How'd it go today?

I'm with Tom on this one, a horse accepting your good intentions one minute, then letting you have it royally the next one. I led Shammy through a gate to feast on soft new grass, and when I went behind her to close it, she nailed me. A few inches to the left and it could have been quite serious, still it laid me out. When I sort of got my senses back and picked myself up, there she was nibbling on the grass. I know, horses are skitterish and you are supposed to walk behind them a certain way yada yada yada..... I had ridden her about everyday at lunch and sometimes after work too, for a number of months, I thought we were friends. :whine: Maybe she was lonely out there in the big old field by herself, but I never got that vibe. She looked pretty content, working on the theory of relativity or something. Come to think of it though, she had become quite fat and out of shape, isn't that often a characteristic of loneliness? Poor ol' gal. Those leg reflexes are quick, no chance to see it coming.
 
I like horses. I would really like to get into hoers logging once I get more established and the biz can take care of itself (I hope). I have not personally had any bad experiences with horses aside from being bit a few times and stepped on by an old mare with a new born. She came up to me and sniffed my foot after to say she was sorry, she was a sweet old thing.
 
today? So far so good, a site visit to check out a tree vs driveay issue, a few comments by the peanut gallery on facebook about it, a couple errands run now home. Just potted up a couple tomatoes, lettuce and spinach as its supposed to be nice here for a few days, I got them out of their little starter pots they have been limping along in with this crap weather. Now its lunch then paperwork then pick up the boy from daycare in a few hours followed by making supper and more computer fiddling till the boy hits the rack and I can chill with his momma ;-)
 
Got rained out of our work today. Got a break in the rain about lunch time and went and picked up another cord of wood off the removal we did yesterday as well as cut down an old stump the new owner wanted done. Got it home and went back to do the final raking... HA! Pouring rain as soon as we hit 2000 foot elevation. So I ran some errands and came home. See if we can get out and work tomorrow. I also have a quick D & W to do close by so worst case, we can make some money in a quick break in the weather if we have to tomorrow :)
 
A fun day today. I was looking forward to doing a quick one hour job and taking the rest of the day off (my second job for today never confirmed or gave me an address). While folding up the boom I misjudged the lower boom position and banged it sideways into the headache rack. It broke a fitting on a hydraulic piston and sent out a spray of fluid all over the cab of the truck. Luckily it was the return line and I was able to get the boom stowed, but the truck was drenched in oil. I got the fitting off and the guy I was working with gave me a ride home where I dug another fitting out of my spare hydraulic parts box. I grabbed a bottle of dish detergent, a five gallon bucket and the wash brush as well. Went back, replaced the fitting, washed the truck and finished the job. Luckily I was set up on an unlandscaped area which was mostly dirt so no turf damage from the oil.

Spent the afternoon working on the truck, fixed another hydraulic leak while I was at it. Oil keeps dripping out of all the crevices though, hopefully it finishes dripping by tomorrow so I can put the new wiper blades on. Oil absolutely destroys windshield wiper blades.
 
That stinks brother. It ended better then it could have. The oil line into the back of the oil pressure gauge on the chipper blew off last week. The chipper was at full throttle and no one was close by at the time. I notice a cloud of smoke coming out of the engine compartment and did a frantic 600MPH dash to get to it and shut the chipper down. It dumped oil all down the driveway. The driveway is like brand new and runs downhill so the oil travelled fast. The best part is, it was a neighbors driveway we were using to access the customers tree. We shoveled wood chips all over it to sop it up. Then used Wipe All handwipes to scrub at the driveway to get it clean. Then a thunderstorm rolled in and downpoured. The driveway looked dandy after the 10 minute storm passed. Hell, I even got the go ahead to head wood the driveway owners humongous white oak along the lake! I was shitting my pants for a few minutes though while scrubbing frantically at the driveway.
 
That sucks Brian. I had an oil spray yesterday messing with the log splitter. Blew out a seal when I switched functions on the mini to try something. WHOA big mess.

Today was wet, very wet. Called in to see if we were working this morning and I made the decision to get some random shit done for myself. Brought some crap to the dump from the house, that didn't get demo'd when the dumpster was there. My bro stopped over and helped me remove the old bathtub, he alsIo delivered me and extra fence panel he had. I also worked on prepping the bathroom floor for the layers and tile install. I contacted one of the sawmills we use so I can drop off my Cedar logs to get milled, dried, and ship lapped so I can do the bathroom walls and mudroom possibly.
 
woodworkingboy said:
Maybe she was lonely out there in the big old field by herself, but I never got that vibe. She looked pretty content, working on the theory of relativity or something. Come to think of it though, she had become quite fat and out of shape, isn't that often a characteristic of loneliness? Poor ol' gal. Those leg reflexes are quick, no chance to see it coming.
Click to expand...

No doubt about it man a horse by itself is lonely, how does it get its REM sleep? The 15 minutes or so a day it needs. One horse always stands guard while the others take their lie down sleep.

