How'd it go today?

That's a matter of law, and I don't know what the law says here, much less TN. However, the common sense approach would say that property markers have to be replaced, since they belong to you and your neighbor. State jobs here usually specify that any property corners that are disturbed must be replaced. YMMV with lower status jobs, and some random contractor coming through is more likely to damage stuff.

There's a lot of ifs ands and buts, but two most common scenarios are the property goes to the center of the road, or the property goes to the RoW line. In both cases, the marker is typically set at the RoW line, and that's where it should be after construction. It shouldn't be moved back unless it's a very old property that perhaps didn't have the marker on the RoW, or the RoW widened over time.

You can also get some weird situations where it isn't physically possible to set the marker on the RoW. In that case, you might move it back along the property line, and inform the client of what has been done, so even though they won't have the exact front corner, they at least have the sideline marked for a fence or whatever. That's not my favorite thing to do cause it's weird, but a competent future surveyor should be able to figure out what's going on, and not screw anything up, but it is non standard, and I don't like it.
 
@lxskllr John, I have always wanted to ask you about a situation regarding ROW and property lines here on my road.

As seen from multiple surveyors staking and older quarter section posts, as well as the county's online tax lot maps; my property line is in the ditch right adjacent to the pavement. As are all 4 other properties on this north-south running segment of county road. The county ROW is all west of that.

The properties on the other side of the road, also 4 of them by coincidence, show their N-S property lines at the same place, my ditch line. The ROW is apparently taken all from their acreage, and none from mine or my adjoining properties N and S of me.

I like this as I get 40 feet or so more ground than the folks across the road from me do, but also wonder if this could really be so?
 
@lxskllr John, I have always wanted to ask you about a situation regarding ROW and property lines here on my road.

As seen from multiple surveyors staking and older quarter section posts, as well as the county's online tax lot maps; my property line is in the ditch right adjacent to the pavement. As are all 4 other properties on this north-south running segment of county road. The county ROW is all west of that.

The properties on the other side of the road, also 4 of them by coincidence, show their N-S property lines at the same place, my ditch line. The ROW is apparently taken all from their acreage, and none from mine or my adjoining properties N and S of me.

I like this as I get 40 feet or so more ground than the folks across the road from me do, but also wonder if this could really be so?
Things are different out west. I couldn't even make an informed guess. My uninformed guess is that anything is possible as long as it's lawful. Is your property along a section line? That would be a logical place to terminate everyone's property, and it's analog would be our lines going to the center of the road. In your case, the road is where it is, and it's RoW doesn't care which property it takes from, and it isn't beholden to section lines.

Out here, you might have a 50' road RoW. That usually(not always!) means that the RoW is 25' each way from CL of road. You can run into cases where the road(or other) RoW is described, and the object isn't in the center of it, eg. in your 50' RoW, you might have 12' to left from CL road, and 38' to the right. It all depends on how it was setup, and a lot has to do with history. Western surveys are more straightforward due to the way they're laid out, but are very different from what we have in the east, and it isn't something I'm familiar with. Many many years ago I started reading Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles book, but quit part way into the western section cause it didn't really apply to me, and since I was reading for fun, there wasn't a whole lot of point in going through it.

This is an updated version of the book...

Code:
https://www.amazon.com/Browns-Boundary-Control-Legal-Principles/dp/111843143X

I found it interesting when I was reading it at the time, but my recollection is very poor. I was also in the biz, so it was more likely to be interesting to me than a random person, so I don't know that I can recommend you read it, but maybe?
 
Things are different out west. I couldn't even make an informed guess. My uninformed guess is that anything is possible as long as it's lawful. Is your property along a section line? That would be a logical place to terminate everyone's property, and it's analog would be our lines going to the center of the road. In your case, the road is where it is, and it's RoW doesn't care which property it takes from, and it isn't beholden to section lines.

Out here, you might have a 50' road RoW. That usually(not always!) means that the RoW is 25' each way from CL of road. You can run into cases where the road(or other) RoW is described, and the object isn't in the center of it, eg. in your 50' RoW, you might have 12' to left from CL road, and 38' to the right. It all depends on how it was setup, and a lot has to do with history. Western surveys are more straightforward due to the way they're laid out, but are very different from what we have in the east, and it isn't something I'm familiar with. Many many years ago I started reading Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles book, but quit part way into the western section cause it didn't really apply to me, and since I was reading for fun, there wasn't a whole lot of point in going through it.

This is an updated version of the book...

Code:
https://www.amazon.com/Browns-Boundary-Control-Legal-Principles/dp/111843143X

I found it interesting when I was reading it at the time, but my recollection is very poor. I was also in the biz, so it was more likely to be interesting to me than a random person, so I don't know that I can recommend you read it, but maybe?
Thanks John. I might give that a read, just to learn something.

As it happens, our property line does coincide with a section line. It's not like anything will change re the property lines and the ROW...the road is where it is, and obviously will stay there.

But it is nice that we get a full 660 feet to the east of the ROW at our ditch line, and too bad that the folks on the other side of that ROW get something like 620 feet. Our tax lots are the same dimension east to west and north to south, and we are taxed on the same acreage...they just have a little less to actually use.
 
