Papa and London

Papa Steve is a logger and also a foreman. The company he works for does a lot of thinning of forest lands and not clear cutting. Steve operates a skidder, picking up logs from the trees after they have been mechanically harvested. Steve hauls the logs to the landing where the semi truck driver picks them up and takes them to one of several mills. Our 5 year old grandson knew that Papa worked in the woods but I know he didn't realize what Papa did. Around here there is a lot of hunting so I think he figured Papa just hunted every day (wouldn't Papa love that?). We had a couple of days of beautiful weather last week so I told London we would go for a ride and visit Papa. I am so geographically challenged that after our second attempt to find the crew I told London it was time to give up. He very promptly told me that his Dad says never give up. After a few chuckles I headed for home. After we got home Papa returned one of the many calls that I had made while in the woods. He gave me a little more detail in directions so London and I headed back out to the woods. This time we found Papa driving his big skidder. He hiked London up into the cab and they went into the woods to pick up a load of logs. Papa let London drive the skidder and I don't know who was more proud. It smelled so good out there, they were cutting balsam. Hopefully I can get the rest of the grandkids out to drive Papa's skidder as they get bigger.