Winter Brushhoggin'

For obvious reasons, I don't get too many brushhogging jobs in the winter.  But this week I was called upon to brushhog a new home purchase just out of foreclosure.  It took the owners FOUR MONTHS to close the deal and when they finished, they called me immediately.  We'd been in contact for several months prior because they wanted the work done as soon as the final paperwork was signed.

As usual, the field mice were the biggest losers in the deal!  They really just hate to see me coming. :)

This is a before picture of hundreds of 1-2 inch diameter trees that had grown out of control.  By carefully backing into them with a solid brushhog at high speed, they can be relatively easily mowed down and chopped into mulch that will bio-degrade relatively quickly

In the 'after' picture, you can see how the trees have been knocked down and can easily be picked up for other uses or mowed over with a riding mower

This was a nice little semi-urban location and it was fun to see the owner's excitement as one more milestone in their project was achieved.

Beautifying an Edmond backyard

This customer had a beautiful backyard but it was full of debris and stumps (which was part of their cleanup process before I arrived.)  In the clean up process, I dug up over 50 stumps and moved almost a dozen large piles of limbs and wood into various piles in prep for small, occasional burns.  These piles would have taken forever to move by hand.

In the before pics, you can see their view barely extended halfway through their yard and from the back of the yard itself, you couldn't even see their house.

The end result looks fantastic!  They now have their backyard back and ready for seeding or whatever they choose.

Driveway erosion eradicated

This project involved traveling to a very remote area south of Perkins.  My customer has a beautiful acreage but consistently struggled with erosion across their driveway.  Here are some 'before' pictures showing all the erosion.

 We didn't have much to work with so I harvested some dirt from an obscure place on the property and used it to help level the driveway.  I also used the rippers on the box blade to work the dirt a bit.  Because I already had the backhoe on the tractor, I attached it to the front end loader to save time (and money for the customer).

This is not a very good picture and was taken before final grooming of the trench.  To the right, the land rises for quite a distance and this new trench will capture the water before crossing the driveway.


The end result was not only immediately driveable, as a long term solution it is ready for the customer to have gravel delivered and thus make a very nice entrance into their fantastic property. On the left of this picture is a new trench to capture most of the water before it ever hits the driveway.

Carports aplenty

Carports are pretty hot right now due to their low cost and quick assembly.  However, most carport companies require the installation area to be level within 3" upon their arrival.  Otherwise, they'll just install it where you want it and the whole thing will not look right.

My last carport customer had a real mess on their hands.  They needed the carport installed in an area that was full of trash, limbs and old pieces of plywood.

Me and my helper here (my son, who was out of school that day) loaded up all the debris and moved it about 70 yards away for the customer to their burn pile.



Here are some after shots.  It turned out great!



The customer was so pleased he sent me pictures after installation as well.

If you never had 'firsts' then life could get boring

Look at this mess...

This is not the thickest, tallest bunch of weeds I've ever mowed, but this is the first time my tractor over-heated in the process.  

I think these are broom weeds (at least that's what I called them growing up in Southern Oklahoma) and when you bump them, they release hundreds of little parachutists seeds.  They continually coated all the pre-screens on my radiator then infiltrated the radiator itself.  About every four or five passes I had to stop and clean all the pre-filter screens on the tractor.  At one point I didn't catch it in time and the tractor started spewing anti-freeze out the drain tube while the temperature gauge was on the Red H!  Of course, I subtracted the downtime from my bill!  ;)

Here are some glimpses at the in-process and finished project.

Brushhogging more than brush

Other names for a brush hog include "shredders" or "rotary mowers."  Of course, you also have every variant of brushhog, bush hog, and so on.  Generally I can brush hog trees up to a few inches in diameter.  In those cases, I might have to start high and work my way down.  Of course the best way to remove trees is with a backhoe but sometimes you just have to work with the tool you have.

Pictures don't really do this project justice because you can't see the brush, small trees, thorn bushes that were removed.  It was nearly impossible for this family to enjoy their backyard prior to the project but now they can maintain it with their zero turn mower and keep it the park-like setting that it is.

This kind of work extended several acres around their house.

When are sunflower stalks more like trees?

Due to a job loss and injury, this landowner had a yard that got out of hand and needed much more help than his riding lawn mower could provide.  So he called me in to brush hog his yard.  

It turns out there was much more that needed to be done just based on what was lurking in that tall grass!  The builders had piled a bunch of dirt and debris (stumps, branches, etc) around his yard and it had become hidden. 

It only took about an hour to brushhog everything and then another 30 minutes to spread the dirt and move the debris to his burn pile.  He also had me clear about 1.5 acres behind his house that included taking down small trees, clearing low branches and brushhogging very thick grass and shrubs.  After it was all over the view from the front of his house and across his backyard was beautiful.  His wife was so excited, when she got home she called her sister to come over and they walked their land for the first time without having to fight tall grass and branches!