How'd it go today?

I'm about 20 miles south of the Susquehanna, so not terribly far away. I could give you a hand on weekends. At this point I'm still tied in to my real job. I'm kind of hanging my retirement on my boss' retirement, but he comes from a long lived family, and is hyper as a cracked out squirrel :^D He'd be screwed if I left, and I have to do something, so I'm sticking around for the time being. My monetary needs aren't great, but at this point they're >0, so I don't have the luxury of dropping everything. I'm close though. With a Spartan lifestyle, I could survive with 0 income, but life would be less fun.

Anyway, all of which is to say my weekdays are generally taken up, but if you wanted a hand on weekends, I could give you a hand(*but probably not this weekend). You have to keep in mind I'm not a tree guy. I'm a firewood hack that's only seriously wielded a saw since 2018. Internet and book taught, with no in-person instruction. I can certainly buck up logs, and drag brush, and if you tell me what you want, I can run a rope belay or something like that. IOW, a new groundie. I can do some spur climbing and stuff, but you wouldn't want me where there's a risk of destroying something. I haven't had anything go out of control yet, but it wouldn't be prudent at this point :^D

*My back's sore this weekend. Spent a good bit of the week sitting on my ass in the office(rain), and it's got my back tweaked. Seems like I need to keep moving, and keep things mixed up. If I do any one thing(sit, stand in one place, whatever) it gets my back angry. Gotta move, bend, and stretch to keep things working well.
 
cory said:
Great situation you've got going with the tree work as you choose!

Yeah the energy thing is exactly where I'm at. I was low energy for about 5 days, except at work. Then yesterday it came back and I got mad stuff done from 5 am to 8pm, go figure. Re fighting sugar, its quite simple actually- don't buy any Cliff Bars :lol:

I hear ya on the massive To Do list! I tell my wife, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone ;)
Click to expand...

I always say “I have loads of things I’m not going to do before I don’t do that”
 
cory said:
Great situation you've got going with the tree work as you choose!

Yeah the energy thing is exactly where I'm at. I was low energy for about 5 days, except at work. Then yesterday it came back and I got mad stuff done from 5 am to 8pm, go figure. Re fighting sugar, its quite simple actually- don't buy any Cliff Bars :lol:

I hear ya on the massive To Do list! I tell my wife, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone ;)
Click to expand...

My GF started making gluten-free, no bake bars. Yum.

Pat/ Pigwot shared a GF bar recipe after Zipfest, way back in the day.
 
Here it is:

Breakfast Bars, Gluten-Free (GF)

1 large package Gluten Free marshmallows
¼ cup butter
6 cups GF cereal (I use either puffed basmati rice or "Boondi" a chickpea flour cereal)
½ teaspoon McCormick's GF vanilla (optional)
¾ cup creamy almond or peanut butter
1 cup chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast 'or' ground-up Pumpkin Seeds for protein
1/2 cup of crushed walnuts & almonds
1/2 cup minced, dried fruit (I use papaya, pineapple, mango, craisins and/or raisins)
*optionally I add cracked flax, sesame seeds, and other fun stuff

Melt marshmallows and butter (double boiler or a smaller pan in a larger pan of water helps prevent burning).
Add instant breakfast or ground pumpkin seeds and almond or peanut butter.
Stir in cereal, nuts, dried fruits, and vanilla. Press into 9” x 13” pan.
Let cool. Slice and individually wrap in saran wrap.


________________________________________
Nick Araya liked them a lot back when I'd make them and share them on rec climbs, and he said with the seeds and all I should market them as "Chick Bars".
(Like chicken feed in a bar? Or maybe 'cause they are so good they attract "Chicks"?)
I looked into it, though I would have named them "Nou Bars" (Pronounced either 'new' or 'now'; the ads would be "Nou: A New Bar For Now!!) and the licensing and production kitchen were an issue, and if someone else produced them it wouldn't make much income.
 
John,
You really aren't that far if you're near the Susquehanna River. When things settle down with the corona stuff we should get together for a rec climb in several awesome trees; no work pressure.Do you mean you've just spur climbed? If so, then it's time to try everything else: Hitchhiker, Rope Wrench, RopeRunner, Akimbo, etcetera. Rope walker systems, too. We haven't had an East Coast GGTg (Geezer Get-Together)... we could organize one.
 
Sounds fun! I've done a little rope climbing. Drt for some easy lower branch removals on the farm at work, but I don't have much confidence in it. You could show me a picture of a removal, give a description, and I could likely tell you if I thought it was within my ability for spurring. For rope work, I'd have to see the specific tree in-person, and I'd guarantee nothing til it was done.

I got into this cause I had a spruce that needed to come down, and taking it from the bottom would have disturbed trees I didn't want disturbed. It wouldn't have been the end the world, but my preference was no touch. I had also been reading a ton on various forestry sites learning about the biggish saw I was using to take apart a big fallen oak. That got me acquainted with climbing, and it looked like a really cool thing to do. Got all the stuff for spur climbing, figured I had 90% of what I needed for rope work, so I bought some rope ends and some hitch cord to try rope climbing.