Something must have happened that day to cause that kick Jay, a horse that you have a relationship won't just boot you into outer space for no reason. Atleast from what I've seen.
 
On a different note I had a customer who's job is scheduled for Thursday call and tell me that he wasn't sure of my plan of falling his giant willow as he now is thinking twice about a bit of turf damage on his back field/lawn. Also he figures I might hit his boat? What I felt like saying and what I actually said are two entirely different things. I pointed out that the reason people call me to do their trees is because more often than not something can possibly be damaged. As for the turf? No problemo, but zero turf damage is going to come with a price tag about 2 to 3 times what we discussed.
 
Just one more bit about horses before riding into the sunset, I believe that you are correct, Justin, about something happening that day to spook the horse, and my guess was that it was the sound of the gate being closed, a creaky thing. Horses seem very sensitive to sounds, and suddenly the noise took precedent over her buddy behind her, which she likely had completely forgotten about in a span of a milli-second. Their attention spans seem pretty limited, more likely to go off on what they detect is happening, over what had been.
 
squisher said:
On a different note I had a customer who's job is scheduled for Thursday call and tell me that he wasn't sure of my plan of falling his giant willow as he now is thinking twice about a bit of turf damage on his back field/lawn. Also he figures I might hit his boat? What I felt like saying and what I actually said are two entirely different things. I pointed out that the reason people call me to do their trees is because more often than not something can possibly be damaged. As for the turf? No problemo, but zero turf damage is going to come with a price tag about 2 to 3 times what we discussed.
Click to expand...

I get irritated quickly when folks question my knowledge of my trade. I get downright rude when folks insist "it was to be done with a bucket truck, my tree is too big to be climbed". I had a fella 2 or 3 years ago come out and take pictures before we dumped a spar because "it's going to hit my house, you are crazy. You are misjudging the size and Im going to be without a home as a result". Below is the spar I mention. The pic is taken standing at the back of the house. The house couldnt be hit if my life depended on doing so.
31175_392306082286_785407286_3761063_1700547_n.jpg
 
If you install large springs in the face cut you might....

Sis in law lost her baby this am, nearly full term with downs syndrome:( Wife left to go be with her. Me, the munchkins and a few baby sitters going it alone for a few days
 
Wow, I keep taking peoples posts tonight and coming back with a story of my own. What a douche.

Willie, my thoughts are with your wife and her sister.
 
Skwerl said:
A fun day today. I was looking forward to doing a quick one hour job and taking the rest of the day off (my second job for today never confirmed or gave me an address). While folding up the boom I misjudged the lower boom position and banged it sideways into the headache rack. It broke a fitting on a hydraulic piston and sent out a spray of fluid all over the cab of the truck. Luckily it was the return line and I was able to get the boom stowed, but the truck was drenched in oil. I got the fitting off and the guy I was working with gave me a ride home where I dug another fitting out of my spare hydraulic parts box. I grabbed a bottle of dish detergent, a five gallon bucket and the wash brush as well. Went back, replaced the fitting, washed the truck and finished the job. Luckily I was set up on an unlandscaped area which was mostly dirt so no turf damage from the oil.

Spent the afternoon working on the truck, fixed another hydraulic leak while I was at it. Oil keeps dripping out of all the crevices though, hopefully it finishes dripping by tomorrow so I can put the new wiper blades on. Oil absolutely destroys windshield wiper blades.
Click to expand...
Ah the joys of hydraulic fluid and hoses.
 
Damn Willie :( Sorry for your loss :(

I had one of my customers have me take a look at an oak "over the house" after I finished some work for them. She tried to describe the tree to me over the phone. All I could think about on the way up to the house after we finished work down by the creek was "what oak could it be? I don't remember an oak over the house "
Pull up to the house and all I can figure is some other tree she has planted in the front and most of those are maples. But they are not over the house. She shows me out of her back sliding glass door this little blue oak up on a hill above her house. If the poor young oak (I don't think it was more than 20 foot high) even fell over towards the house, I don't think the crown would be closer that 60 - 80 feet away :lol:
Needless to say I convinced her to keep the tree and I will give it a nice dead wooding next year :lol:
Customer perspectives are often a dilemma that arises from their own inner confusion from an indecisive mind.
Nice that we can guide them from time to time those that need the guidance :lol:

Just got a call from another customer... Lightening just struck her tree last night and is probably going to be a fire hazard being right next to the power pole. Guess I better go get right on that :D
 
sotc said:
If you install large springs in the face cut you might....

Sis in law lost her baby this am, nearly full term with downs syndrome:( Wife left to go be with her. Me, the munchkins and a few baby sitters going it alone for a few days
Click to expand...
Doood that sucks I am sorry!
 
Rajan, it could have been a lot worse. I keep getting off lucky on all my screwups lately.

Willie, sorry to hear about your wife's sister. :(
 
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