Week 12 December 19 - 22

Monday - Today was chilly ! !  The first stop was at the Frausto property just outside of Selah.  We had to finish up the part of the fence that crossed the creek.  This meant that somebody had to get in the water to hang chains on the wire that stretched across to the other brace.  The water looked really cold.












These were the posts for the new brace.










These were the supplies we had to work with.

Tuesday was spent way up the Wenas at the Como property with the other Yakima crew.  Again, it was digging post holes and putting up fenceline.  We had the 4wheeler with us, which is fun to use and very useful for transporting all our tools and supplies.
































Wednesday we had a bit of fun in the morning.  A Christmas tree lot was closing out and getting rid of all the trees, so we got to take them all away for the folks !  It was bright and shiny and actually kinda warm out.































This is Zach doing a strongman photo, but I missed the key shot.  I did get the before and after, however.

Some of the trees were still bundled, which I swear made them heavier.













We ended up with a whole trailer full of trees ! There were also trees shoved in both crew trucks and in Brian's truck (he's with the North Yakima Conservation District).









Then it was back up to the Como property for more fencing and for a nice lunch on a little bridge.













































Thursday was potluck day ! !  To celebrate the holidays, it was decided that there should be a potluck and a white elephant gift exchange.  So a bunch of Eastside crews got together at the Holmes property in Ellensburg to hang out, eat, and have a good time.






WCC parking only !



























The warming fire was a nice touch.

















And we were visited by a skinny Santa.


























































 There was some neat stuff at the gift exchange.




Like a box of pretty stationary paper . . .















and a fuzzy hat . . .














and a knife, along with a lovely box of potpourri . . . 














This photo is of folks from last year's in-town Yakima crew :

 

 

When we were mostly done with the food and gifts, the other Yakima crew was called out to put erosion control fabric in at the Manashtash diversion for the Kittitas County Conservation District.  So we went to help out.  "Many hands make light work" right?







































































The ice over the water was beautiful !






















Good thing it was thick too . . .




























I found Santa, a Russian, and a Coug deep in conversation.











After that we were off for a week of vacation, yay !

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ! !

Week 11 December 12 - 15

Well, this week we got use the chainsaws and breakout the chipper.  Our site was up Hwy 410 along a cluster of homes owned by a large family.  The task was to keep working on a fireline that the previous year's crew had started.  We were to continue the line along one of the houses to the end of the property.  The only things to cut out there were sagebrush, which is very different than sawing trees.


















































By the end of Monday, everything was all cut and put into two piles.  We were able to get one pile chipped before we had to head out.

Tuesday, we went back up 410 to chip that last pile and another woodpile that the landowner had for us.  Then it was back to town to wash the chipper and put it away for the winter, again.  Then we went for a drive up to the edge of Selah to land owned by a guy named Frausto.  There we looked around and got an idea of what still needed to be done to finish the project.  After that, we went all the way up Wenas to put a few more fenceposts in the ground.

Wednesday, we stuck around town for most of the day.  Our first stop was 91st and Wide Hollow to meet up with a guy from Yakima County.  The little site needed 20 rose, 20 red osier dogwood, and 3 ponderosa pines put in the ground.  We got those done in good order and then spread a bunch of seed.  The next stop was right down the road on 80th, across from the park.  There we planted 57 ponderosa pines and spread seed over the area.  The ground was freshly worked, so it was easy to rake the seed in.  After that we drove up to Wenas to meet with a representative for the arena out there.  We discussed several ideas for our MLK Week of Service project and decided that the arena would be a good place to help out.

As for Thursday, I called in sick so I have no idea what happened =)

Week 10 December 5 - 8

Thieves ! ! Dirty, stinking, rotten, filthy thieves ! ! 

Well, our lockup was broken into this week and a ton of our tools, chainsaws, and brushcutters were stolen.  So this week was all about carpentry and fixing up our new lockup.  

First, we needed a big shelf to hold stuff and things and supplies and such.  Mike brought a bunch of his own tools so we could get things done, since our stuff was gone . . . yeah . . . phooey.  This was our workshop :

Mike showed us how the shelf was supposed to be built.

Smoke was spotted in the distance, as the weight limit of our new shelf was tested . . .

Chris put the final screws into the top of the shelf.

We needed something to weigh the shelf down so it wouldn't slide out, so we used Sarah and Chris.


















Then we realized that a second shelf would be even better and quickly assembled one as the sun went down.





















The second day, we decided it would be warmer to work inside the greenhouse instead of out in the parking lot.  This was a good idea til we built a chainsaw shelf that was a bit bigger than that door . . .
We got it outside, eventually.  In addition to a chainsaw shelf, we built tool/shovel racks and a brushcutter rack.

Chris was getting pretty good at cutting out chunks of the plywood.

 Here is our new lockup, with all three shelves in :





















This empty spot is for the shovel rack and brushcutter rack :










































































TA DA ! ! A finished and tidy looking place to keep our tools !
































The third day of our week was spent up in Kittitas County, just outside of Ellensburg.  The Kittitas County Conservation District needed some erosion control matting put in, so some of us suited up in waders and we started digging trenches.  It was a bit chilly and there were a lot of ice chunks floating down the ditch.  When we were finished, we took the scenic route home and came out up the Wenas, near where the other Yakima crew was building fence at a place called Como.

Day 4 of our week was fencing ! We went up to Como to help the other Yakima crew out.  Like always, it was fun working with those guys !

The ground was frozen several inches down, which took some work to get through.  It was pretty smooth digging after that.














































We hit the water table in a couple of holes and had to get a bit inventive to get them to sit right.

So we cut small pieces of wood and nailed them to the posts to try to add stability.





































































The mud splooched out, but we figured it should still set right.












This is how Lasha tamped the dirt down . . .























. . . which kinda turned into a pole dance . . .

















Anyways, it was a good week. We got stuff done and had a good time doing it !