June 15, 2012

CONVOY TO THE MILL


YESTERDAY'S LOGS ARE TODAY'S LUMBER!

A national cable TV show (scheduled to air this fall) filmed and participated in the transport effort of our harvested timber to the mill! With a change in venue, we delivered our logs to a local mill in Elgin - a very wise decision on our part...because Stephen at  S.A.W Mill & Supply is awesome...and, as it turns out, so is our Lost Pines lumber! From our fire scorched old-growth Loblolly Pines we milled Grade C-cabinet/furniture quality lumber!  Once the green lumber was cut, we brought it home to "sticker" and allow to dry in the Texas summer heat. 
Our good friend, Cody Murphy, who also lost his family's home, has been with us along this journey and is a excellent carpenter, contractor and jack-of-all trades. Together with Robert, he has collaborated in all the efforts to cut, harvest, transport, mill and now utilize these woods, and together we plan to rebuild the two homes by ourselves. Going forward, we will continue to collaborate in our efforts and will soon begin the home building process.  These homes will be built primarily from this lumber...the framing, the walls, floors, ceilings, and cabinets, plus whatever else we can think of. It is a lot of hard work and dedication to utilize them, but our loved and lost Loblolly Pines will live on with us in the form of a new homes for our families.

 

Yesterdays Logs are Todays Lumber- You Tube

June 3, 2012

THE HOPELESSLY OPTIMISTIC

San Antonio Express:  Blaze leaves forest's future unclear,  By Colin McDonald

 

San Antonio Express-News/© 2012 WILLIAM LUTHER
A soot-covered participant in the Lost Pines Log Pull...breaks for lunch.


It is very nice that the writer included personal elements of our story, however I am not the one to play the role of "sad sap" very well- and although this article doesn't feel like the positive solution-based approach we hope to convey- it is our prayer that our actions are effective in the message. Perhaps, the reality with the trees is that we are in a sad sap situation and that sadly most will just rot and fall.  We obviously have hopelessly optimistic attitudes, and remain dedicated to making the best of our situation.
- Jamaica