The day finally arrived!!!! Log stacking!!
I have to say that this is the COOLEST and most fascinating thing I’ve watched in a long time!!! (Can you sense my enthusiasm and joy?? Should I add a few more exclamation points to get my true feelings across more accurately?)

All I can say is that the inventor of the telehandler was a GENIUS. In fact, I think I’d like to kiss him (assuming it was a man?). Heck! I’d kiss the woman and say “You go girlfriend!!”

The telehandler makes lifting the log and delivering it straight to the precise point it needs to be placed irreplaceable. Without it, “we” (again, I use that term very loosely) were going to have to miraculously and laboriously drag each log with the tractor, tie each end with rope, and pull it up with a great deal of manpower to its desired location. (There is actually a lot more involved that we learned in our class…and it’s well-thought out and very logical…but would, in fact, require more muscle and time. But it is definitely do-able and more economical.)

“Mr. Telly the T-Rex” handler! (I think it has earned the tough nickname T-Rex.).

Reese loved sitting in daddy’s lap to help drive the telehandler. The guys wrapped a strap around the log, suspended it from T-Rex (has a nice ring to it, don’t ya think?), pushed one loose end up against T-Rex’s front grill, and chauffeured (NOT an easy word to spell) it to its needed location. Allow me to illustrate:

Next came mounting the log not only onto the concrete piers, but precisely onto the rebar that poked out of each pier. (Eeek!) Through a master planned technique, created by these two log men, they drilled holes into the logs in just the right locations. Then they used T-Rex to lift it. Jeremiah guided each hole straight to the next piece of rebar, and down went the log!

It took them around 30 minutes or so to get the correct measurements and drill all the holes, and only 5-10 minutes to drop the log right into place. It was SO fun watching the logs get moved, and then dropped down in place. We are officially addicts now. We wanted to just keep going and add more, but need to go get the rebar.

Surprisingly to us, the whole process seemed no harder than a game of Pick-Up-Sticks! (But of course I wasn’t the one doing the guiding.) Good job Jeremiah!! And good job Steve for maneuvering T-Rex so skillfully, so soon after getting it. I’m extremely impressed with and proud of both of them. And Reese did great at “helping” Steve from the driver’s seat. Here are pics of what I just explained:

Of course there is always a little time to mix work with play on the job site.

We took rides on the telehandler and got views of the land and the house below our feet.

Who said hard work couldn’t be fun?

The next post is “No chatting!  Just stacking!!”   Click on the link…

Or, click on “What do Vegas and logs have in common?” to get to the very beginning of this process.  Or, click on What is Cottonwood Creek to find out what this whole blog is about.