How'd it go today?

No paper wasps.

Rocked out yesterday and today, aside from the paper wasps.

A bunch of chipping, hopefully largely machine-fed chipping. Gotta bunch down and staged today, after mobilizing.

Spread the mulch at my house that my guy chipped this morning from a trailered job yesterday at the Farmers' Market.

Canopy raise a spruce at my house yesterday after a solid day.

Hot again, but ya know...;)

Tomorrow a 42" Grand fir removal, thankfully not even 4 feet tall (I'm trying to get D to learn NOT! Jokes, like Borat).
Controlled Speedline action, uphill from the base of the tree to the chipper area!

It was county Fair week last week...
IMG_20180805_160628495.jpg
 
Cool pic. I got a wrist bracelet tonight of the less fun kind. ER visit to remove a couple 3-4" slivers in my upper arm/armpit. Sucky. Happened at work, the first aid guy jammed out on pulling them and I couldn't even really see them. He said they'd freeze me and cut them out and then stitch me up at the hospital. Had me all freaked out, left work a couple hours early and drove myself there in relative discomfort. Waited, waited some more got a tetanus shot and waited some more. Finally when the doc looked at them he says, you want me to just pull them? Hell yes! No freezing no cutting no stitches he just yanked those suckers out fast and hard. Instant relief. Still have to get a ultrasound tomorrow to make sure there's no wood left inside. But I'm pretty confident there isn't. Frigging slivers are a very real hazard of handling veneer.
 
We did a big super dead elm, hours of raking, every limb we rigged lost half of itself scattered throughout the yard.
 
Wouldn't it be nice to have a great big white tarp to spread under a dead tree to catch all those bits.

Have you tried a power broom with the rubber flapwheel?
 
I'm going to order one, but first need to buy a new big saw this weekend. My ms660 is in pieces, and I've got a tree to buck to 16" that is a bit much for a 461.

$400 attachment for the Stihl KombiSystem.

Saves shoulder wear and tear, I'm thinking, hoping.
 
Just got confirmation on what should be a good paying job. Largest bid I've ever submitted, with a lot of easy climbing and falling, plus a good sized one that's going to take some finesse. All dead and dying. I think the power broom will pay off.


Got a guy to try today, 5 years experience. My FT guy will be back in school in 6 weeks or so.

Hired a young guy from Chicago who's moving here in a month with experience with one company for 5 years. He's used to running a Prentice loader grapple truck, skidsteers, chippers, saws, a bit in the bucket...GETTING $13/HOUR!
I told him I'd have to pay him more.
He seemed a little confused.
Then I clarified that I don't want to hire anyone who's only worth $13/ hour to me or themself.
Somehow the minimum wage is still $8.25 in IL, $11 in City of Chicago, set to rise to $13 next year.
Seattle is $15/ hour minimum wage, and the rest of WA is something like $12. I never want minimum wage workers, so I don't even know.

Cost of living index is based off NYC at 100. Olympia is something like 80, City of Chicago is 88. Suburban Chicago probably closer to 80.

Hamilton, Bermuda is 145!!
 
Pretty sucky to employ someone at a struggle/starving wage. I always paid way more than minimum a decent wage I felt atleast. Something someone could live a life off of.
 
I've worked my guy up in pay and he's making about double what the last scumbag paid him. Finally after 6-8 months he's beginning to get comfortable and accustomed to making a living wage.
 
New guy did well. We took our time in the heat, and it's Friday.

We were referred by their neighbor.

Got finished on everything but the big tree removal, which we started. This is before. Got up high enough to Speedline into the yard. It's down the hill part way. 3 tops. 42" dbh.

There is a fence with concreted posts, and a septic field and tank. They want the mulch for the cedar trees, so we're chipping into that trailer, which holds 5 yards. I should be able to squeeze the trailer through the posts with an inch to spare per side, therefore now chip truck. Using plywood over the lawn and drain field. Looking forward to some mats with grip on each side, there is a hill to deal with at the same time.

