Finally, I met the Man!

gf beranek

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Ed Hobbs, that is.

The man who invented the Bry Dan saddle, Hobbs Block and Lowering device. One of the early innovaters that really changed the industry. Ed moved to Sonoma County 5 years ago, and I didn't even know it. Least not until a young fellow from Bellingham, Washington called me last week and said so. And so I drove down to Sebastapol Monday morning and met the Man, and a few more!

Ed also wrote the book 'Cadre of the Mews." If you familiar with it. A short autobio, about himself, and the crews he worked with over the years. A short easy read of people, times and places in the industry.

Now, in the image, Ed is the more distinguished older fellow in the background. To his immediate left is Russ Riviere,second generation treeman from Bellingham. Below right of Ed, is Tom Kent from Inverness, 56 years in the business. The fellow in the blue shirt is Martin Kutches from San Francisco, 45 years in the business. Behind me is Richard Engmen from SF also, over 50 years in the business. All Treemen. In every gathering of tree tramps there's always a braggart, and Richard was it. Him and Ed worked together for years.

Anyway, it was a highlight in my life to meet Ed Hobbs, and the rest of that gang. Great people, all of them. Just thought I'd let you know.

Oh, yeah, I shopped the image to get all our faces looking at the camera. Upon close inspection you may notice the artifacts.
 

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Over 200 years combined experience! I can smell the BSing and whisky form here! I bet the stories are of epic magnitude. Ohh to be a fly on the wall.
 
What an amazing post. :drink:

There's really no one else that writes and thinks like Jerry does. Damn we are lucky Jerry chimes in here.

Wowza re all those hard core, ol timing tree men!! Gotta love it!!
 
Now, THAT is what I call a cool photo. Sheesh, though... makes me want to get older FASTER. Maybe I wouldn't shoot my mouth off so much. Rspect.
 
Sheesh, though... makes me want to get older FASTER..

OMG that was funny! Leave it to Jerry and his photos and writing to bring that out in a treeman. Btw, I know what ya mean, Jed;)
 
Quite the gathering. Glad you two finally got to meet after all those years working in relatively close proximity.
 
Looks like another check off the old bucket list Jerry!! so glad you got to hang out with those old school tree men, the forerunners of the tree industry:thumbup:
 
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Ed's getting frail. I'm stoked I had the chance to meet him before,,, you know..

I sent him an email with the photo attached. I sure hope he gets it. The email address was off an old card he gave me. Hopefully it's still current.

Now Charly Pottorff, a pivotal member in the tree care industry also, had his 75th birthday last week, and I was invited to go, but couldn't make it.

Damn! Time's running out for us old timer's, and a new generation is coming up. It's all good!
 
Just remember it was the skill and trial and error of the FOG's that paved the way for the FNG's and I for one am grateful for that knowledge.
 
What a superstar lineup! I'd love so much to just sit quietly in the corner and listen. . . The things you guys accomplished are titanic.

Gerry please get Fundamentals back in print someday. Maybe August could write a forward or something. . . but that book needs to be available to future generations.

Thank you all so much!

cheers
 
Ed Hobbs, that is.
Least not until a young fellow from Bellingham, Washington called me last week and said so. To his immediate left is Russ Riviere,second generation treeman from Bellingham.
Anyway, it was a highlight in my life to meet Ed Hobbs, and the rest of that gang. Great people, all of them.

Right on, Ger!! Ed also has two Alpine Magnum stumpers, or did, iirc....I have a knock off (from Bailey's) Hobbs block, with the giant 5" sheave, which is the cat's meow for big loads.... I know of Russ...Cowboy Dave, featured in many of my images over the years, did some work for him... and a great image of his crew at work made the Wesspur catalog cover a few years back. Who was the young fella, Dave Stice?.....

Ask Russ if he knows anything about a 13 foot diameter sequoia that was craned out a few months back, in the Bellingham area... Ness Crane estimator told me a bit about it...

I'm in Boise..the next two days are the PNW ISA TCC..it will be my third comp in 20 days that
I've shot...... just rolled in, posting from Starbucks, and going to head over to the comp site, and tuck in, in the back of my canopied Toyota..... staying for the whole conference.. camping for cheap with wifi and showers....looking to head up into the mountains a ways tomorrow nite to look for a cool foreground to shoot the full moon... I can put two tripods to good use, I'm hoping. The last three hours of my drive, I was looking right at the almost full moon, what a sight!!
 
Thanks Gerry, for those of us who don't know much US treeman history this is a great post!
 
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