clearing forest by pushing trees over and digging out stumps on a steep mountainside

The first smell of dirt after a 6month winter is glorious. Then the first full blade that takes the winter rust off track pads and the blade. Watching the dirt curl off the mouldboard.
That’s a great day

Pulling a breaking plow with a dd [direct drive, standard] cat and hearing the governor bark when you hit a big stump.

"makar" wrote:

Pulling a breaking plow with a dd [direct drive, standard] cat and hearing the governor bark when you hit a big stump.

i've learned over the years....when a diesel barks...pay attention....something happening....

I guess my fav would be pulling hard in third gear on my Harley Davidson 74/74 (1974, 74ci) it has a two into one exhaust and has a very distinct sound. Alas my back can no longer tolerate such things on a hardtail and a simple putt to the end of the driveway results in a three day recovery. The bast thing to peruse the fields with would be anything that makes smoke and has a soft ride. My fields have mostly grown over and the moose have taken over the job of trimming of the trees and harvesting the garden for me so now I get to set on the pouch and watch the wildlife meander around.

"Fat wrote:

I guess my fav would be

That would be my fav now let me talk about my workhorse (more work than horse) a Craftsman garden tractor with a snowthrower. Yes, a little underwhelming I know but surprisingly when well maintained these little guys preform under pressure. They have there limitations and a soft hide is not one of them. My back says it's time to update but update to what? I was wandering down Craigslist Lane minding my own business and was rudely tripped by two Cat 955 track loaders. I do have to admit I did have a can (quart) of RPM Dello 30W in my back pocket. The guy had them priced so they would not go for scrap, what can I say, they were in his wife's parking spot. I've have the tools, I need the horsepower, I can use them to clear back the overgrowth, I 'NEED' a distraction, and I do need a better, more efficient and less back breaking way of moving snow. Less back breaking "?" well one out of three ain't bad. Need I say more, they followed me home - figuratively speaking. The snow came this year like it did years back - deep.

Too late to get the 955's home (dead in the water, deep snow and sharp corners) I had the driveway plowed $$$ 'Cha-Ching' while I recovered from latest back surgery; until there was nowhere else to push the snow so I had to dig out the snowthrower and blow the snow over the tall snow berms that had accumulated.

The 955's are needed to push the snow and clear back some overgrowth of brush in the old stump rows. The calf and young moose need new growth low to the ground so let the stump rows start over again and I get the view of my perimeter back so I can keep that one eye out for wolfs and bears - respect not fear.

Ye old 955E needs engine work when it gets to the "shop", it has a side dump bucket which will come in super handy when moving snow. Well that's the plan anyway.

When I was younger, I plowed a lot of Snow on Oilfield roads. (just watch the Ice!)
Spring plowing gets boring after the first hour, but does give you lots of time to think!
Building Well locations and roads to is always fun!
Logging is OK, as long as you aren't the Cable Handler besides Tractor operator!
Building Pads are tricky but when done right builds the admiration of the Crew chief!

"Deas wrote:

Hi, Folks.
Being away somewhere on my own with nobody else around to interrupt me so that I can go into a 'meditative state' and get on with the job.

I have been tempted many times to toss my cell phone out on the track and keep going.

Just my 0.02.

-it sounds like you have "Social Distancing" perfected Deas, down to an art form....hope all's well in the Bunker!

Hi, kittylover123.
Social distancing is easy when you're inna 'egg-nishioned' cab all by your lonesome with a job to do and nobody to interrupt you doin' it.

Now 'meditation', thatza different story. I first started operating heavy equipment in early 1965 - mostly dozers back then. I got pretty good at it pretty quickly - to the point where I could do a lot of it on 'automatic pilot', a lot like driving from 'A' to 'B' and not being able to remember the trip, except that I could remember pretty much every move I had made all day without having to concentrate very much on most of it.

This left me a LOTTTTA time to think.

I like to describe it as being paid to meditate for over 55 years now while I have been a big kid inna BIGGG sandbox being paid to play with other people's toys. Does it get any better than that?

Several people have said that I look like I am just sitting up there letting it happen. The real trick is letting the machine do what it does best, learning what it does do best and learning how to let it do that.

Just my 0.02.

Since I am distanced and it is raining still. What besides dust in the face and diesel smoke would be more like sitting on a Cat. Oh I guess I am missing the music of the engine and vibration.

Funny the resident expert on dozer operation should mention "auto pilot" mode. My reaction to that as a farmer of hillside land, was looking for ways to speed the operation up by staying on the contour as much as possible thus avoiding time in lower gears. For my mind it sure was good I never had much flat land. Maybe not so much for my wallet.




So I always looked forward to being able to put the blade on the D6 and do a bit of road "improvement". With adobe ground that gets 3 and 4 inch cracks,always easy to bring up chunks leaving a nice pot hole. But that lead to more seat time. Different things to watch but all good,as there sure are harder jobs on a ranch than herding a tractor.