Vaagen Brothers....part 3

Rich, our tour guide, said as we passed the large crane..."would you like to go up to the crane"?

 ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME? Anyone that really knows me knows that I am not fond of heights but when Rich mentioned the crane I ignored all fears and jumped at the chance.

I was so jazzed that I even looked down with no vertigo at all. After bounding up the 12 stories (can you imagine a 65+ year old man running up 263 steps) I actually ran past the control center which is on about the 10th floor and had to be called back.

128 feet up really doesn't sound all that impressive until you look over the grounds and get a proper perspective of just how high you are.

The crane operator has a great view of the valley even if he can't tear himself away from the job at hand to appreciate it.

Ninety-five percent of the time Chris (crane operator) is looking down through a hole in the floor to guide the grapple moving logs from one place to another spot according to the type of wood. Because he is always looking down they change the crane operator  every 3 hours.

I would imagine that over time this would take a toll on an a persons neck.

Looks like a lot of logs, eh? You can't see all of logs from this photo but Rich says this is enough wood to supply the mill for only two weeks.

Rich is moving this load of logs to the de-barker.

This is a view from the crane overlooking the drying kiln and dried, finished wood, ready to be planed and wrapped.

I was jazzed to go another two stories above the control center just to look around. The hill over my left shoulder is where we live and can occasionally, on a quiet night, hear the crane beeping while it moves back and forth.

Donna is coming out of the control center of the crane. She watched Chris going back and forth grabbing piles of logs and moving them to some predetermined area.

This wheel rolls up and then rolls out the large electrical cord that runs the crane. The power comes in at the middle of the track and rolls out as it goes forward and then winds it up.

Well this ends part 3 with just one more blog on the mill in a day or so... then I'll have to find another adventure.