Gone Brushhoggin'
Update: I received some very kind feedback about this project via comments and email, and while I appreciate the sentiments, I need to redirect the focus to the guy who really did yeoman's work in planning and executing it. Wally (and his lovely wife) directs our Sunday School department (the Simon Department at First Baptist Church), and he arranged for the rental of the tractor. He also did most of the actual brushhogging, drawing on his experiences on a pipeline roustabout crew in another life. (Apparently, once you cleared right of way for a pipeline in southern Louisiana, mowing a few acres of West Texas dryland is a walk in the park!) The cost of the tractor rental was donated by department members. My role in all of this was limited to the things that require no skill or judgment – operate a hoe and weedeater, and generally trying to stay out of the way of the tractor.
My pal Wally and I are going out to Bob's place this morning to do some brushhogging. I have no idea what that means, but it should be fun. Wally said he got the biggest brushhogger he could find; apparently, he wasn't kidding:
Photos and videos forthcoming (but, hopefully, not on the 10 o'clock news).
Gee, thanks, Jim, for removing the mystique. ;-)
Posted by: Eric at August 9, 2007 01:21 PMWe used to have a tractor and brush hog. It works ... oh yes indeed, but it stirs up the dust somthin' awful. Makes the little ground critters mad too: snakes, mice, rabbits, porcupines, skunks. Then they want to come live in your clean quiet house. I'm glad we don't need it anymore.
Posted by: Deborah at August 9, 2007 03:39 PMWhen you're finished, if you don't mind, we could use a little brush hogging up our way. ;-)
Posted by: gwynne at August 9, 2007 08:18 PMOh, my gosh, I drove by on my circuitous way home from Lubbock about 8:30pm tonight - that place looks totally different! What a blessing!
(And I bet you boys had fun on that tractor, too!)
Posted by: Janie at August 9, 2007 10:48 PMJust read Bob's post and saw the results...you guys are to be commended for an awesome job and, like Bob said, for being a great role model of behaving like a Christian. Bless you, Eric & Wally! :-)
Posted by: gwynne at August 9, 2007 11:20 PMI also looked at the photos on Bob's website ... you men did a fine job.
Posted by: Deborah at August 10, 2007 12:14 PMDeborah, I think I did a particularly excellent job of supervising. ;-)
Posted by: Eric at August 10, 2007 01:50 PMAbout the publisher
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For the ignorant, uninformed, or both (i.e. me) the following is a brief definition of brush hogging from an article by Neil Shelton:
A bush-hog, for those of you from New York, Los Angeles or Jupiter, is the term used for a large mower pulled behind a farm tractor. With it, you can rid your property of brush and weeds up to the thickness of your forearm.
You're welcome.
Posted by: Jim at August 9, 2007 12:18 PM