It’s time, once again for the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference here in Anderson, California. It is an opportunity loggers, foresters, equipment sales folks, school kids, teachers and the public to all come together. It’s like going to the county fair where you can bump into friends that you haven’t seen since last year.
Mary, of Sneaking Bliss, teacher the kids how an electrostatic precipitator cleans the smoke from a wood fired co-generation plant.
Today was the first day of the conference and also Education Day. Over 700 4th and 5th graders tour the exhibits and learn about forestry and the timber industry. Each year Mary teaches a science lesson related to one of our picture books and the kids love it.
There is a lot of big equipment like this feller buncher.
Plenty of little equipment too.
There was even quite a bit of old equipment all shined up.
Who doesn’t love a chainsaw carved bear?
Not to mention funnel cakes!
Mary visits with customers at the Red Tail Publishing booth.
THE FORESTER ARTIST 
Looks fun!!!
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It’s like going to the fair with a bunch of loggers. Guaranteed fun!
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What’s a funnel cake? It sounds interesting. Do you have a picture of one?
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It’s like a rolled up waffle. I didn’t get a picture, but might have to work at that.
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Mmmm. Sounds good. 🙂
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Looks really good Tim, it’s great to get people together like that, you can learn so much can’t you? I once organised a Welsh countryside fair bringing all kinds of people together with an interest in land management and conservation – it was a great day but I’ll never organise another one, exhausting 🙂 The old trucks look fantastic in your photos 🙂
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I know what you mean about organizing those types of events. They’re huge projects to take on and usually it’s just a few people doing all the work. They have other old equipment, but I didn’t get any pictures yet. They’re in a barn and it was too late and dark to get any good shots. Perhaps I can sneak over tomorrow and get some pictures.
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These hands-on educational activities are simply the best. Who doesn’t remember a few from their own youth? Somehow these make an everlasting impression. Later on, when students return to books, theories and exams, they built on these experiences.
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Absolutely right Paula. Mary is so good at relating to the kids. They all have a great time. The teachers love her presentation, because there is always a science experiment related to forestry or wood products for the kids.
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I’d also like to know what a funnel cake is and I want one of those chainsaw-carved bears in my living room!
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The funnel cake is kind of rolled wafflie sorta thing. To tell you the truth, I’ve never eaten one. I guess that will have to go on my bucket list. The bears are pretty great. That big one would be a fantastic center piece for your living room. I’ll just slip it in the mail to you Sarah. 😉
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Excellent! 😉
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Tim,
What fun! A great event and educational too.
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I know Linda, and you really should come on down!
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Reblogged this on The Backdoor Artist and commented:
My solution to the static hair part of my presentation…volunteers. They were all good sports and knew ahead of time what would happen. The students this year were the best ever. I was so pleased with their interaction.
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This sure looks like a lot of fun! Like our State Fair here. I like to sneak some funnel cake when I can! That static electricity stuff is too shocking for me!!
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Don’t worry Rhythm, your hair is too short for this experiment. You could hold the balloon, just don’t bite down to hard. :0
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Actually, kids have done this experiment on me! I’ve had several balloons attached to my self! Not my favorite kind of fun.
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Those naughty kids!
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Yeah. And the Mom Person just laughed. The life of a dog. What can I say.
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Looking great sorry was not fit to wash all these heavy equipment.. Like the educational side you associate with the business that is great story! Good weekend my friend.
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If you were here Doron, you could do “Plein Aire” painting of the equipment while enjoying a funnel cake and kettle corn. It would be a great time! Except that it finally decided to rain here, and of course it did during the conference.
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I wish I could be there rain or not.. mind you you needed the rain… ashamed no one could coordinate the timing it better… I facinate by the equipment could be some serious outdoor painting!
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Indeed, however it rained 5″ here today. That is highly unusual. I think you might have to do a lot of watercolor washes!
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Or none at all… we did one some time on the beach in Hastings with oil water base.. after hard half hour work… the rain washed it all!!! You can imagine the dissapointment.. great day out!
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Bummer Doron!
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I always put it down to the experience and learning curve. There are more important thing to worry about then painting washed to nothing..
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Wow! Those are some serious looking huge machines there.
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And there is a bunch more just at big. Tomorrow they have their Backhoe Rodeo where they do all kinds of delicate tasks with those huge machines. It’s a competition that is a kick to watch.
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You’ll have to get some pics of the compeetition too.
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I’ll try, but we may be to busy at the booth.
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It’s amazing what someone can carve with a chainsaw, beautiful work.
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Chainsaw art is not uncommon around here and some of the artists are very good.
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I went to so many forestry conferences and the like during the four years I was getting my B.S. in Forestry from Texas A&M University. Met a lot of great people but, sadly, I never got the opportunity to work in the forestry industry.
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It has been a very gratifying profession to work in Russel. You may not have gotten to make a career in it, but at least you had the experience back then. It’s funny, but I have found that some of the things I did early on in my life and never really expected to use again, have managed to find their way back into my life at unexpected times in unexpected ways. I hope that you find that to be true for you.
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Oh, I’m vicariously sad. My brother in law was a logger in No. Cal and has now incorporated logging into his NE Iowa life. He’s the go-to logger – 🙂 – and an excellent trapper. Which sounds all blah blah blah. Me, I know NOTHING about it all, but he took me along gopher trapping and I was fascinated and full of questions the entire time. … A VERY long way of saying that I imagine a logging conference/convention would be equally interesting. I wish he could have attended, at least.
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If he logged in Northern California in the past, then I suspect he probably has been to this logging conference. Just about anyone who spent much time working in the timber industry here has gone. We have it every year and on Saturday it’s open to the public. If you or your brother in law ever find yourself in Anderson on the second weekend in February, then come on down to the fair grounds. Admittence is free!
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