Stupid and Lucky

[Old Monkey]

Well this is a little bit of a confession. I bid a tree a while ago that had obvious rot issues and many cavities that were easily visible from the ground. On my copy of bid sheets I write down any specialty tool I might need for that job if I get it. On this bid sheet were two words "bucket truck." Well I have been slow of late and not having a bucket truck and not wanting to share the money with a bucket truck owner, decided to just climb the tree. I knew it was bad but felt I could pull it off. The job was scheduled for Tuesday and over the three day weekend I tried my best to forget that I owned a tree service.

On Tuesday we arrived at the job. My only conceit to the trees obvious defects was to use the big shot to set a line and to pull heavily on my tie in with two guys. I didn't trust the tree to rig off anything super heavy so decided to use a portawrap instead of my GRCS. That was probably a mistake. The whoopie sling was just a little too small to make it around the base of the tree, so I used a saw to score around the tree and make a groove for it. The tree removal took a little longer than I thought but otherwise went smooth, I'm alive and well, both houses and fence underneath the tree are fine too. However, when I chunked down the main spar where I was tied into and an off shoot of it that I rigged part of the tree off of(everything was rigged off itself and then eased back to this spar to get it to the drop zone), just about every piece exploded into little bits as they were either rotten or hollow. I wasn't surprised about this. I expected it. What did startle me and why I am writing this is that down at the base it was so rotten that the groove I cut for the woopie sling was almost through the only good wood on the tree. An inch deeper and the whole tree might have gone. I should have snapped a picture to share.

Why didn't I sound the tree at the base? I knew it had a lot of rot in it and just assumed it was bad. I had the mind set that this was just one of the shitty things you have to do to pay the bills. I think I am going to stop taking the real nasty tree jobs that other services are referring to me. I am sort of known for doing these sort of trees and at 42 I don't see a future in stupid.

 

[SkwerI]

Glad you got home safely, Darin. I looked at a job yesterday that I had to pass on. I even told the lady that I wished she had called me 5 years ago and I would have gladly taken it on, but not today.

And bucket trucks make you fat.

 

[woodworkingboy]

So, you moved to Idaho to go kill yourself...good thinking!

Glad nothing unfortunate happened!!

One thing I do is just imagine myself being posted about in the RIP thread..."former treehouser wb". It add a little smart to the equation that includes being stupid.

 

[Greenhorn]

So hard to walk away from stuff with bills to pay, I hate the slow times.

 

[PCTREE]

we all do it, and we all need to stop

Glad you didnt get maimed and your daughter dosnt have to change your diapers........Ive thought of that ending for myself, kinda puts a new spin on it

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cool you completed the job!

 

[chucky]

OM, your loved ones will miss you a lot more than you will.

 

[Old Monkey]

And bucket trucks make you fat.

There must be one hiding under my bed because I climb everyday and still can't lose my roll.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I can help you with that.

 

[Old Monkey]

Cool you completed the job!

I'll get a pict of the stump and the groove I cut when i swing by that way.

It was the tree to the left of the garage. the spar I was tied into was the one in front that takes a dog leg.

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=...GKBQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1

 

[chucky]

And bucket trucks make you fat.

Drop and do 300.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Maybe there is a connection between having a roll and some loss of cognizant thinking?

 

[TREECYCLE]

Your Whoopie was too short so you cut a groove in the rotten trunk Man, glad you got the check on that one

 

[Old Monkey]

Your Whoopie was too short so you cut a groove in the rotten trunk Man, glad you got the check on that one

Yeah, not bright.

 

[Stumper]

Glad you are okay Darin. Yes learn to say no and, when you say yes,....ADD ANOTHER SLING if you are coming up short!!!!!!!

 

[pantheraba]

Glad it all worked out safely. Thanks for sharing...the thought process is familiar, I'm sure we have all done the same.

I am like WWboy...sometimes when I consider doing something a certain way I find myself thinking of not wanting to have to explain to all you guys how I did something so dumb. It is basically WWTHD..what would the Housers do?

 

[treesandsurf]

Glad you're safe OM.

jp

 

[vharrison]

Darin, glad you are safe and sound. Be safe out there guys!

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Meh. Being stupid makes you look cool sometimes.

 

[gf beranek]

Been there, done that. In my younger years when I was made of steel instead of flesh and bone.

With all the dead and dying pine in my local I'm surprised that any climbers haven't died in the glory of crumbling primary structure.

I have learned of myself years ago that if I looked at a tree enough times from different angles that I eventually would convince myself that it could be done in some manner that would not result in my death. And after starting the job realizing that I should have followed my first instinctive feeling about the tree and just walk away from it. Both climbing the tree and falling it. In a few it turned out that I was quite lucky.

Experiences like these have enforced my sense to follow my instincts about any particular bad tree today and not spend anymore time thinking about it. Otherwise I would talk myself into it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I have no problem whatsoever passing over a job that might kill/maim me. I love it when they say "But you can tie into that tree over there!"

Yea, right. That doesn't always make it safe for you. I don't relish the thought of swinging 20 or 30 feet into a tree, much less not having a breakaway lanyard.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Interesting post, Jerry. The question for someone like myself, of an immense amount of lesser experience, is when is it just fear that rings your bell, and when is it a true instinct, based upon experience. It's difficult to decipher the difference sometimes.

 

[Blinky]

I have learned of myself years ago that if I looked at a tree enough times from different angles that I eventually would convince myself that it could be done in some manner that would not result in my death.

That really is a peculiar, pretty much irrational behavior but I think I do that too... just never recognized it until you put it into words.

I worked with Guy yesterday for the first time in something like, a year. He had a trunk cross section of a red oak that failed at the root bed. It was totally hollow with about 2" of sound wood around the entire circumference... only 2", less in spots. Average diameter was in the 18" range. Utterly hollow and it failed at the roots, not the stem.

Had someone put a groove in it deep enough to make a sling fit... ? Damn. It would've been unpleasant.

Darin... don't do that anymore, OK?

 

[gf beranek]

There will always be trees that are between doable and not, depending on who's looking at it.

In the current pine-kill I've walked away from many trees that I deemed to dangerous to climb,, and then later learned other climbers have entered and taken down successfully.

I like to think in these latter years I'm just a little bit wiser and don't have anything to prove to myself, or others.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hell yea.