Hurricane Helene Update: Cleaning up the Mess... 

Thanks for letting us know how you fared.i thank the Lord you and family are safe!

Glad to see so little damage, and everyone safe.

Holy crap. That is a freaking beautiful location.

Glad you're okay!

Thanks Keith for letting know how you fared! Glad you had access to equipment. It makes clean up a little easier.

That's how Hurricane Sandy was for us in my neighborhood - a huge mess, no power for two weeks, but thankfully no serious damage or injuries. I counted my blessings as well! Glad to hear it was no worse for you.

Thank you for sharing. Thanks for the update, glad to hear everyone is safe.👍

thank you Keith

Thank you for sharing. Most interesting!!

Family and home takes priority over anything else. Nice piece of property you have there.

Glad you are okay Keith.

Hang in there Keith. I'm sorry you are going through that but its good you have the means to take care of it. I enjoy your channel. I sent you a lot of photos of old machines a long time ago. James from Greeneville, TN

You dont need to apologize, you need to take care of your home and make your wife happy. HAPPY WIFE HAPPY LIFE. I'm sure all your viewers understand and we will be here waiting until you get your place cleaned up. I'm just happy you escaped all the massive damage that of lot of folks had. God bless,stay safe.

Keith, you'll be happy with the 240. RU-vidrs like LetsDig18, Dirt Perfect and Andrew Camarata swear by the Takeuchi (pronounced ta·kee·oo·chee). and that is for intensive use in construction and ground work. Great kit, long lasting and very solid. Many parts available.

Glad to hear you suffered minimal damage. I'd watch a video of you just walking around your local area, it looks like an absolutely lovely part of the world.

I'm glad you didn't have it worse. The important thing is that your family was safe until you got home. You have plenty of space for the pond now. With your sandy soil, you're limited to just digging a hole, and that's the pond. That would be a great job for a drag line and great content.

The wife is a trooper! Enjoy your extended stay in the dog house.

Good to see this part of your life. Thanks, Keith, you have become a bright spot in my life - Thank You.

Thanks for the update. Just take your time Keith, I totally understand that there are more important things in life then getting videos out. All things considered it's not alot of damage thankfully, like you mentioned the Appalachia area is hit extremely hard due to the flooding. Hope to see a video of the lumber being cut at the museum, that sawmill is such a nice piece if machinery.

This storm put 6-7 feet of water in the downtown part of Punta Gorda FL. Milton then put 8-9 feet of water back in the same places. God Bless and stay safe.

Thanks for the video...I especially liked your dog photobombing the early part lol

In 2005 I rode out hurricane Katrina. That storm blew for 12 hours and there were times when the second story of the house I was living in shook as if it were going to blow off. We were fortunate that it held but clean up afterwards took weeks, if not months. Three years ago Ida blew through here with similar results. Weeks and weeks of clean up and waiting for power and phones and internet to be restored. One of my neighbors still has a blue tarp from Ida on her house. Last month the eye wall of Francine went right over our parish here in Louisiana but by the time it got here the storm greatly diminished and there was very little damage for us locally. You can never predict what kind of damage these storms are going to do or if you will luck out.

You are very fortunate. So many suffered because of that storm.

Glad to see you are all safe Keith, added work is always a pain but it's so much better than what could have happened.

Got room for a garden spot now!

All the best to you and your family Keith.

So glad your not dealing with real bad stuff. Was nice to see your property. Best of luck.

Take all the time you need to take care of yourself, loved ones and your property. Having gone through Hurricane Ike, I know exactly what your going through.

Been through a couple myself happy to see you just have cleanup , it’s time consuming and frustrating but we have had friends who lost property, that hurts for along time !

Columbia County, Ga, we had a very similar experience to what you describe. No damage to our house (we think) but the backyard fences and deck were destroyed. No power for 11 days. Still no internet other than our phones. For what I paid to have trees cut up, I could have bought a skid steer.

Phew ! ! Glad to see that you are getting everything back to normal ! Nature is so wonderful isn"t it ? Better than washing the dishes ? Stay safe, and chopping ! Stu xx

Good morning Keith, Your property is very beautiful. You should consider having several small burn piles, something that is more manageable if things go south. With all that wooded area, err on the side of caution. Greetings from the tinderbox of the west.