Staying busy around here. Life and tree work.


Next month marks 5 years with Miriam.




Going to Chicago for a week. Visiting family to help with my eldest brother's carpal tunnel surgery needs/ care for my Mom.

I've had her doing twice daily physical therapy for 6 weeks. We'll do a bunch in person.
She fell, chipping her sacrum a couple years ago, didn't get strong again after, then slid down the stairs last year. Even weaker since then. Walking is poor.

My brother and Mom live together. He's doing all he can, but struggling.

Presently, she won't move out to Olympia. She's lived most of her life in Oak Park. She lives down the street from her childhood home and elementary school. 47 years in her current house, where I grew up.




Yesterday, I stumped a big, dead maple dismantle at dusk. High tie-in at 120'-ish in a big doug-fir at 4" diameter... SRT choke with a pull-down line.

Trunks were about 20' apart. Just enough to keep things from being too spicy.

Half of the maple was over a shed with a terrible roof and lots of fallen branches atop it. Several rigs broke apart when swung into the trunk. No issues.


One side of the trunk was soft. Most of the bark around the base was loose/ gone. No cleanup.

I cut and lowered while she landed and cleared the drop zone.


Homeowner has a tractor, burns wood and will harvest good burls for turning work.

No break for pics.
 
Staying busy around here. Life and tree work.


Next month marks 5 years with Miriam.




Going to Chicago for a week. Visiting family to help with my eldest brother's carpal tunnel surgery needs/ care for my Mom.

I've had her doing twice daily physical therapy for 6 weeks. We'll do a bunch in person.
She fell, chipping her sacrum a couple years ago, didn't get strong again after, then slid down the stairs last year. Even weaker since then. Walking is poor.

My brother and Mom live together. He's doing all he can, but struggling.

Presently, she won't move out to Olympia. She's lived most of her life in Oak Park. She lives down the street from her childhood home and elementary school. 47 years in her current house, where I grew up.




Yesterday, I stumped a big, dead maple dismantle at dusk. High tie-in at 120'-ish in a big doug-fir at 4" diameter... SRT choke with a pull-down line.

Trunks were about 20' apart. Just enough to keep things from being too spicy.

Half of the maple was over a shed with a terrible roof and lots of fallen branches atop it. Several rigs broke apart when swung into the trunk. No issues.


One side of the trunk was soft. Most of the bark around the base was loose/ gone. No cleanup.

I cut and lowered while she landed and cleared the drop zone.


Homeowner has a tractor, burns wood and will harvest good burls for turning work.

No break for pics.
5 years! The world seems to turn faster and faster.
 
My feet are coming apart from the cold dry weather. This is a whole new level of misery. I've had cracking hands for quite a few years now, but this is something else. Feels like I've walked barefoot over a stack of split wood and shredded my feet.

Getting old's the worst. My body keeps finding creative new ways to betray me. At least my hands haven't split. Yet...
 
I use O'Keefe's Working Hands, which heals cracks quickly. They also have a foot product, that I haven't used. I also use their lip balm, which I don't remember what is called. Fortunately, not Working Lips.
 
I have some O'Keefe's around here somewhere. I need to dig it up. I also have Bag Balm and Badger Balm. Both are ok I guess, but are grease based, with the associated problems. Not so bad for hands when I'm gonna be out all day with gloves. Get them greased up, put the gloves on, and they keep the stuff in place. Less nice for around the house or other inside stuff.
 
Went after a couple of logs so I can finish the board and batten order. Then I blew snow away from the mill with the backpack blower. Fingers are frozen. Tree was still 19" at the second 16' log. Face cut lined up within a 1/4" on the far side. Always fun when the pie just falls out of the tree.

20250123_145705.jpg 20250123_150254.jpg
 
Scored a couple of big basswood logs this evening. I thought they had escaped. I talked to the guy who took the trees down last week, and he said he might have the log truck drop the basswood at the mill. instead, they ended up in my neighbor's firewood stash. He is happy to hear I'll be hauling them away. Wood carvers love basswood. I've sent a text to one, waiting for a reply.

20250123_162249.jpg
 
My guy isn't carving anymore. Working 10-14 hour days on his own business these days. That sucks, he always showed up cash in hand. It was a bit of a hail Mary pass to try and get some cash flow anyway. I don’t know if it's just my experiences lately, but things seem to be getting a little tight. I had a former coworker bail on some cherry lumber, too. $540/week child care. :|: Caught me off guard a little. This has resulted in one of the stupidest financial moves that I think I've ever had to do. I canceled my YouTube Premium, as I was concerned about not getting anything deposited in time, but they charged my debit card earlier than normal. I then realized that my Prime was still active, so I canceled that, too, which resulted in an alleged refund. Now I'm waiting to see how it all shakes out. It'll probably cost me $38 for being overdrawn, unless it all gets dated today.:|::|:
 
I just got word that a former coworker cut his foot really badly. Cut it in half lengthwise. They applied a makeshift tourniquet. When the emts got there, he had passed out. It sounds like they can rebuild the foot. Dudes going to be messed up for a long time.
 
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