one thing... leads to another...

Have you ever had one of "those projects" that leads from one thing to another?? well, such was the case with Ed and I today. I woke this morning with all good intentions of staining our "electrical shed" ... I want to get it done before the wood ages any more, and have it done for the driving clinic next weekend. But when I arrived on the farm this am... Ed had another project in mind.

At the edge of our driveway is our outdoor wood furnace, at some point in time, we need to take the pine trees down that are around the furnace. We also need to make room around the drive to have a place to push the snow next winter, as well as a place to put the wood that will feed the furnace. This project is on our "to do" list... but the "to do" happened today.

We noticed that the "town" has been working on clearing out the ditches at the road edge, digging out the sand and gravel that over the years, has begun to clog up the ditch. Ed spoke with the road commissioner and said he would take some of the "fill" that they were pulling out of the ditches. This "fill" is perfect for the area around the furnace and the drive. Well, this morning the road commissioner came to the farm and said, if we wanted the "fill" he would be happy to bring it to us. It saves him hauling and dumping time, especially where they are now working on the road that passes right by the farm.

So, in order to get the fill where it needed to go... Ed and I had to get some trees down and the area cleared....

Almost before we could start, the first dump truck arrived. Since we really were not ready for it, they just dumped it in the driveway.

The easiest and most efficient way to do this project, was to have Ed cutting trees, and me running the chipper that is on the back of the tractor. I wasn't too excited about running this thing, it's loud and strong, and I wasn't so sure that I could do it.

But, Ed showed me how to run it, and I just decided that I needed to do it. I figured I would go slow and careful, and do the best job that I could.

So, he got to work, taking down trees, chunking up the big pieces that we can use in the furnace next winter... and then piling the brush up for me to put thru the chipper......

Once I got used to running it, it wasn't such a bad thing at all. I did take my time, and carefully put the brush thru it. Wood chips were flying everywhere, and I had to put the hood up on my sweatshirt to keep them from running down the back of my neck.

We work well together, and I was able to keep up with Ed, which was nice, because as he got a tree down, it was all clean up and gone before the next one went down.

Hard work, but well worth it.

After we had a good area cleared, Ed got on the tractor and pushed the pile of dirt into it.

By the end of the day, all the fill that had been brought to us, was evened out and the area is flat. We still have to make it bigger, but that can be done on Monday when they bring us more dump trucks of dirt.

It wasn't exactly the way that I had planned to spend the day, but, when good things come your way... you need to take advantage of them. If we had to buy this fill, it would have been quite costly... (they don't say "dirt poor" for no reason!!!).. the road crew was happy to have a place to put it, and we were happy to take it off their hands... all that was needed was a bit of work. So, job well done, and another thing that can be checked off the "to do" list!!!!