Not clear-cut.
That meant a logging contractor.
Quotes came back higher than Hannah expected because the tract was small, trails were poor, and mobilization costs consumed margin.
One contractor said:
“If you had fifty more acres, maybe.”
Another offered to harvest only the easiest timber and leave the rest.
Hannah refused.
Then she began pricing equipment.
That led to the auction.
Ray backed the lowboy into the farmyard near sunset.
Hannah’s uncle, Mark, stood beside the barn watching.
He had agreed to help unload without asking what she bought.
He regretted that policy immediately.
“That?”
Hannah climbed from the pickup.
“Yes.”
“You bought that?”
“Yes.”
“For how much?”
“Eleven hundred.”
Mark looked relieved.
“Okay.”
“Plus four hundred hauling.”
Less relieved.
“Still okay.”
He walked around it.
“How many things are wrong?”
“Unknown.”
“That sounds expensive.”
“It sounds measurable.”
Mark looked toward her.
“You sound like your father.”
Hannah did not answer.
People said that often after Tom died.
Sometimes it felt like affection.
Sometimes like a sentence.
Ray unchained the machine.
Then came the first problem.
It would not start.
The batteries had enough power at the auction because a booster pack was attached.
Now they did not.
Ray looked at Hannah.
She looked at the battery compartment.
Mark sighed.
“Tractor?”
They used the farm tractor and jumper cables.
The old Deere cranked.
Slow.
Again.
Then fired.
Exhaust barked from somewhere it should not.
Hannah smiled.
Mark did not.
“You’re happy about that noise?”
“It started.”
“That is a very low standard.”
She climbed into the cab.
Shifted carefully.
Released the brake.
The skidder moved.
Not smoothly.
But it moved.
She backed down the ramps.
One rear tire slipped slightly in mud.
The machine reached the farmyard.
Hannah drove it fifty yards behind the shop and shut it down.
Silence.
Mark looked at her.
“Well?”
“I own a skidder.”
“You own a problem shaped like a skidder.”
“Same thing.”
That night Hannah made a list.
Batteries.
Exhaust manifold leak.
Hydraulic seep at steering cylinder.
Rear tire leak.
Brake adjustment.
Cab glass cracked.
Seat destroyed.
Winch cable unknown condition.
Grease everything.
Fluids.
Filters.
Fuel.
Electrical.
Fire extinguisher.
She estimated.
Minimum: $1,600.
Likely: $3,000.
Bad case: stop estimating.
Her checking account contained $6,870.
Property taxes due in three months: $3,940.
Farm operating reserve: $2,100.
Personal cash: approximately embarrassing.