Malheur Again

It is time to get the Sodhouse Ranch Ready to be open to the public. It is only open from Aug 15 – Oct 15 each year because it is a rookery during the spring and summer. The tall cottonwood trees at the ranch are home to Great Blue Herons, Double Crested Cormorants, and Snowy Egrets so the ranch is closed until the birds are gone. So because it is the 6^th of Aug, “prep” time has begun. Its time to get the ranch ready for visitors. Time to mow the area and edge, clean up the buildings, and get out the story boards, antiques and other items that are for display. It took us a full day to take everything down last fall and because of the cleaning needed, it will take a couple of days to set up.

Normally, by the time we arrive here, the mowing has been done. Not this year. So in order to get the grass mowed in time for the opening on the 15^th, Tom, a fellow volunteer, and I said we would do the job. The right equipment a tractor mounted mower, was not available, so it was decided that we would use the skidder with a brush cutting attachment to do the job. Four hours of video study on Thursday allowed us to pass the safety test. Friday we spent the morning with hands-on training learning to safely operate the vehicle.

Once in the unit, you settle into the operator’s seat, fasten your seatbelt, turn the key to start. Everything on the skidder operates on hydraulic pressure. The diesel engine just powers the several hydraulic pumps to move the rig, operate the various movements of the boom and whatever is attached to it. Attachments include a blade, a scoop, and auger bit, or even forklift forks. It increases the versatility of the piece of equipment. A teenager would feel at home in the cab right away because everything is operated by two joysticks, one for each hand. The left controls the vehicle movement, push forward for forward movement, back for backward. Because the rig is tracked, turning is a different movement. A left pull causes the rig to turn left immediately. Backing and turning takes some time to get the feel of it.

So Friday afternoon, Tom drove the rig out to the ranch with me following in the ranch pickup. We spent the afternoon alternating between the skidder and a DR Trimmer getting familiar with each one and getting some work done. We had a supervisor that dropped from a tree to watch our work. Saturday we spent the entire day and got the needed areas taken care of. A big job done.