Man o man did we bang out some work today. The new climber is going to put me under the gun to produce enough work to keep him rolling. We went to a job yesterday and he just jumped out and put his climbing gear on. i asked if he wanted to look at the tree first and then gear up. He just shrugged and said "Nah, I'm taking it down either way. Why make a trip back to the truck?" He really knows how to smoke a tree. He has a natural climber. What i mean by that is he move so comfortably through a tree that it just appears effortless to him. he has some killer balance. i studied him awhile in the tree today and work positioning just comes to him with no effort. He doesnt constantly fight to find a sweet spot and constantly fidget with his rope and lanyard to get comfortable. Just sort of bopping along in the tree at ease and comfortable. Todays work was bid as a day and a quarter job. With me and groudie on the ground, mini skid, and new climber in the tree, we were unhooking the chipper at the yard and punching out at 2 this afternoon. Im going to adjust my bids. Im not going to cut my own throat, but Im going to be a little more competitive. I want to start scarfing up work in more volume.
New climber even told me, "Dont feel like you need to be at the job. Im used to getting handed work orders in the morning and rolling back into the yard at the end of the day. if you need to be out bidding work, I dont need you around. Just give me a good guy or two and I'll keep everything moving". I know his last boss and he ran the show for that company for the last 15 years. He is costing me more then I ever paid anyone, but Im seeing my gross and net jump already. Its not that he can climb much better then me, but more the fact that I can be doing more for the business when im able to break away from the tree. I can be running to dump chips while brush still gets dragged or mini'd. I can go and look at work for 2 neighbors while the tree is still coming down. More just gets done since he started when Im not glued to the tree. I hope, and I mean hope, we can make this last for some time. This is a game changer. Plus with my injured back, I can focus on getting that taken care of without beating myself harder in the tree and struggling through the pain. I WILL be back in the gaffs. But for now, its best I dont.
then I put my helmet on the ground while taking break and ants swarming it...cant catch a break lol 
