Clearing the Driveway

This morning it snowed a few inches.

Our driveway is pretty long and kinda steep, then there is another stretch of shared road that is not maintained.

In total we probably have about 450 metres / 1,400 feet from our door to the catleguard. This is the view from the top of our drive down towards the house.

Before he went away last week Blaine hooked up the plow on the Rhino and gave me a quick plowing lesson.

It can be a bit tricky getting the angle of the plow right, especially since the road surface is uneven, but it really is quite fun. Certainly a lot easier that doing it the hard way with a shovel!

Free Firewood

We are surrounded by crown land from which we are permitted to harvest firewood for our personal use. The BC Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations oversees this through it's free permit scheme which restricts us amongst other things to only harvesting deadfall and taking no more than 10 regular pick-up loads.

This weekend we exercised our rights and went to the forest at the top of our driveway to collect some fuel for the winter. 

Blaine and his trusty Husqvarna chopped up the wood

I followed behind to pick up the 1-foot lengths

Then I loaded up the Rhino and drove it back home

 

I dumped 10 loads (but only itty bitty Rhino ones not pick up) beside the wood shed

Me suited up in my Surplus Herbies redneck work wear

Blaine split the wood

I stacked it in the back of the shed to dry

We still have more to split and stack but are both just exhausted and can't handle any more this weekend. A good soak in the hot tub should help us recover and be ready to finish the job off next weekend.

Yard Work on a Grand Scale

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This weekend was spent tidying the yard. The fenced area is only about 1/4 of our property which is just under an acre, extending up the drive to the road. Our sea can was delivered to the right of the gate because it was easier at the time to put it there, however we needed it the other side to make room for the coach.

To reposition the sea can we utilized the resources on hand: the Tahoe, the Suzuki with winch, and trees. First we drove up to the forest on the other side of the road and harvested a bunch of 4 foot lengths of dead fall pine. Blaine then jacked up the (empty but still 2,250kg) sea can while I placed the logs under the sides. With a chain hooked through the front bumper tow points the Tahoe did a great job of moving the load on the flat, but as we tried to turn up hill I couldn't get it to budge. In the end we hooked the winch on the front of the suzuki to the sea can, then chained the tahoe to the suzuki tow ball to act as an anchor. After turning the sea can, Blaine put the suzuki behind a big tree and winched it into place.

Next Blaine turned lumberjack and cut down a dozen trees. Some were blocking our satellite TV and Internet reception, others endangering our coach and our house if a big wind came through. fortunately for me Blaine used to fall trees when he worked with the forest service so He knew exactly what he was doing and dropped every tree cleanly. My job during this phase was to stay way out of the way.

Finally we drove the coach back over from the Fleming's place and with a few hiccups got it parked where the sea can was.

My dad was concerned about the extent of our tree chopping but as you can see there are still plenty of trees left. Plus now we have a huge pile of firewood curing for next year.



after