Angela's Firewood Rack

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Angie wanted me to build her a firewood rack for her Christmas gift - it took a couple of weekends to build it. Of course she had to keep after me to get started on it so I would not procrastinate until after Christmas. I fooled her - I got it finished almost 2 months early. The rack is about 10 foot long, 2 foot deep, and 6 foot tall.

But the cool thing is that the majority of the wood used in the rack came from a tree I cut down off their place in January of this year. Sooo, she can now point to the stump and say the tree that used to be there provided the wood for the firewood rack.

One of the pictures is of the rack loaded on a trailer and the other is the rack in place loaded with firewood. Angie says her outdoor cat sleeps wedged under the roof.

I'm wondering what Amy wants me to build. I told my daughters cookies work fine for me as gifts - I prefer making gifts rather than caving into most of society's commercialism of the holidays.

That's it for now folks, smooth sailing for all.

Amy in Chattanooga

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Hello all, I visited with my daughter this summer in Chattanooga TN. Here's some photos we took. I found the area to be really scenic, especially with the mountains in the background.

We went to the weekly (every Sunday afternoon) farmer's market gathering. http://www.chattanoogamarket.com/ There were the normal displays of locally grown vegetables mixed in with local artists' work. In addition there was a young lady singer performing and selling CD's of her work.

This all occurred under a pavillion which also sheltered food booths representing local eateries. A nursery man had all kinds of plants so I bought a couple of grape plants to start my own vineyard - we'll see how that goes - I'll keep you posted.


The bridge over the Tennessee River in the background is one of the two longest pedestrian bridges in the USA. It is about a half a mile across - I can say it did take a while to cross it.


That's Amy hang gliding, an ultralight actually pulled them up to about 3,000 feet - you would think as an air traffic controller she would want to fly in something more stable - but that's Amy.

My daughter Angie has more high flying photographs on her blog as well. I would like to take credit for Amy's picture but if you can believe that - I've got some other stories I can wow you with!

Visit Chattanooga - there is more to it than Lookout Mountain, the Incline Railway, the Aquarium and the other typical stuff we visited in the past.

One place I would highly recommend for all booklovers is a visit to McKays Used Bookstore http://www.mckaybooks.com/. Bring your old books to exchange and get a credit towards purchasing DVD's, videos, books, and/or CD's. You will be much impressed. Have a great day!

LOG ARCH

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These are some pictures of a log arch I had a welder buddy of mine build for me about 6 years ago. I would like to be able to take credit for designing the arch, but I saw an advertisement for a commercially made one in a logging magazine. I just cut the advertisement out and got a set of wheels and spindles from a junk yard and gave it all to the welder and he went from there.

The top of the arch lowers to the front. You wrap a chain around the logs and hook to the top of the arch. As you pull forward the arch held by the weight of the logs will raise lifting the front of the logs up so they won't dig in the ground.

To lower the logs to unhook the chain, you just back up a little and the arch folds forward releasing the tension on the chain. I usually just put a short log under the towed logs and as you pull forward it raises the logs and again releases the tension on the log. The arch supports the majority of the weight with the pulling vehicle only used for towing the arch with the logs.

For years I used my pick up but this little tractor does a great job. As you can see I had scooped some sand in the front bucket to help keep some weight on the front wheels.

A word of caution here, whenever you pull logs up a hill or steep rise go straight up and not sideways across the hill. If you try the sideways route the logs may try to roll and the weight of the logs may cause the arch and possibly the tractor to upset.

The first picture is of one pine log about 24 inches in diameter at big end and 16 foot long. According to http://www.woodweb.com/ the log weighs about 2,000 pounds.

The other pictures are of the arch with 2 pine logs one 16 foot long and the other 20 foot long. Both together weighed about 3,000 pounds.

I pulled them about 700 feet (2 1/3 football fields) from the front of my property to where I keep my sawmill. I was able to get 60 feet of logs out of this one tree - one eight foot, two 16 foot, and one 20 foot one. We (or rather mother nature) can go grow the heck out of pine trees here in the red clay of Georgia.

Finally the aftereffects of Fay, mainly rain and strong winds are decreasing. Only had 2 planted pines (about 30 ft tall) blow over.

