The first night in our new dormitory thankfully resulted in a good night’s sleep. The longer walk to get coffee from the kitchen allowed time to reflect. I love being outside for the dawn, and as I heard the birds twittering, I just wanted to go birding with my camera. Or walk under the stars at night.
My thoughts soon changed to just being thankful that I was alive, healthy, not on the receiving end of a natural disaster, and able to try to bless others. At breakfast, I watched my fellow team members, who were maybe 20 years older than I on average, and all fitter. This inspired me to try to keep my “young” body fit and strong!
Once again, our team split into two crews. I was with the first crew, which tackled a pine leaning near a house and a power line. With more people than needed than the work required, I served as Burnzy’s equipment-trailer-helper to keep myself out of mischief, though perhaps it caused more mischief!
The chainsaw work progressed slowly and steadily, revolving around the manlift. Lola’s Leslie’s chaplaincy role was more interesting as the homeowner was the local Rabbi, and he happily showed her his Torah scrolls and Jewish art but was confidently uninterested in hearing about Jesus. We all were still happy to serve him!
We finally trimmed enough of the trees that they could be felled to the ground. All was going well until the skid steer started sinking in the soft ground, but Marcel completed some excellent moves, using his scoop to pull himself out of the mud!
It had been a strangely tiring day considering I hadn’t done much work. It highlighted the need for patience as the workload varied from one day to the next.
Back at Hillcrest Church, dinner was more crowded as more teams had arrived. More people was great as there was plenty of work remaining!
Our new dorm worked surprisingly well.The ladies got to sleep in this fancy trailer. I heard it was a bit cramped. There are twelve bunks in it!The “before” photo – a tall leaner over the power line and fire hydrant and the neighbor’s yard.Another “before” photo.The street was already lined with debris and we had to watch out for traffic throughout the day.Knowing there was insufficient work for the people, most of the time, I decided to be the “trailer boy” for the day.I fixed a frayed rope and did a few other odd jobs.Leslie found a pair of reprobates lounging on a discarded sofa and immediately saw a need for her chaplaincy at their low level.Meanwhile, the manlift was deployed!This cut was a stretch for Matt as Todd positioned the bucket.Sheri was groundie for the day, and must have a strong neck to look up that much! Marcel used the available time with Derek to give his skid steer a grooming, removing a claw and cleaning it up. At times, it was a bit befuddling! The stump from the first tree that we had removed, to make room for the skid steer, was oozing sap. I loved this silhouette of the sawyer preparing for the next cut.Matt and Todd “nibbled” down the main trunk to make it short enough to fell without it hitting anything. Matt cut “cookies” which Todd threw down into a safe zone.Todd moved the manlift out of the way after making his cuts. He left enough wood so that it wouldn’t fall over on its own. Marcel in the skid steer pulled the limb over using the rope that Todd had attached to the top.Having cut a notch on the front, Todd carefully cuts the back cut. He looked up to ensure the tree wasn’t starting to fall.The tree on its way down.Todd cut the remaining “hinge.” A large hinge meant that the tree fell over slowly, just as intended.This cut needed careful planning to ensure the tree did not fall on the fire hydrant.Robert cut a notch to fell the last tree.As the skid steer was busy, Robert and Derek pushed this tree down.With everything cut down, it was up to the skid steer to clear all the wood. Unfortunately, the ground was wet and soft and Marcel dug in the skid steer. Marcel expertly used his scoop to pull himself out.As we packed up, Burnzy serviced the chainsaws, making them ready for the next day.Precision work from Burnzy as he ensured the chainsaw bolts were secured to the correct torque.The after picture! It doesn’t look that different, but it took us all day to carefully remove the leaners without causing damage.
"Cajunlimeys" combines Lousiana (Janet) and Britain (Peter). British sailors in the 19th century were nicknamed "limeys" as they drank lime juice to prevent scurvy. However, while Janet is a fine cook, she has no Cajun blood, but the name fit.
We love adventures and use blogging to write a photo diary to preserve our memories. Some crazy friends enjoy following us, and my notes might help others plan.
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