Sunday, May 31, 2009

working up the hill


working up the hill
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Uphill with the plate packer.

Spreading


Spreading
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Late night gravel spreading.

First load of gravel on the driveway


First load of gravel on the driveway
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Gravel down, Chrissy packing it in. 1 am thursday night.

Widening the driveway


Widening the driveway
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Just keeps getting wider and wider.

Driveway widening


Driveway widening
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

We had to widen our driveway to make sure it will accomodate concrete trucks and by bringing it up a few feet, we lessened the grade too.

Log skidding


Log skidding
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Got them all stacked eventually. 42 total in the one stack.

Bringing the logs up to thier summer home


Bringing the logs up to thier summer home
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

The process of bringing the logs up to the pile where they will finish drying and wait for milling.

Chrissy giving a fine size reference


Chrissy giving a fine size reference
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Had to skid all the logs so that we could pick them up with the bucket on the backhoe and stack them off in the background in that pile. Top right.

Beetle


Beetle
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

I am still unclear about what kind of beetle this guy is. Anyone know?

Driveway progress


Driveway progress
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Filling in the old driveway bed with new dirt and raising the whole thing up a few feet.

Panorama, Tanana River


Panorama, Tanana River
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Just stitched together some photos from out in the middle of the main channel of the Tanana.

boot reference


boot reference
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Wolf tracks on sandbar on the Tanana

Backside Slough, Tanana River


Backside Slough, Tanana River
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Out on the Tanana River.

Outhouse, almost finished


Outhouse, almost finished
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Phase one almost complete.

Digging the outhouse hole


Digging the outhouse hole
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Phase one of comfortable bathroom experiences.

Pasque flowers


Pasque flowers
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Found a secret hillside totally full of wild pasque flowers.

10 lines, 30 hooks, 1 burbot


10 lines, 30 hooks, 1 burbot
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

1 big burbot that fried up to feed 3 people. Yum.

black bear


black bear
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Lots of black bear down on the Tanana.

8 eggs in 24 hours from 6 chickens


8 eggs in 24 hours from 6 chickens
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Chickens in overdrive

logpile


logpile
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Some of the 45 logs we have saved for milling siding later this year

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Flickr

I have been adding photos to flickr with more regularity than I have been here.
You can take a look here
-Justin

Sunday, April 5, 2009

More tree cutting

We had to cut down one of the biggest trees at our place today. It would have been hovering over our house had we left it and after growing up with giant trees hovering overhead, I decided to forgo the experience with our own house. It is a white spruce and measured out 107' tall with a 6'6" circumference at the base. That is a huge tree for the Fairbanks area by any standard. We'll be using it in the house in some way or another, but we haven't figured out quite how yet.
-Justin

Monday, March 30, 2009

Moose raided the chicken feed

Dogs were barking randomly tonight, and as I got up to see what was going on I noticed these guys out in the side yard between the porch and the outhouse.

They were munching on willow branches and we're looking pretty hungry. This time of year is hard on them as far as food goes, its getting pretty sparce. Then I look over at the chicken coop and notice that they have raided and completely eaten the chicken/rabbit food. We just bought a 50# bag yesterday. They knocked the container on the ground, broke the lid off and had proceeded to spread it all over the snow. When I walked over to check it out, the little guy decided he hadn't gotten enough earlier and came over to finish it off.