A monster in the yard

I came out to the house the other day to find this monster lurking in the yard. It’s called a “skidder.” I’d never seen one before living in the Pacific Northwest, because they are one of those tools that really has no use for anything except heavy logging. How it works is simple: the logger cuts down the tree, the skidder crashes through the woods on 5-foot diameter knobby tires, and clamps onto the trunk with that huge claw. Then it drags the tree out to a clearing where they can limb it and buck it into 40′ sections to load onto the log truck. I’m lucky that my neighbor just happens to have a few, and is inclined to help me out. The funny part: when we discussed this, Sandy mentioned he could bring over his littlest skidder.  I haven’t yet seen the big one, but I get the impression it will not be showing up, because he says it would crush my 25-ton bridge. Hmm.