It's all kinda piecemeal, and has been done with little planning. There'll be something I want to do, and I try to figure out what it'll take to make it happen. My trickiest project will probably be this fall when I have a locust that should come down. I'm getting cold feet already. I love that tree, and it was blooming this week. I almost want to push it farther into the future, but it probably should come down, if for no other reason than to leave room for the white oak replacement the squirrels left for me.
 
Let me know when this fall and I’ll bring a truckload of gear and the mentoring. We’ll make a full-fledged arborist out of you!

I miss organizing fun climbs/work climbs - a few years back I organized a gang of climbers to clear the dead wood out of the Maryland State Champion White Oak. It was a fun day.

We should coordinate volunteering at Saluting Branches this September. I’ve been going up to the middle of New Jersey the past few years. We could pick a site in MD.
 
Richard boy and I got a load of seed wheat over to wife.

Dad is rolling too.

I just act as fixer.


So.....we decide to do some chores while we wait for a disaster to need fixed.

Then lunch of chilli dogs.


Throw some laundry in and try to get caught up on dishes too.

Sewer backs up into the house of course.

Call septic service. No answer.

Wife calls different number....they will see what they can do.

Decided we should mow the lawn while we wait....keep snakes away and mow around septic clean out.


Ruin tire on lawn mower.


Hmmmm.......sorta out of ideas now.


Apparently its Saturday too.....thats why the customer service people at Camp Chef are never at work when I call.


Is it really Saturday?
 
Well after a “great week” of estimitating, I finally got to climb. Started off at the shop finishing up estimates, went to my side work and changed the fluids and filters on the chipper. Also fixed the differential lock on the little stump grinder. Then we hit a job in the afternoon. I decided to try out the akimbo and did two removals and several other nit pick trees. I’m liking it so far but it definitely needs broke in. Came home and mowed two acres of hay, I mean lawn. After that I figured out that someone broke the key off in my mini. Let me tell anyone that has never dealt with this, it really can make you swear aloud. A few beers later it’s fixed. After my week and reading about others’ week on here I’m afraid to take a shower. The way things are going when I turn the water on, the head will instantly clog, build pressure quickly, and blow off; breaking my nose or hitting me square in the pecker. I might just go sleep on the picnic table. Safer for everyone
 
I have been using the HH and Akimbo SRT, side by side, this week...doing pressure washing on the monkey slide...using 2 TIPs for work positioning. I am still working to get the Akimbo dialed in. Might switch it back to my Poison Ivy...the HH seems to just work with whatever I stick it on so far....having to fuss with the Akimbo. Still in the learning curve here. I'll post some picts in SRT thread.
 
treebilly said:
What’s up with your camp chef? Please tell me nothing major. I own three of their stoves now
Click to expand...

I ordered a Flat Top Grill.

Its basically a griddle.

I was dropped and has a bunch of cracked welds and misaligned parts....plus some missing parts.


I guess it figures. Thats what I get for spending Trump Covid/Wuhan Bucks on an item made in China.
 
FireFighterZero said:
I ordered a Flat Top Grill.

Its basically a griddle.

I was dropped and has a bunch of cracked welds and misaligned parts....plus some missing parts.


I guess it figures. Thats what I get for spending Trump Covid/Wuhan Bucks on an item made in China.
Click to expand...
Ah. I was so happy with my flat top grill that I bought a second one for at the property I camp on. Both seem ok but I picked them up at a store not delivered. I got the 3 burner stove for Christmas this year. Still waiting on the griddle I ordered two months ago to go with it.
 
Those are good....I used them on initial setups. I have some different ropes that are not on the approved list and I have been fussing with them some. Also seems that wet rope makes a difference, too (pressure washing work).
 
Gary, i can only imagine the conversations that your neighbors are probably having looking out the window and there you are, swim trunks, climbing harness, and a pressure washer!!! :/::P:lol::lol::lol:😂😂🤣🤣🤣
 
No....they are pretty well broken in...but a couple I tried were finicky...one was Samson Velocity and XTC Fire. I have not used Velocity in a long time, hoped I could dedicate it to the Akimbo...but they are not playing well together yet.

The Fire is OK but still not as effortless as I had hoped. I need to fuss with them more.
 
The Akimbo, at least my early gofundme version, seems to be somewhat persnickety about working well with it's host rope. More so than some of the other newish SRT mechanical or mechanical/friction hitch products out there that I have climbed with.

Dial it in right...it's beyond the moon magnificent. But with some wear, some moisture, god's forbid some pitch...the Akimbo can be a prickly bitch :D.

This is not a slam. I love it. Just know it'll never be a set it and forget it sort of climbing rig.
 
Damn thing is spoiling me. And since I buy a different rope with every one getting ready to retire, I would have to play with it on each different one to go from tree to tree if I set ropes ahead of me. Therefore I will HH some of the rope, Akimbo others I can keep the settings on. Granted given no pitch or wet.
On easy days where I will be in one tree instead of 5-6, dial it in and dream walk/climb the day away. No one tool kids.
 
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