first cut (to make sure tree falls in the right 
direction, without spinning).  It's only a few inches wide at that 
point.  Makes one nervous just thinking about it.

   I also got a couple of pictures of the top of the tree, with the hole 
showing... realize that this is 20 feet up... the base was wider and the 
  hole bigger down there.

   I call it the Keebler Elf Tree (tm), because it seemed big enough to 
house a "Hollow Tree Bakery", or at least be the entry way for Peter Pan 
and Friends...

   http://jonathan.gathman.org/ElfTree/

   Also, for family members or those who like to see Gathman kids of any 
sort,  I took some pictures of Eliott's Soccer Game.  Eliott did well, 
and scored a goal.  I was too excited while he was doing it to remember 
to take a picture...  Oh well.. ;)

   http://jonathan.gathman.org/Soccer/

   Tonight, Jacqui has a friend coming over (husband is in the military, 
on a training mission), so I better get things ready.

   Take care,


-- 
Jonathan Gathman
"Think, Speak and Do Well"
Urquhart Family Crest