Take care my friends and family - remember your comments/feedback are always welcome.

My Little Dog

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Hello all,

Finally got some recent photos of my little dog JR. He is a Lab/Beagle/Daschund mix, about 3 years old.

JR, whom I just call puppy is the most independent dog I've ever owned. He'll come to you for a hug or a little petting, but will not stick around for any extended contact. Of course this might be a result of when I got him as a puppy he was kept by himself in a small rabbit cage.

JR is the runningest dog you'll ever see. He is continuously in motion. When he runs he'll hop straight up in the air, maybe this is from his beagle blood jumping up to see above the tall grass when chasing rabbits.

I let him run free on my 5 acres, so hopefully he will keep the deer and other varmits away from my fruit trees. But he did not do too good of a job this year. One of my peach trees was loaded, but the day before I was going to pick them they disappeared. I think the squirrels or crows got them.

He is definitely territorial when it comes to other dogs. I had a friend over one day with his Rottweiler, and JR chased him (the Rott) until he jumped back into the truck. He's done that with every dog that someone brings over. I've got a couple of half wild cats that hang around the garden shed and he is continually treeing them and trying to climb the tree after them.

Don't forget to click on the photos and they will get larger, but JR is a little fellow. Enjoy!

30 Years Later

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Hello all, my daughters took me to Callaway Gardens for a Father's Day picnic. The butterfly house was something I had not seen despite all the years it has been at the gardens. We spent a nice relaxed day - very comfortable just hanging out together.

We also visited the chapel where I married my daughter's mother in March of 1978, 30 years earlier.

If you are in the area you should visit the gardens, it has something for each member of the family.

Life is good!

Heart Pine Headaches

These are some 12"x18"x14' heart pine beams from the former Eagle and Phoenix Textile Mill on river bank of the Chattahoochee River in Columbus GA. They are turning the mill into lofts and condos overlooking the river. The lumber from the beams are going to be used as decorative ceiling decking.

The first picture shows (to enlarge, double click on the photo) the saw cuts made before I started hitting nails. The building contractor tried to remove all the nails out he could see but apparently he missed some. I ruined 6 blades in the process. Never again, everytime I've sawed heart pine beams I've hit nails.


The second picture shows the nail holes and the distinctive staining of the wood by the iron in the nails. The lumber does have character and there is something to be said for recycling products of nature that not only took many many years to grow but also survived the impending Union attack during the Civil War. Supposedly, the machinery from the mill was removed, coated in grease, and sunk in the Chattahoochee to keep union forces from destroying the mill and the machinery. The Columbus Battle was the last major battle of the Civil War. For more details check out:

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/GAColBattle1.html

The final picture is of the lumber I was able to saw from the beams before the nails stopped me. Fellow sawmillers, avoid heart pine beams unless you have the means to find and remove all nails and foreign objects.

Mother's Day 2008

Here is my mother and brothers Bob, David and myself. We are only three of her seven children. My brother Randy who lives in the area could not make it because he is recovering from surgery. The other siblings live in NC, WV, and PA.

My mother is a living example of the strong devoted mother. We lived the typical life of a military family back when soldiers were both severly under paid and under appreciated. To this day I do not know how she kept us fed, clean and healthy. You could always tell who was at our house by the shoes outside the front door. You could not come into her house with shoes on.

Mom is German by birth but has become Americanized to a degree. She is still opioniated and very straight forward in her beliefs. She does not candy coat anything. She basically learned how to speak English by reading everything she could get her hands on. She probably still goes thru 4 - 5 books a week. My mother's love of knitting, crochetting (sp?), and sewing - I think passed to some of us - in that we have this need to work with our hands. She is also still a great cook and baker. She makes cakes for her friends who all rave about them. I could go on and on about her skills and accomplishments. But the one thing I will always remember her for - was her ability to provide for her children and make a home for us on the very limited resources we had at the time. Mom is Great!!!!!

My mother's maiden name is Anneliese Grete Kunzel. She was born January 26, 1931 in Selb, Germany. I hope this information will show up should my German relatives look for her. Please contact me if you would like more information! Thanks, Fred