Then and Now,

Got back up to the Pisgah Project today. I think the break was needed, in a retrospective kind of way, but I am certainly ready to get back on it.



The tree stand above marked a trace of people from the recent past. Check the galvi screws for ladder steps.



We talked to the owner today about skipping the "back nine" build and doing a really cool rustic skills area that doubles as benches for a huge fire pit. I think that will be fun. Tomorrow is a real work day. Depending on my mood it may be New Years before I post again, if it is. I hope everyone the Happiest.

No-job site this week...

Well we headed up to the Pisgah Project to see how it was looking. It looks like they got a boatload of snow, is what it looks like.



Well, looks like it is Christmas time. We will be cutting corridor in the snow come Monday...it will be cool to do that, been a while since I have worked in the snow.

Time for some changes on here.

Well, things have gotten a bit stale on the old Blog, as far as appearance goes. You will see a lot of changes in the coming days as we wait for the world to thaw so we can start clearing corridor on the Pisgah Project again. I will be adding more info to the company Phylosophies pages and also will be trying a few feedback pages. Have a suggestion for something you would like to see on the site? Fire it over via a comment on this post. Hope everyone is doing well and that a Happy Holiday season is had by all.

Ben

SNOWWAY!!!

Yesterday it started snowing.



Today it stopped.



That patch of woods belongs to the Blue Ridge Parkway...looks like we will have a National Park all to ourselves this weekend..ROCK ON !!!

The balancing act...

Well today we split off the job a little early because I think I am getting sick. The balancing act refers to the balance of pushing to meet deadlines, versus pushing too hard and loosing sight of the big picture. I have a few things I can do at the house for the accountant and for potential clients for next year, so get ahead on these things now and maybe behind on the project at hand, but if I were to get really knocked down the project may be weeks instead of days behind. We will see how it goes. More saw work on the mountain with no real changes. Hopefully will get the machine and break ground next week, but no hurry, it will be the christmas week anyway. Enjoy the photos for now of more endless saw work and of the base camp for the couple hours today.

The Stash..

They are being patient, they promise. It has been a while since I have been on a full blown production job, these tools have been just sitting unless chopping firewood in their spare time, can't wait to start digging! To give a little background, this particular project sits on a private 37 acres that is nestled, literally, nestled up against Mount Pisgah. We will be ptting around three plus miles on the proerpty. We have finished the lower loop clearing today and tomorrow will be flagging the final segment behind the house. Had to work around the septic instalation, there will be a lot of those types of things in some of the projects this year, hurry up and wait, but stay busy otherwise, you know? Anyway, we will finish the flagging tomorrow and the plan is finish clearing by the end of the next week. So that means the digger will be here soon, it will be like my own little Christmas present. This trail system will be AMAZING, I can't wait to get you guys great action shots. Until then, the suspense will keep building.

Fighting...

Life and Branches of Rhodo are very similar things. I think this is where the old timers wisdom comes from is thought and processing, something missing in today's world. God love camping for months on end...Ahhh. So anyway, life and Rhodo. Both have branches that bump into each other and block progress, both have additive pressure problems, the more you push the harder things get. Buddha this one is your department. The photos are of the Rhodo, I look at the before and after and simply think that life too in time will be moved aside and the next Rhodo will await. Pete Webber, I think it was, asked me a while back the best way for clearing Rhodo and Laurel, Pete, this is the answer...

Pisgah Project Week 2...Tunnels

Well, it is the end of week two on the little hibernation gig, we have doing outside of Pisgah. We cranked the saws yesterday, to much disagreement from our Stihl's. My saw was particularlly pissed. It was a bit of a hard emotional and mental day yesterday, then juxtapose that to the hard physical day we had today. Rhodo is a beast. If you resign yourself to slow pacing and being patient, you can get through the stuff, and the pay off is amazing, nature regrows in amazing deep tunnels. If you have done some riding around the mountains of the east coast you know what I am talking about. The feeling that you are being wrapped in a damp little nature cocoon, the beautiful opposition to this is when you bust out into the open hardwood canopy that is southern facing slopes, you enter the room! There are a couple of these spots in this project, we did our best to design these with accordance to views of the cool house that sits on this property as well. Including extra thought in a project like this is one of my favorite things to do. Enjoy the photos and imagine the tunnels closing in on you, enjoy that through the weekend.

Design almost done, saws crank Thursday

We finished up most of the design today and will be starting on the corridor Thursday. Above is one of the many turns that we have been laying out over the last few weeks. This loop will have around 14 dedicated switchback-ish turns that we will have to contend with. About five will be real bears, the rest should be fairly straight forward. Below is a picture of Otie standing on one of the cooler features we found deep in the Rhodo glades. This tree must have had quite the story to tell, the trunk is imbedded in the ground for about five feet then begins its turn skyward. I don't know exactly how the trail will pass this yet, it will develope as we clear corridor and comein with the machine. Should be cool though.



Tomorrow is heavy on the computer time, I am working on a few bid packages and proposals right now, from the looks of it 2010 will be a banner year.