IMG_20180810_130153272_HDR.jpg


My house... After dinner project from a couple days ago.
IMG_20180729_103434073_HDR.jpg IMG_20180810_182915420.jpg



What is a husky 576xp capable of pulling in softwood?
 
SeanKroll said:
What is a husky 576xp capable of pulling in softwood?
Click to expand...
We don't have anything in the 500 series yet, but Husq says 20", 24", or 28" bar. Our (nearly comparable) 372XP runs a 24" bar comfortably and well -- wouldn't really want to take it to the 28" max -- the added 4" doesn't gain much and taxes the engine to the limit. No reason when we have the higher displacement & HP 395XP with a 36" bar standing by...

Quite the all nighter last night -- doing a halfway trip to Colorado (with many situations!) to pick up our groundman after a 2 month stint in Boulder. 5 hours each way! Left at 10:30 last night, back after noon today, so I missed out on the fallen tree removal off the roof the crew did today with the grapple.
 
Btw, I tried Pedialight in the hot weather, I was quite impressed with the results. Definitely a good idea.
 
MasterBlaster said:
Damn Justin that's a lotta words just to delete!
Click to expand...

Just whining about working with a dog f-cker, figured The House didn't really need to hear about it.

If anyone's curious just had my first night working with a lazy ass kid and I gave him a piece of my mind on his performance. Surprisingly though not in my usual fashion, I was very cordial about it. I enjoy schooling people in work ethic, but it's less fun if they aren't even trying at all.
 
He got the point. 23 years my junior , more experience(everyone there has more experience than me lol) at the job and I do literally twice the work of him all night long? Supervisor came and gave him a pep talk at one point. That worked to inspire him to move faster than a sloth every time he noticed the supervisor around. Didn't do much of anything for all the rest of the time.

Sad really 20 year old boy. I'd have killed myself at his age to never have let a old fart like me ever snag a single extra sheet of veneer, let alone sit back and idle while someone else is killing it. That fellow has a dim future ahead of himself unless he takes some of my talk to heart. Maybe he will, and maybe I did him a huge favour last night.
 
You cared enough to give him your time and consideration...very valuable but he probably does not realize that yet. Maybe he will...sometimes people get it.
 
Who knows? I waited until about ten minutes before the end of shift and then I pushed a extra sheet towards him, and when he looked at me dumbfounded I explained my take on his lack of performance. He did really pick it up for the last ten minutes. I don't mind doing the lions share of the work, I kind of expect to honestly. As I'd explained in my diatribe I deleted i have yet to work in this position(most all other jobs are solo) with my equal but atleast all the other guys have tried. The other job I do there feeding the dryer the guy that oversees all the dryers showed me the numbers and straight out told me I do what it takes others a shift and a half to do, said he's never seen or can't recall ever seeing numbers like that before and he's a 25+year guy. I'm proud to work hard, I love it. Makes my body and mind feel good.

If this kid sandbags me again I'm considering just doing half the sheets and letting his side become what it will. As a union shop I'd be well within my 'rights' to do that. It's just not in my nature though.

It's funny to me because I know at times that kid was chuckling to himself thinking, 'what a twat'. But at the same time I was busting ass, pushing right through any discomfort (the slivers I had pulled yesterday, well sliver is a understatement if I was a vampire I'd have been fooked) and chuckling to myself at how soft and weak he was.
 
I had just worked the three days prior with a 19year old kid who was very nearly my equal stacking the veneer. It was a blast to work with him, strong effort by both of us and respect going both ways. He's a newer kid too as everyone in this position is but I'm the very newest guy in the whole plant. He played three years junior hockey here, which is the ticket to the big leagues but never got past that so was now working at the mill. Could be why I took the slivers, working my ass off to not get schooled by a young buck. At some point my aging ass is going to have to get smart and ease up, but that point doesn't seem to be here yet.

Just pointing out I'm not out of my mind or nothing. It's fun to work hard and competitively. There's only so much veneer gonna spit out of the end of that machine and when two guys are on the ball it's a fun healthy workout but pretty cake job.
 
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