Umm, okay. The pics I posted in the last entry did not show up in the order that I posted them.  Apparently Blogger knows best.  The first pics were supposed to be before and the last pics were supposed to be after.  I'm certainly not going to try and change it, it is what it is.  I was just marveling at the amount of work I got done yesterday in 5 short hours and wondering how much I could get done if I could work 10 hours?  

Even better, if I  can get some help out there on at least a few occasions?  

I intend on getting the full 110 feet back tomorrow if at all possible.  It may not be finished per see, but I want to be back there.  I can have a clearing somewhere and burn all of that felled tree/underbrush junk and get that stuff out of my way.  Well, I'm going to have to find out if there is a burn ban and also if the county requires any kind of inspection of your intended burn sit, as the town does.  I doubt it tho, the town I live in just loves to make sure everyone is under their thumb.

One thing I noticed yesterday that I hadn't before is that the communications lines on the telephones don't go past my property.  It ends at the house next door.  I'm wondering what kind of trouble I may get to get it extended to my property and get wifi going there?  That was a bit disconcerting.  I also wondered why they hadn't gone all the way down the street with it? Maybe there is some other provider with underground access? ATT is there, but they claim that there is no wifi, just cable TV.  They meaning no one, I didn't talk to anyone I just input the address of the house next door to see what would come up.  

I'm kind of stuck with this place now, whatever I can or can't have, I'm going with it.  Somehow I'll have to figure out someway to get wifi in there.  Hughes stinks.  They have a terrible reputation and their upload speeds are not that great.  I think it's Elon Musk's enterprise that is sending thousands of satellites out into space to allegedly have wifi available everywhere regardless of land lines. Perhaps that will be an option some day.  I'm so far off from needing wifi, yet I'm going to find out who the provider is - presumably Fidelity - and see what it will take to get it to my property.  There is already telephone poles there, they need only wire it up.

But is there some specific reason they ended it there?  Of this, I have no clue.  There are definitely houses, ranches and enterprises further on down the road, wifi seems to me to be mandatory in this day and age of internet everything.  

I'm going to start making those calls next week. Inquires to begin with. Find out what's available and what I have to do to get it onto the property.  At what point I want to have all of that done? I dunno.  Not really close to needed electricity right now and even if I did, I have a large generator to supply whatever I need. Water the same, tho I'd like to get that done and over with, I'd also like to hold on to the cash I have as long as possible and at least get this clearing done.  One step at a time, but it won't hurt anything to make phone calls and find out what my options are.  I already went to the city for water.

Yesterday, tho, there was an older man in a late model Ford pickup pulling a Uhaul going back and forth in front of my property.  He kept stopping, but he never got out.  I'm friendly enough, if he wanted to talk I would have engaged him. I am not, however, going to be giving out info of what I intend on doing with the property.  Right now, it could be anything from a 3rd party perspective.  I just bought the land, cleaning it up a bit.  Why not tell people? Because I don't need them starting trouble with any utility service providers.  If someone objects to me starting this business, one way to make it difficult to get it going is for them to talk with their "friends" at whatever - power, water, etc. - and tell them they don't want this business on "their" street. There are people living on that street that I wouldn't doubt would have such connections, especially the former Sheriff of 25 years.

Why would the oppose this operation? I don't know and I don't need to find out, not at first anyway.  

I'm pretty free with personal info, a bit too much in some cases, I've learned my lessons from previous experiences that keeping my mouth shut and offering little info on what my intended goal is, is the best path to take.  I don't have to lie, I just am not going to go there.  If they happen to notice that lots that will start appearing - probably sometime soon - well, I dunno what I will say. It's pretty dark in those woods, standing from the street it will likely be difficult to see what exactly is going on back there.  They'll see a driveway but I don't know if they'll be seeing any of the lots further on in.  

Yes, I had to tell the gas operators what I intended on doing up front.  I really thought I had no choice and frankly, it's pretty good that I did call them right off the bat and get the issues hashed out. We aren't done yet, there will be walking trails in the back of the property and they want to be sure that I head them off to the left and showing me "their" parameters for their well site.  I'm going to try and remain at peace with them as much as possible, they have shown that they can "go there", however, in terms of attempting to make life miserable in trying to tell me what I can and cannot do - on my property.  

They put that down pretty quick after I asserted myself and started using their lingo that I had learned from reading up online about their rights on the property and mine.  There is nothing anywhere that says I can't go anywhere on the property I please, including any portion of their easement and well site.  But, I am not into poking the bear needlessly, let's try to remain on civil terms.  Remember, they have much deeper pockets than I do and probably have their own legal department at the ready for anytime just such issues arise.  