Good morning Keith. Glad it was not worse. Thanks for the video.

Mr.Rucker everyone understand the situation you are in and you do what you need to do thank our lord and savior for protecting your family from harm because lord knows that some are not that fortunate. Just know that us here in indiana are keeping you guys in the south in our prayers during this time. Be safe don't work to hard because we are not as young as we once were BE safe and may God continue to protect you from harm in Jesus name we pray Amen 🙏

@VintageMachinery - Hi Keith, glad to see your property is almost recovered! My family and I left Georgia for my job in 2008 and I just knew this had to Georgia when I was watching. Interesting side note, my bride’s maiden name is McBrayer and they’re all from down there in Tifton… I’m not sure how many are left in the area, but they had a large family and a whole lot of farming. We were there in 1994 for Sunday Lunch and I have never seen so many fresh vegetables on a single table. You’re living in a wonderful area of the country!

That clearing is super place for some chestnuts. Chinese should grow well in you neck of woods.

Good luck to you Keith. Keep on diggin'! 😊😊😊

Good Luck !

Glad it was mostly trees. All we got was rain in northwest Tennessee. Thanks for the video Keith.

Glad you and yours faired as well as you did through the hurricane. The cleanup is surely a pain but knowing how it could have been. Looking forward to you possibly timber framing, it’s what I do for my day job and I love your projects, it will be exciting to see you tackle that.

I am south of you in White Springs, Hamilton county Fla. We had a little damage. Lost some skirting around the house and some shingles from the roof. And power was off for four days so the contents of the fridge were spoiled. It could have been worse. It's good to see you are coping with the results of the storm. And you should get some good timber from those logs.🙂🙂

The important thing is that everyone is safe!

Hello from Hurricane ravaged Siesta key Florida

I hope you show the saw mill in action making some nice lumber. I've been asking for woodworking content on your channel for a while!

You can always throw a gopro on your skidsteer when you're out working, people love that too.

Faired better than many Keith. That sandy soil you have down there is a blessing and a curse for sure. My area is all clay...20' down, still clay. LOL. So for us, the roots can't go deep because the clay is so thick, so many trees will blow over because the roots are maybe 2' deep in many trees. I don't think that the hurricane would EVER have 'good timing'. Friend of mine has been down in FL for two weeks cleaning up his condo that was devastated down there.

I was waiting for a cameo of your chain saw(s).

I don’t know whether or not the soil there permits it, but if I were you I’d plant oak trees. Their roots go much deeper than the pines you lost. Of course it takes them a lot more time to grow.

Great to see the update, and hear your property is recovering. Maybe at some time, it would be good idea to document the lessons learnt and convert that into an action plan for the next few years. As I saw your video I wonder if you could get a positive experience from the event. Would replacing some of your fallen pines with a peach orchard / new trees make a positive ?

Keith, We are looking forward to the lumber your los generate. When you get around to redoing your roof, you might want to consider steel shingles. The ones on my house use 6 screws per shingle.

I think myself as well as others would’ve liked to have seen you operate your equipment when you’re removing stamps, etc. it would’ve made a entertaining video

Andrew Camarata would be proud of you!

Keith, I’m in Pt St Lucie Fl. I can tell you about tornadoes! You might have seen the St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office parking garage on the national news. Not even a half mile north of me. That’s all that particular tornado took out. There are about a thousand houses just to the south of it, where I live. We were very lucky. Other neighborhoods in the county were devastated. Milton was spawning them like rabbits

There is towns washed away about 30 minutes from me in NC! People have a horrible time, many people missing the roads and towns gone .

I guess it could have been worse but kripes what a mess. Looks like the kind of area that is about 1 foot in altitude above swamp level. Being where you are I recommend you plant some pecan trees. Probably wouldn't survive any better than pine but at least have some very tasty fruit and nice timber.

Thanks for the video. Where did you grow up?

I think its time for a whole house generator with an auto transfer switch your getting older and the weather is not getting better

That is the same model skid steer that Diesel Creek has. I'm sure he would help you out if you ever had issues with it.

That is one huge lot you have to after Keith.

Take some time lapse of the work and post it.

Why dobn't you cut that short stuff for firewood. Surely peoplbhave fireplaces and wood stoves. They could use it rather than just burning.

That tree could be saved.