How'd it go today?

Yes, a bit too much. One of the guys that would normally be helping us was indisposed. :roll: Heavy rain predicted tomorrow, we had to get it done. Wrist hurts too. :cry:
 
Treework for me, today. Two live oak trims, then a "remove that big scary limb over my roof" job. People are so silly. The limb was perfectly fine and doing a great job of protecting the roof from the limbs above it. Now, those high limbs have a straight shot to the roof.
 
Thanks, Chris, the offer to work with you, I take that as a real compliment. Admittedly, more than a few pecker poles in the midst, but we were humping. Same crane and same guys working together for about eight years now, it's pretty much a science. Some bad wind gusts didn't help, you could hear them coming. Scary grabbing on to those poles when they are bending like heck. The tree pulling you one way and the tie to the crane hook another. Got to let go and just go flying sometimes, it freaks me out a bit.
 
Picked up the 2nd 5-gal bucket of primer yesterday. Painted until midnight. :( Ugh. 9-gal of primer for the walls and ceiling of a 848 sq ft house. Of course the newly applied texture was just thinned down joint compound so I'm sure it was thirsty.

This afternoon/evening will be a first for me. Picking up prisoners at the airport and busing them to the prison. 3-bus loads - it'll be a convoy. 8)

I expect they will be in belly chains and leg irons. The guards are riding along also.

I hope Nicolas Cage and his friends are not involved. :\:
 
Picked up the 2nd 5-gal bucket of primer yesterday. Painted until midnight. :( Ugh. 9-gal of primer for the walls and ceiling of a 848 sq ft house. Of course the newly applied texture was just thinned down joint compound so I'm sure it was thirsty.

This afternoon/evening will be a first for me. Picking up prisoners at the airport and busing them to the prison. 3-bus loads - it'll be a convoy. 8)

I expect they will be in belly chains and leg irons. The guards are riding along also.

I hope Nicolas Cage and his friends are not involved. :\:

Take quit a few beers to wash that taste out of your mouth :P
 
2nd rainy day in a row, here, though the sun's out now. Carl and I gave a bid on a job yesterday at a "mansion" that's on Mississippi's historical site list....http://www.wpnet.org/waverley_mansion.htm. Gonna be neat working there, I suspect. We're taking out 8 "trees of heaven" (Ailanthus altissima), and one pine. I've never laid eyes on one of these trees before that I know of. They're hanging over the little brick structure to the left of the mansion in the pic if you open the link. I'm looking forward to seeing it on a sunny day...it was pouring while we were there yesterday.
 
Could be, Burnham, but it's not a money-grab. A friend of mine referred them to me. He used to cut trees around houses and suchlike...climb up, hang a rope, pull it over, etc, but not aerial-monkeying. He told me they were out of his league. I called Carl to go with me and we pooled our sources to get the job. I'm hoping we get our foot in the door at least, as they have quite a few trees around the place.

If anyone wants to spend a few months scraping and painting, they're needing it painted...:P She said they had a bid of $32,500. She said they (the family), painted it in 1962 when they bought it. 185 gallons of oil-based paint. A few weeks later, it had absorbed so much that they put on another 100 gallons!
 
Thanks for the warning, Stig. We were curious about them, as neither of us has had experience with them. I was suspicious that they would be brittle, based on branch structure. I only have to climb out on about 4 limbs for rigging. The rest I think I can set with throwline/polesaw. By the way, what type tree would you compare them to, as far as strength/brittleness?
 
The only other tree where I've come across that brittleness in the branches is Eastern white pine pinus strobus

On ailanthus you can break a wrist sized branch with a kick.

I learned the hard way, I was standing on a branch and cutting the branch above it, when that one hit the one I was standing on, it snapped it clear off the tree, like breaking the stem of a wineglass.
I was tied in, so no big deal, but it surprised me for sure.

Not the most common tree around here, I've only done a handfull, but all have been like that.
 
Thanks again, I'll keep that in mind. I guess that disqualifies a high TIP for sure, then!

Do they have any hinging quality at all? We're looking at tip-tying a couple and lifting them back from over the building. Are they too brittle to try that?
 
I have not dealt with that species, but Stig's report echos what it's like to deal with western larch. The trunk wood is golden, and highly prized at the mills, but the branches are like glass.
 
I've never felled one, only pieced them out, so I don't know.

Must be somone here with more experience with them.

Our larch is the same, Burnham. Never trust a branch for a tie in, unless it is as thick as your leg.

Logging them in hard frost is fun, when they hit the ground, all the branches disintegrate, no limbing to do at all:D
 
Brittlest tree I know of.

I wouldn't trust hinging... maybe tieing the but end. The stuff snaps loose easily. Had a crew member who broke one when he was tied in at 5" dia. Trunk broke under his TIP. Luckily he just had the wind knocked out of him.
 
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