How'd it go today?

Surely there must be a good Alaska story, or two.

Jeez I could go on all night with them. From bullet holes in the barge, black eyes, helicopter loaded with booze, pilot drinking his own piss...and I did not spend too much time in camps. I hated em.
 
Was fun being around all the old mossbacks...even when they were drinking...just always felt like a caged up animal at camps...only reason to be there was to work. Good experience for me though, as the first time I went I was only a cocky 18 year old greenhorn timber faller. Just spent enough time at em to realize I did not want to go back!
 
Funny, I live by drinking gallons of whiskey! I wish I was joking! I see a new shrink and they swear I'm an alcoholic because of the volume I drink!
I had a buddy put it into perspective for me once, known this guy for years. "Andy, an alcoholic is a person that wants to quit drinking but can't, you have no desire to quit!"
I don't enjoy "drunk" anymore, been there done that and I assure you the things I've done would make a sane man crazy! BUT, I've developed such a tolerance that it now takes enough to get me comfortable it would pretty much kill the average person! I'm not saying it's right, and I'm not justifying what I do, but at the end of the day it keeps me tolerable and alive!
 
Well crap. I was all set to go trim and the bottom falls out, soaking everything. Oh well, I guess this day will really be a day off for me.
 
Raining here as well, again. So no work for me either. Washed my truck yesterday so it's my fault, it never fails.

Made some beer and cleaned the house a bit, I hate housework.:(
 
Raining here too. Oh well, I needed another day off! :lol: Let it rain! I was feeling the hunting bug a bit yesterday, so I went down in the bottom and did a little bush-hogging before the rain (that never came). They were giving 80% but it didn't show until last night, aside from a little shower around 8:00 AM. Ho-hum...just six months til deer season.

Got several jobs I need to look at....might do that if it slacks after while.
 
Wish we'd get some rain. We're way behind - everything's drying up - fire warnings :cry:
 
I have got a male cardinal that is driving me nuts still .That stupid SOB keeps dive bombing and pecking at his reflection in the windows .If I wasn't such a kind soul I'd get out the 22 and bring that nonsense to an end .Maybe he'll find a mate and get on with other things before too long .'Tis the time for bird procreation not driving Al nuts .
Maybe a cat would deter him but then I'd have to deal with a damned cat then .Probabley a dumb one at that that can scale a tree then have no idea how to descend same .

In other news in a short I'm going to take Tom to Indiana to retrieve his bucket truck so he can get on with the business of tree work . Besides I'll need that truck myself soon .
 
I'm home early to work on my chipper. My auto-feed is acting up as in only working sporadically. I'm guessing just starting with making sure all the connections are clean and tight. Burned me some belts earlier today when I stuffed a big mouthful into it with the mini and it damn near stalled out before I got to the controls. I hope it's something I get fingered out soon, auto-feed is a nescessity when feeding with a machine.
 
Removed some foundation shrubs today, and raised some spruces.

Got home to unhook the chipper to dump, the threads in the jack stripped out. The shaft is fine, but the nut stripped, the shaft is some special thread crap, according to the nutty company. So I bought a new shaft, some nuts, and some welding. Almost done, will finished tomorrow after I climb for someone. PITA. I'm wanting to put an electric jack on, really.
 
Did make it to Ft Wayne Indiana and back retrieving Toms truck. Alignment and recertification on the booms .I learned some interesting things .

The head mechanic ,Larry either once worked for Aerial lift of Conn . or was one of the few factory certified techs .With the demise of the company he pretty much backed up what was said about the situation some time ago on this forum concerning the down fall of the company.

In travels though we passed the massive wind turbines in Van Wert county Ohio .I had no idea there were so many .All told 210 so far and more comming at 2 million dollars a pop .Good heavens they weigh over 400 tons a piece ,half mile apart .Blades are 150 or so feet long ,huge .
 
Removed some foundation shrubs today, and raised some spruces.

