How'd it go today?

I think Nick is gonna fit in just fine around here. He already has the proper amount of smartass. :lol:

Probably my best job of the year today. Big laurel oak removal, front yard, no obstacles except a water meter, excellent access, 80' tall, codominant trunk and 5' dbh. I had my bucket and dump trailer, my chipper guy with his favorite groundman, and my stump guy with his articulating loader. 2 loads of wood, 1.5 loads of chips (a neighbor stopped by and wanted the chips, 1/2 mile away) and everybody finished early and made good money. And I got a $100 tip.
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If I could do one like that every week I'd be driving a brand spanking new bucket truck in 12 months.
 
I finished planting my seedlings for transplanting to the garden when the time comes .Got about half of 3.5-4 cords of ash split and stacked .

Danged male cardinal,odd bird .Sees his shadow in the picture window and is driving me nuts pecking at it .The females do the same thing like they are nuts or something .

Seems the yearling birds do that for some reason and when they get older they cease that nonsense .There he sits looking through the window at me chirping .Go figure ????

Another odd thing these dumb birds build nests inside of viney things often only two feet off the ground .The 'coons get about half the eggs and chicks .Handsome bird but rather stupid .
 
This afternoon I had to go trim about 15 palms at an medical plaza that is packed during the week. I was pissed at all the hydraulic oil that sprayed all over my truck yesterday when the loader sprung a leak in his grapple. But I made the best of it and stopped at 'Baywash', the bikini car wash while on my way home. Had a couple young pretty things wash the truck for me and they did a wonderful job. I'm even considering bringing the Mustang down there and letting them wash that for me as well.
 
Dennis, I can see that you are not a 'just the facts' man, you need the entire picture. It is understandable, but I don't think you'd make a very efficient detective.
 
Yeah that's what we need. If you don't get pics of the mustang in process. I will come downthere and flatten all your tires, even the spare!!!
 
I stacked stone today. I often help a buddy with his sidework, stone masonry. Not for the money, but for the experience. Stone masonry is a dying trade/skill. I can't say I love it like tree work, but I enjoy the challenge of properly building free standing dry stone walls. It's like a puzzle, where no pieces are perfect, so the challenge lies in finding what works.
 
I have built a few patios with bricks. I find stone work pretty cool, looking at the finished work is quite rewarding. I have some gardener friends that are masters at using natural stones, they really take their time to do the fitting, with beautiful results. A tradition for it.
 

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Guy I worked with on trail crew was a hell of a stone mason. The work he showed me was quite impressive. A real talent as young as he is. He ran a trail crew all summer and had mason work lined up all winter.
 
Natural stone work is like putting together a jig saw puzzle .I built two patios so far from sandstone which came out very well .Those plus the two steps etc I did on the building addition .It's one of those things that just takes a lot of time at least for me to do . I'll get some pictures of it one of these days .

It helps to have a skidloader though unless you're strong as an ox because some of those slabs will go over 400 pounds .
 
I used to do stone work projects on a trail crew in Lake Tahoe. Very cool work. VERY hard on the body. Residential work would be less so, as you would have materials delivered rather than found and/ or made (we had to make backfill. Starts with the big hammer with the big rocks, as you got smaller chunks, you moved down to 4-5 pound hammers to make golf ball sized 'crush' to 'chink' in all the tiny spots as tight as possible.).

One retaining wall I speadheaded was on a steep cross-slope to support the 'pocket bulldozer' we were using to cut that one trail, to be finished by hand. The 14K Sweeco had to come down off of a boulder where it dropped 3' or so. The wall had to have the foundation dug in, then built up. It was around 15' wide and took several of use at least a full day to build.

I've been wanting to build some cool retaining walls at home, but we don't have the great granite to build with that made up the bulk of Lake Tahoe. We have basalt, which is crumbly and roundish, so most walls are less structured (aka more piled than stacked), until you get into machine sized rocks and selected, quarried stones. Something about that, and that its so much work to do by hand on top of tree work.

I hope to do some work around our bonfire pit this summer. We have had a request to have an Oly bonfire for a friend coming back to visit this summer. We are known amongst our friends to have bonfire parties where some people don't ever sleep, and to have the giant tree swing and...

Dahlia will have the best tree swing 'on the block'.
 
Ive been meaning to look into a trail building attachment for the mini. Last trail crew I worked on could have run in the new trail in a few hours with a mini.
 
Between fiddling on the internet and fooling around with other stuff I managed to get most of the 3 plus cords of ash split .Got about a face to go .Beer thirty came and I was tuckered out any way .Ahh not too bad for an old fart as old farts go .
 
Ive been meaning to look into a trail building attachment for the mini. Last trail crew I worked on could have run in the new trail in a few hours with a mini.

http://imba-rich.smugmug.com/Machines/SWECO-Trail-Dozer/272324_zd7nVM#!i=10780907&k=ZRkN

Here is basically the machine they used on our trail project, only older and maybe smaller. It was a USFS machine and operator. It was used on the War/ Warr trail between S. Lake Tahoe and Myers, CA, to go up to some old homestead. After using it, I am surprised they aren't used all the time in non-wilderness areas.
 
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