Pat's been busting his ass since this damage occurred. His wife works long days. Everyone is a bit on edge because of the added workload. Debris filled yard means debris filled house courtesy of us tracking in and out though the day. We try to limit it as best we can, but sometimes you just have to go inside.
Add to this baseball games for both the boys and things can just get really hectic.
Friday afternoon, while on a run to get some ice (we have been going through a lot of ice in water and other liquids this week), I made a command decision.
I would skip the baseball game, stay back at the main house, and cook a classic fried chicken dinner for the family.
Oh yeah, did I ever mention I can cook some mean fried chicken?
I started by making a peach cobbler using some beautiful peaches I brought up from a farm stand in North Carolina.
Having completed the cobbler, it was time to get the chicken ready for frying. I started by marinating the chicken in salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. I also started to boil some farm fresh eggs to make devilled eggs.
Then I dredged the chicken in flour seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, rubbed sage, and thyme. It was time to fry.
I'm not big on pre-prepared foods, but I was beat too. A quart of store bought potato salad and a quart of store bought cole slaw rounded out the meal.
I placed the chicken into the oven to keep it warm (the oven heated to 200F and turned off), left instructions as to what's where, and got out.
I wanted them to have a good family night. They deserved and needed one.
Saturday was another day of cutting and chainsawing. Lisa had a fundraiser at the church to do, and the youngest son had a playoff game. Pat and his oldest took off around 9:45 am to watch the game.
Pat felt it was important to have one of them there at the game. It is one of the reasons I admire him as a parent. The family comes first.
Fortunately Pat's neighbor Jay was over to help until 11:00 am. We got a lot of stuff done. He left to go to work and our friend Brad came over. This is the guy I was waiting for. Brad is one of the hardest working guys I know. I always have a lot of confidence doing a project if Brad's involved.
For this part of the project, I was going to need all the confidence I could get.
A black walnut tree fell close to the house. Part of it damaged a copper gutter over the north side entrance to the house. Pat had already cut that part away, but the remaining limb (all 40 feet of it) was over the roof of the entrance. The limb was also about 8 inches in diameter. The height above the porch roof and the weight of this hardwood made for a potentially damaging predicament.
We were lucky. We had one of everything we needed:
- One 26" bar chainsaw
- One 40' length of rope
- One half full gallon container of chainsaw bar oil
- One four wheel drive Kabuto tractor
- One Brad
- One Air Traffic Mike wearing his "Chainsaw" outfit
I tied the container to the end of the rope and launched it up over the branch. Got it on the first try. Not bad considering it was about a 20 foot toss in the air. Brad tied the rope to the bucket of the tractor and the other end to the limb via a slip knot. I walked down the trunk of the tree. Courtesy of the lay of the land I was going to be chainsawing the limb, standing on the trunk, 8 feet off the ground while a man on a tractor would be keeping tension on the limb so it wouldn't hit the house.
I'm pretty sure OSHA would not approve of this.
Brad and I gave our best guesses, if successful, as to how far from the house the approximately 1,000 pound branch would land. Brad estimated "about a foot". I guessed, "really fucking close".
As you can see I even managed to miss the chainsaw gas can. Its that little red thing between the 1/2 ton limb and the first step of the porch.
Here's the view of the whole downed limb:
and here's a view of the tree it came from:
I wanted to cut it completely off but common sense prevailed. It was much more important to get it away from the house and on the ground.
We knocked off about 1:30 pm due to the humidity and heat. Honestly, I needed an afternoon off. We'd been going at it pretty hard this past week.
I hit the shower. Pat and the boys came back with a used boat Pat had purchased earlier in the Summer. He had some work done to it and the boat folks called him at the ball field to tell him it was ready. We gave it a good look over and went back in the house. Pat was pretty exhausted from the work week as well.
I took to the computer and was writing yesterday's blog when Pat hands me a bowl of minced onion and another bowl with minced green bell pepper. "Here, make something out of the clams in the 'fridge. I'm going upstairs to take a nap."
Who don't like a good food challenge?
If you sautee bell pepper, onion, garlic, and celery, add some tomato paste and brown it, add live clams and a bit of water, salt and pepper, cover with a lid and cook it over medium heat for three minutes, it looks like this:
I highly recommend eating it with crusty French bread.
Today was our day off. So what did we do? We cut grass on two big zero turn lawn mowers. I'd like to point out we're talking about acres of grass. Fortunately, these machines are built for speed.
This afternoon, we just couldn't help it. The weather was really nice. We just had to take the boat out for a "shake down cruise". Besides, fishing is not a bad way to spend an hour or so. It was off to the Delaware River.
It was the perfect cap to a really busy week.
It is quiet here tonight. That's good. Tomorrow will bring the return of chainsaw blades flying, brush being loaded up and hauled, more sweat and strawberry flies.
Miss the old career? Not a chance. It feels good to feel alive again.
Air Traffic Mike, ret.
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