Got home to unhook the chipper to dump, the threads in the jack stripped out. The shaft is fine, but the nut stripped, the shaft is some special thread crap, according to the nutty company. So I bought a new shaft, some nuts, and some welding. Almost done, will finished tomorrow after I climb for someone. PITA. I'm wanting to put an electric jack on, really.
Why not convert to a hydro jack. Little bit more welding and bracing and it should be good.
 
Busy day here. Wind thrown live oak in a pond. I trunk walked (?) (sort of like a limb walk :lol: ) out with the 200T lashed to me in case I boo boo'd and my saddle so I could tie off on some limbs. Yarded it all out a section at a time with my retired 1/2" rigging line I just replaced and the pick up. Dang thing just keeps making money.
Then while Rob finished butchering the tree on dry land and burned the slash, I set up a prune in a little blue oak over a pond I have worked on in the past. It has been a work in progress over the last couple years as it really needed a lot taken out. So we did it in two stages. Tossed all the slash up on shore and Rob still ended up fishing some out. Oh well. Worked that one all SRT as I would have had about 4 redirects since no high central TIP. HOs were quite interested in how I went in one side of the tree and then just rappelled out the other on the other shore line :lol:
Then a lift on a willow next to another pond.
I was referred to a family member up the street that had some trees down. Since we had more day left, I drove up there to check it out and she was not home. I then had an estimate, again right up the street from there and a tool drop off in the same neighbor hood. We went there and checked out a wind thrown gray pine hung in an oak. Asked the HO if they wanted me to get it done today and they said yes if I took credit card. Ended up getting a check, but hey... Walked it down out of the oak. Used a section of trunk that I left still attached to the root ball (slightly :D ) to keep the fire from losing stuff down hill and got it done. Then used the pole saw and throw line to get the hangers out of the oak. Took check and ran after we had the fire safe. Picked up a check in town for that locust and cedar removal and came home to some more bank in the mail :D
Good day !
Tomorrow slash and burn in the fire zone near home.
 
We had a nice day today. Had to take down 2 BIG ash trees just in the woodline along a yard. One tree was uprooted and laying into the other which was slightly uprooted and had a strong lean also. I set the first tree up with an open face and and complete backcut. It couldn't go anywhere as it was laying into tree number two. Face cut tree number two, bore cut it, and tripped it. Both of slipped right between 2 big oaks, as intended, and laid down nice, one on top of the other. Quickly stepped clear of being in the center of the dominos, and watched the show. Picture perfect. Great truck and chipper access along the wood line, wood stayed in the woods. It was an awesome teaching lesson for my groundman who is finding that tree work might just be his passion. I rarely borecut trees, and was show to show the virtues of the method.

Tim is climbing small trees very often now. I haven't introduced him to climbing on gaffs yet. I want him to learn spikeless first and learn to work on positioning himself for comfort the hard way. I feel that when he does get on gaffs, he will have learned a great deal about working comfortably off of his life line and lanyard and the gaffs will be an aid. Around here, spikeless pruning is rare. I feel I'm doing him justice by building his spikeless climbing skills. He was stand apart from the others in the area. All climbers can work on gaffs, not all climbers can work without them.
 
Excellent strategy on the spikeless pruning, Chris. Just don't wait too long before getting him on spikes. Most climbers I know who learned spikeless climbing first have never gotten comfortable or efficient on spikes.
 
I'll stick him on gaffs soon. I need to pick up new gaff pads. He will use mine, and while my current pads font phase me, they are certainly worn and would sour him.

I learned spikeless before anything. Too many guys I know flounder in trees without their spikes on. Tim can be a better climber then that. He is incredibly comfortable in the tree and has gathered more knowledge staring up at me over the years then I realized. His second time in the tree I watched him roll up a monkeys fist and whip that son of a bitch up to the next crotch, then overhand roll some loops up to drop his monkey fist down to where he could reach it. I almost fainted!
 
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