The Official Oklahoma Forum Chattin' Thread (Norman, May: gated, mcmansions, apartments)

[peggydavis]

The red cedars are a menace. Mostly because we have a lot of grass fires. The cedars have so much oil in them that when they burst into flames it makes the fires so much worse. If a piece of land is severely infested with cedars, it can make for a terrible fire that no fire truck can get near.

The other problem is that they will gradually do away with pasture or agricultural land. Nothing will grow under them.

After that, most of them do not have one straight trunk to be good for boards. Their trunks are usually split into two branches.

There are probably other bad things about them, but that's all I can think of right now.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by peggydavis

I looked around online and I found one hobbyist one for $4000. I'm still thinking about that idea.

A custom woodworker could do all right in OK. I have an acquaintance who does the little boxes (not for creamation though) for a hobby and sometimes to sell. He never buys wood, he just waits for a storm and then there is plenty of free wood. He likes to work with the pear wood.

I did some online searching too, and I think the one you must have seen was the most expensive of the 'portable' kind, portable in that case meaning able to be pulled by a tractor or truck. Those were around 17,000.00. There's also a sawmill exchange site for sellers and buyers of used mills.

However, I also found a site for the manufacturer of the ones I remembered. They are roller gizmos, light enough to be hand carried, and start at around 135.00 without the chainsaw, and go up to around 750.00, still without the saw - all of them are for private use, as in cutting your own boards, cleaning up downed timber on farm land, etc. As far as I'm concerned, if you need to pull something around with a truck, it's not very portable. It's just too small to be economically viable as a business operation. In my opinion, if you can carry it, then it's truly portable.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by jessaka

Billy goats. I used to want a herd of goats ever since I was 16 and went to Missouri with my uncle and saw a lady herding her goats. Then I met a guy that owned goats, and the billy goat used to urinate on its own face. I lost interest in goats.

Billies only spray their beards. It makes them more attractive to does. Go figure!

But I like goats, when my children were little my son was sensitive to cow milk, so I got a nanny. The only real problem is that in order to keep the milk flowing, goat or cow, they have to be bred, and then there's this adorable baby. Eventually the baby isn't a baby and isn't so adorable any more, and something has to be done with it. I just can't bring myself to eat someone I've known and cared for, someone who has those huge brown trusting eyes. But there's a limit to how many 'pets' one can keep, after all... And that old trick of naming them 'Breakfast' or 'Lunch' or 'Chops' just doesn't cut it. It doesn't matter what the name is, there's still those eyes!

And I hope this one makes it. I've written and re-written this about 5 times now, and as soon as I hit the Submit button, my connection breaks off and I lose it all. I really wish this format allowed me to copy and paste from a document.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by karibear

I did some online searching too, and I think the one you must have seen was the most expensive of the 'portable' kind, portable in that case meaning able to be pulled by a tractor or truck. Those were around 17,000.00. There's also a sawmill exchange site for sellers and buyers of used mills.

However, I also found a site for the manufacturer of the ones I remembered. They are roller gizmos, light enough to be hand carried, and start at around 135.00 without the chainsaw, and go up to around 750.00, still without the saw - all of them are for private use, as in cutting your own boards, cleaning up downed timber on farm land, etc. As far as I'm concerned, if you need to pull something around with a truck, it's not very portable. It's just too small to be economically viable as a business operation. In my opinion, if you can carry it, then it's truly portable.

The word "Portable" mean ANYTHING that can be moved (and operated) from one place to another, reguardless how it's moved. House Trailers are portable, Portapotties,ect.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

The word "Portable" mean ANYTHING that can be moved (and operated) from one place to another, reguardless how it's moved. House Trailers are portable, Portapotties,ect.

Yeah, but is it worth it? I looked into having my trailer moved - just curiosity, mostly - and it would be something close to 40K, besides which I'd have been the one responsible for replacing tires and/or axles, if necessary, and it would involve several different companies. Seems there isn't one that does anything nation-wide, just regionally, barely.

Nothing against those bigger sawmills, it's just that they are sort of limited to where they can be hauled. The ones I initially was referring to are ones that can be packed way back into the bush, or included in a load of groceries on a float or ski plane, then hand-carried to the final destination. The one person I knew who had one and used it to build a cabin lived on a small island, so it had to be brought in on a rather small boat, then carried up to the building site. The guy spent one year cutting down trees to use, let them age [I can't say dry, because it was always raining] for at least a year, then started trimming the logs into square beams and stacked them log cabin style. He did cut boards for the inside floors, decking, and doors. His family was quite happy with it when it was done, too.

[redbird4848]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

Since I'm new in OK, what is it with the disapproval of Cedar trees?

From the OK Conservation Commission:

"OCC officials also addressed the conservation concern caused by the
spread of invading red and salt cedars in Oklahoma. Everyday the Eastern
Red Cedar claims over 762 acres of Oklahoma land resulting in the loss
of 300,000 acres per year. One red cedar uses up 85 to 90 gallons of
water per day."

Our issue is the pasture land is now becoming over run.

[peggydavis]

The cedars will grow up around a big old oak tree and eventually kill it because they use up all the water and nutrients.

At the seminar we went to, some people were demonstrating cutting down and stacking cedars with Bobcats. They were charging $40 per hour at that time.

[mkfarnam]

You make it sound like they grow as fast as a weed or an electric anntena. Is't there any way they killed and uprooted at a young age?

[peggydavis]

As long as you cut near the ground leaving no green branches, they can be snipped off when young. Burning kills them too, on the few days it is possible to burn off a field.

[redbird4848]

What is a mcmansion? I have seen that term on other forums used in a derogatory way.

Personally, I live in a mctrailer.