The Excavator and The "Office" Have Arrived

This arrived. A 39000 lbs. Excavator 160G equipped with a 3' wide bucket and an hydraulic thumb. We have her for 1 month. Her jobs are to move all the logs, move or dig/move large rocks, and remove tree stumps.

The Excavator 160G has arrived.

Move All Logs

All the logs need to be picked up and organized into a stockpile. Before they get to the stockpile, the decayed and unwanted bits will be trimmed away, and the logs will be cut to 12'-14' lengths, for future firewood. Bahay Namin :: Our House will have 4 fire places and 1 poolside fire pit.

Dig/Move Large Rocks

We have very rocky terrain, submerged bedrock, and rocky outcrops. All big rocks in the building footprint need to move. The nicer-looking rocks (rocks that have lichen and sun exposure) will be stockpiled for later use. The less-attractive rocks (rocks that have been unearthed) will be placed in the trash pile.

Remove stumps

All 87 stumps must be pulled up and placed into the trash pile. You can't just cover over it and leave them there. The tree stumps and old root systems will eventually decay and disintegrate, making an unstable foundation. Besides, the decaying wood invites termites and carpenter ants. We do not want to invite them.

As much as I secretly love oversized earth moving machinery, I love trees more! Big, mature ones. Deciding which mature trees to keep is the easy part. Making sure those trees remain unharmed and protected during the construction phase, that is the hard part.

Before clearing away all the logs.

Minimizing the potential damage caused by the big heavy machine's tracks takes planning and protecting. If we're not mindful, the machine may damage the trees, the tracks can crush or sever roots, as well as disturb the surface of the site. So Steve devised this plan - Rather than cutting the logs up where they lay, which would result in having to use the excavator multiple times to pick up the newly severed pieces. Instead, he will use the excavator to pick up the longest logs, bring them to a spot closer to where the stockpile will be. There, he will use the big machine to hold up the log, which will make it easier for Steve to trim away the decayed bits and cut the remain good logs to 12'-14' lengths. That will effectively minimize trips between the logs and the stockpile.

We want to preserve this mature tree. It will be a main feature tree in front of the house.

We are going to place orange safety fencing around the select trees we want to preserve. The diameter should be large enough to protect the trees root system from being crushed or severed by heavy machinery.

After: Logs gone. Stumps left.

I made this massive pile of logs. Not very neat yet, but all in one spot with minimal damage to the site surface.

Stockpile of good logs

The "Office"

This arrived too, for very, very important business matters. Since you've read this far, here is my other option for this week's post title: "The John Deere and the John are Here". What do you think?

Better than the alternative.

On the left side of this pic below, behind Archer, is the crap pile. All decayed logs, branches, and tree stumps. This pile will eventually end up in a container.

Good boy.

Next phase: pulling up all eighty seven tree stumps. Come back again soon!