Thursday, July 28th. Heat index warning for today. Heat indexes are expected to be at least 105”. There is very limited shade at Debra’s house, so we prepare for the heat.
We continue to clear out the trees that are entwined with other trees. We have to work around the gigantic root balls that are pulled out of the ground. I have never seen dirt like this before – the dirt is finer than sand. Whenever the skid steer or the cart go by, a billow of dirt flies through the air.
Huge root balls!
I had fun this morning. I had the teenage boys teach me how to drive the cart! First order of business? Remove the shower tub stall that is in the yard. The homeowner says it has been there for years and they would love to see it gone. So the boys and I hook up a chain to the stall and the cart. The stall is full of mud, vines and who knows what, so we try not to disturb what is growing in it while we hook everything up.
We are set to go. I hit the gas and the shower stall flips over and starts dragging behind the cart. It then stands up and starts “walking” while I am pulling it! Where’s the video tape??? This is the funniest thing I have ever seen and I can barely drive while laughing.
Next we need to pull out a 6 foot section of tree back by the dog pen. We hook it up to the cart, but cannot get it out of the brush. The guys go back into the brush to roll the log to a better position and we try again. It finally works and I am amazed at how much weight this cart can pull. Off to the road right of way I go.
We then have a tree that is about 8 inches in diameter at it’s base that we need to pull out of the wooded are, but it still has all it’s limbs. We tie a rope to it and it takes 4 of us to pull it out far enough to hook it up to the cart. This tree must be at least 25 feet tall. I can’t believe how big these trees are – but they get to grow all year long, unlike the trees in Wisconsin.
Trying to figure out how to get that huge tree to fall down into the brush as it is caught in other trees.
We break for lunch and I can tell that the heat is getting to me. Debra is kind enough to let me sit in the air-conditioned house for about a half hour which cools me down but does not get rid of the migraine I now have. The headache stays the rest of the afternoon and renders me just about useless.
We head back to the church, shower, rehydrate, and I start to feel better.
Our team decides to go out to dinner and head to a recommended BBQ place in Birmingham. The GPS gets us lost again but we finally find the restaurant. The restaurant had great BBQ and we really enjoyed our night out together!
(to be continued)