Well, I am going to take a nap - I woke up in the middle of the night last night and it was hours before I got back to sleep. I don't know if I'm going to try and make this a one day trip, about 7 or 8 tonight I'll be coming up with that answer. Right now, I don't really care either way except I'd love to get to the property earlier in the morning - it started cooling right down in morning time, down into the 60's which is lovely working weather. In fact, I probably am starting this operation at the perfect time of year - summer almost over and fall about to begin, the day time temps are going to start coming down later on this coming week.  Yes : )

Property

 Before and after. Took the after pics this morning. I didn’t realize how much I had gotten done yesterday. I’m about 65-70 feet in. I’m leaving some of the trees up at the front. 

 If you were alive and you were of any age above probably 5 or 6, you remember 9/11.  You turned on the tv and there they were, discussing this commercial jetliner crashing into the side of one of the World Trade Towers.  At somewhere around 7:10 am - time zone I was in - you're watching this news footage and behind the dude on the top of the CNN tower, you see another plane crash into the other tower.

The verbiage immediately turns to the fact that this is intentional, we are being attacked and terrorism has arrived in America in a way no one would ever forget.  You watched the man in a full dress suit doing a swan dive out the window of one of the towers - he was either going to be burned alive inside the building or he would take his own life.  You watched in horror as the first building came down and the realization that there were still people/firefighters inside of it.  

I need not go into all the gruesome details, but I have vivid memories of that day. It was hard to get out of bed and go to work.  My friend had called me about it before I even got up - are you watching this?  Watching what? On TV? What channel? ANY channel! he said and I just turned the thing on to see what I just described.  Tragically, at least for me, my friend is passed, he had a massive heart attack one day at home and that was the end of that.  He had a military funeral and it was one of the most awesome things I have ever witnessed.  

But for me, 9/11 is not just marked by the tragedy and horror that occurred 20 years ago. It is also my mother's birthday. And as I always say, her birthday takes precedence over 9/11.  Happy birthday to mom! Wish I could get on Facebook, then my friends could also wish her a happy b-day, but, a phone call will have to do, later on, I'm still waking up.

I've got an Oklahoma run today, I haven't decided yet whether I will try to make it a one day trip. It just depends on how I feel and how long it takes to get loaded at the loading plant.  I have work to do and that machine isn't doing anything but sitting there. I need to get the chainsaw put together, I have decided it would be a lot easier to cut the trees down to about 5 feet of trunk left.  Some of the trees that need to come down are too big for that machine to take down anyway.  I can cut them down and deal with the remain trunks later. Either get a dozer to finish out the work at some point or get a stump grinder and chew them up.  

Or, if it rains, I may be able to dig them out of the ground.  The ground is a bit dry right now and getting those trees out has been more of a chore than it should be.  It is likely that tomorrow, when I go over there (Lord willing of course) I will take some time to cut a bunch of trees with the saw down and then go to work on the machine.

I really wish one of those places had a dozer or would rent one to me. This job would be immensely easier.  I've got what I've got, tho and it's going to do the job, it's just that the machine is small and I don't particularly fit into it that well.  My legs are long and my knees start hurting after a couple of hours.

I got a lot done yesterday, at least I like to think so.  Realistically, that first 110 feet is the most area that I will need to cut down.  The driveways are going to be long, so yes they will take  a bit as well, but the front is the beginning, where it all starts.  I'm working and trying to decide which trees to leave up out there.  I'd like some shade for the front building.  And just for the look. I'm leaving all the bigger trees up - there aren't that many of them. If they get in the way later on, they can come down.  

I worked about 5 hours yesterday before my knees and my lack of water there told me that was enough.  I had a huge cup of ice water - it broke. I figure if I mix cutting trees with machine work - in and out of the machine, giving my knees a break - I can work longer and my knees might be spared.  

I dunno if James intends on going out there, tho I have the angle stock, if he gets bored there are ramps to be built.  Those machines are too heavy for my trailer so I didn't necessarily need them for that, but I want the ramps anyway.  The ones I have are aluminum and they aren't exactly heavy duty. 

Okay, I don't have a lot of time.  Just wanted to get something out there.  Yes, I got a machine rented yesterday - a skid steer - and yes I got a good start.  Maybe I'll post some pics on here later when I'm sitting at the plant waiting for them to load the truck. 

With that, I must be out of here.

G'day.