Thrilling update______________

It's been a hectic week at the Ottertail. Monday night I met Peg's mom, Donna, at the Phillips airport for her first flight in my plane. She had never been in a really small plane before, but she seemed rarin' to go.....





We got all buckled in and headsets on and working. There was practically no wind and no clouds. I was looking forward to a great flight. I told Donna that if at any time she felt uncomfortable with the situation to be sure to let me know and we would go right back to the airport.





Of we went and we spent 1 1/4 hours buzzing around the Phillips and Lugerville area, finding all of the places that we both know on the ground, only they look very different from up above. We finally both got a little chilly and headed back to the airport. Donna got out and went home at 8:00, so I went back up and goofed around until it was time to watch the sunset. What a sight that always is from up above....

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Tuesday after work Ivan and Chuck came down to start cutting. Ivan went into the island and started whacking trees over, Chuck started in with his skidder and began pulling out trees. I was the guy cutting up the wood at the landing on the field.




I had gotten home about 2:30 and had gone down behind the chicken coop and cut and limbed 12 poplar trees. About the time I was done the guys got there. I was dripping wet from the previous work and I didn't cool off all night.






We got a good start at a pile of hardwood pulp and a little bigger stack of poplar.

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This same vantage point was in one of the last posts, only now the trees look quite thin at the end of the field. This is after the second night of cutting, on Wednesday. Ivan and Chuck are a good team in the woods and they kept me busy sawing at the landing. Russ stopped up for a while and helped me on the landing.



Here you can see how open the field area is getting. Most of the larger trees were in the middle of the Island, so there was a ring of smaller stuff left around the outside.







The wood piles increased quite a bit on the second evening. Now that I think of it, I guess Russ came up on Tuesday, the first night we worked. Whatever......

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Guess who found probably the last package of venison backstrap in the freezer??? Looking good for Thursday evening dinner!!




And guess who slaved over the hot grill, and watched the corn pot boil, and asked for others to help with stuff.....




And guess which two of my daughters showed up to help prepare and eat the food and help with dishes later????





So we had a really nice supper out on the deck. Lots of good eats, lots of laughs and jokes. I can't imagine why they don't come to visit more often..

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Friday night Ivan and Chuck were off duty, so I spent the evening cutting small trees along the west side of the cut area. There is not much left on that side now, and there is a strip of trees on the North edge that is about 15 yards wide. Another two days or so of Ivan and Chuck and I will about clean up the big wood. Then some stumping and dozer work to get the landing strip area ready for working, leveling and seeding. Man, this is turning into a big job.

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I nearly forgot!! Would someone please carve the melon???