It appears that Bob the Woodsman is ready to cut, and that the sound of timberrrr might yet be heard on my property in cabin country.

My goal is to thin out the forest on my 20-acre parcel in New Sharon.

I have been talking to Bob about it for six months.

Initally he had domestic concerns (three funerals in one week), then he thought the woods was too wet.

But last weekend he announced it was dry enough to begin.

He seems to be following appropriate guidelines.

Bob is getting permission from the Road Commissioner to build a temporary gravel pathway over a culvert in order to get his equipment into the forest.

And he appears to be getting a permit from the Conservation Commission.

(An aside: Those who hope clearcutting is a thing of the past in Maine can be encouraged that every logger I have talked to is aware that someone from the Department of Environmental Protection will be checking their work regularly. So they go by the rules.)

Once he begins cutting, he will stand to make 50 percent of the gross revenue from softwood that goes to the mill in Jay.

And he will make 40 percent of the revenue from hardwood that will be cut up for firewood. (The guy who splits and delivers it will make about 30 percent, and I get about 30 percent).

(Aside No. 2: The price of wood rises in the fall, so perhaps it's better he isn't starting until September).

Bob took me on a tour of a parcel from which he took wood last year.

He took less than 50 percent of the standing trees, and the forest looks pretty darn good.

Bob said that parcel (perhaps four acres), yielded about $5,000 (gross).

The project on my land should equal that, he said.

So Bob starts this week with moving his equipment to the land.

Perhaps next week he will start knocking down trees.

I plan to travel to the woods to monitor the progress at the start of the cut.

My goal to become a Lumber Baron might yet be reached, but I don't want to earn that mantle as the result of an extemporaneous clearcut that took place without my knowledge.

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