Lumber Jack Days!

What a way to spend a beautiful spring day! On Sunday, March 14, we enjoyed the gifts of nature, hard work and family. It doesn't get much better than that! Chris and Kelly along with Lauren, Adam and Kya joined Maddie and us for a rigorous day felling trees and hauling logs on the property.

In spite of the Daylight Savings Time hour loss, at 8 am we jumped into two cars, made a stop at Caribou for the necessary Sunday paper and road-trip caffeinated beverages, and headed up 94. There was much fog and the rain threatened, but as we arrived, the clearing of the skies began. It was over 50 degrees and we vacillated between sweating and getting chilled if we stood too long pondering our next plan. Our hopes that there would be much less snow to trudge through were realized when we saw that about 95% of the snow had melted. There were many signs of nature to be seen, like

the rare and greatly-feared "Adam" ape,  found hanging from the trees.

There were sweet little green signs of growth peeking out everywhere ... one of Sandy's favorite moments of the year!

Unfortunately, everything was far too wet to allow us to burn the stumps and brush, as we had planned.

Lauren, like her mother, fell in love with the power of a chainsaw and the thrill of speed cutting!

We were able to cut and haul the logs of a previously fallen tree to the ever-growing log pile. We enjoyed the delights of Grandma Patty's Cafe' for lunch (where ironically only breakfast was being served). Everything was as great as our first visit. We're definitely going back for more of those blueberry pancakes that Adam didn't want to share (and we don't blame him)! We had a little chat with Patty's husband, Lenny, then made our way back for an afternoon of heavy labor.

Kelly was a brut, hauling 10 times her weight in logs with ease!


We "successfully" cut down another tree which had a huge split in the trunk and would have soon fallen anyway. The catch was that there was no plausible way to direct its fall, as the split determined that for us. And yes, it fell directly into the "Y" of unassuming nearby Little Tree, just sitting there minding its own business! It was quite a process to get all of the pieces down that had gotten folded around Little Tree. We hope he survives the vicious attack of 3-14!  
                             

                                  

                                  Go boom!..........kinda    

                               Huh?

Still, much was accomplished with the aid 
of Tree Master, Chris...

and the managing supervisor, Doug

and Sandy, who apparently only came for the food!












As the Brandon Gazette reported, "Much fun was had by all!" 

Such a satisfying and exhausting day must be capped with

  Lauren giving puppy kisses...

and the destined-to-be-famous "Lumber Jack Jig!", 

performed here by Christopher L. Dahl.

Thanks everyone for a great day! You're the best! 

We miss you Spencer and Kim and AnnaBelle 

and look forward to having you with us soon!