Looks like a "come along" to me.

I would be interested in the age of that old growth cedar tree. Care to look at the rings and let us know.

I'll take a look tomorrow, but it can't be older than 50 years. This whole area was pasture on an aerial photo taken about that long ago.

Mark guesses 12 to 15 years, I guess 20 to 30. We'll see who wins tomorrow during daylight.

Daddy --- you're right! I think Mark just likes the world "winch" because it sounds like "wench".

I did a similar thing a few years back, only with way less manpower...I hooked the 8K winch on the front of the truck to pull down a few trees that were "technical"...8k with a snatch block....cut the hinge to 80-90%...then pulled them down. the snatch blocks doubles the capacity.

I was gonna say, "whoo hoo come-along" but I see your Pa beat me to it. I'm with Mark on liking winch for the similarity to wench though.

You should have seen Mark's eyes light up when he saw that comealong at a flea market for cheap. Although he still talks about how we need an electric winch every now and then.

good job there, just a reminder cedar makes for great insect control, like moths. have mark cut some small slices to put in areas where your clothes & bedding are. perfect room fresher. like small pieces could be drilled with a hole lg enough for a clothes hanger to fit ( wha la ) instant moth control. every room should have a sm piece placed. makes great gifts as well, really home grown. mom roseanell

I might have to think up a way to turn it into gifts --- I'm always looking for free gifts that we can make! Thanks for the tip!

There are so many uses for those cedars. I cut some 4 inch limbs into waffers and varnished them to place drink cups on. They look great but not much good for absorbing water. Fence post. When I was a kid that was all we used. You may want to go ahead and cut them all the way down though. My Dad told me the standing dead cedars would rot out due to the fact they lost all the sap back to the rots? I love the look of the heart and rings of them.

So, the answer to the age contest is in --- 34 years. I guess that means that the area was last pastured in about 1976, give or take a year or two.

I like the idea of cutting limbs into coasters for gifts too! We'll probably end up using most of it for trellis posts or foundations for other pier buildings.

We cut down all of the ones we could --- the girdled ones are just going to have to stand unless we come across a lumberjack friend who's very confident about missing the electric line...

Cedar whitewood rots; the red core doesn't, or no faster than locust.

It's nice to have so much free, "treated" lumber.