Uncategorized – Lee Irwin

Raptors: Red-tailed Hawk

Red Tailed Hawk

Today we had a visitor, a red tailed hawk. He has been sitting on logs down in our meadow. He seems to be hunting for ground squirrels, chipmunks and other small game. Our cats and dogs would be too big for him to be able to pick up.

We have a burn pile from all the debris from our woods. He has been sitting on the highest point in this debris pile, watching for critters. He’s been here for two days in row.

We’ve noted him on power lines and telephone poles in our vicinity. We live in a rural community that has lots of varmints, ground squirrels, chipmunks, field mice and the like. We also have bald eagles where we live, because we have a substantial creek within a mile of our farm. Our neighbors say that there is an Eagles nest along the creek, but I have yet to find it.

Lumberjack as a side hustle

1 Comment / Uncategorized / By Straykat

The mess after recent storms with trees down.

Several storms during February, some with high winds, caused a few of the dead trees to fall. They are big, my 18 inch chain saw doesn’t get through them on one pass. There is one huge tree with multiple main trunks that has to be nearly 6 feet diameter that I’m not sure what to do with. It’s going to take a while to get this cleaned up. I’m only good for about two hours at a time manhandling the chain saw. I might be in the market for a longer bar, for the chain saw.

Timber..!

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By Straykat

This winter has been strange. Only one really cold snap, and otherwise mostly rainy and dreary. The ground is not frozen, and we’ve had several storms come through, resulting in four large trees falling, with one in the pond.

My little tractor and skid steer are no match for the one in the pond. That’s going to be a problem to get out. This week one tree fell into the meadow on the grass and took several smaller trees with it. This means a lot of chain-saw work and using the grapple on the skid steer to clean up all the broken branches and debris. My chainsaw is only an 18-inch bar, and all the trees are 36 inches or bigger.

If anyone wants some firewood and is willing to go mucking around in the woods to get it and cut it, you are welcome to it. Otherwise, it will be a working winter into spring to clean it all up.