How'd it go today?

[lxskllr]

I have an oak I need to trim also, and that'll be a good rope practice tree. I'm starting with the locust because that's the one the insurance company was really bitching about, so I wanted to get it out of the way. I wouldn't have used spurs today, but I didn't like the limb my rope was on, so the spurs were to get my rope repositioned. I trusted it enough to use it as a backup to my flipline, and hold a bit of weight at the stem, but I don't trust it to get me far away from the trunk. I wanted the rope nice and snug in the crotch. It doesn't show it really great, but this is crotch I used...



It's kind of crusty.

This is all kind of bonus material. The spurs were to take down my first spruce, and the ropes were an addon to that. Honestly, I'm not sure I've got what it takes to do treework, but I'm gonna keep at it. Just have to overcome myself.

 

[pantheraba]

Good stuff, lxskllr...hang in there. Re: leaving rope in tree...tie your throw line to the end of the rope and leave the throw line in the tree overnight.

MANY times I have left throw lines in trees overnight so I could start back the next day...or next week...where a high TIP had been hard to get. I did a lot of pressure washing over the last 2 weeks on a Monkey Slide at my son's house...used 2 tie-ins, one from each side while working on a ladder from 8' to 30' off the ground. I probably worked 4-5 different days on it, HH2 on one line and Akimbo on another. Each end of day I would let a throw line take the place of my lifeline. Next day the line is there to take the lifeline back up.

 

[treebilly]

That would be my advise as well. Critters like to chew on things.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Took a beef "Cinnamon" down to the butcher today.


Richard Boy and Young Daniel came along.


They didn't like the very first part.....but they did pretty well on the rest.

We helped get ole Cinnamon down to quarters.

 

[lxskllr]

Critters like to chew on things.

Doh! I didn't even consider that aspect, and there's always treerats in those locusts. Maybe I'll pull it down tomorrow before work, and leave a throwline in it's place.

 

[lxskllr]

Do you and family do much butchering Jim?

 

[Jonny]

I’d probably be a vegetarian if I had to raise beef, lamb or pork and butcher it myself.
Fish and fowl I could do but they’re practically vegetables anyways.

 

[Steve Mack]

Busted knuckles, burnt skin, grit in eyes, and greasy grime under our fingernails and ground into our skin of course is the price for those wins.

Had my share of that stuff. Changed motors on bikes, cars, trucks, chippers and grinders and repaired & serviced everything for years. Sort of lost now though when I open a car bonnet, about all I recognize is the battery.

So I got my shackle pins and bushes done, turned out only $760. So I'm legal again for another 12 months.

And it saved me from the things in the above quote.

 

[Mick!]

My articulated loader being taken away for a complicated repair to the hydraulic tank.
Be gone for a few weeks.

 

[Mick!]

It’s a real annoyance, basically in welding the tanking inside the two chassis sides they have over heated the weld or something (maybe @Tree09 can throw some light on it) leaving a microscopic hole in an impossible hidden locale.
The leak is slow but consistent, on a 50k machine not acceptable.

The hardest part has been convincing them that I’m not making it up, they’ve sent two guys who have concurred with my diagnosis, but getting them moving has been a struggle.
The Covid 19 lockdown has been one delaying tactic (Frankie never foresaw that did he!) then general procrastination till they finally agreed to take it to the other side of France for repair.
No loaner either, I was presented with a choice, we take it now and fix it or you wait till some unspecified time in the future.
It does coincide with a really dead period so I went along with it.

 

[stig]

Always bad not to h ave a machine you are used to having.

Good that you finally got them to step up.

 

[Tree09]

No idea without seeing it, could be anything from a poor weld to poor design.

 

[Mick!]

There is that @stig, I’m at a bit of a crossroads atm.

Work is dead, it’ll come back but I’m tired of fighting.
My BILs estate agency has bounced back with a vengeance, he always says to work for him blah blah.
As Bill Hicks would say it’s a bit like sucking Satan’s cock, but I’m 57 in December, could be a chance to see out my working life with a little less sweat.

 

[Mick!]

No idea without seeing it, could be anything from a poor weld to poor design.

It’s a poor weld, nothing wrong with the design, these machines are high end. Vermeer have just acquired the rights I The US, they just paint ‘em yellow and put Them up for sale.

 

[SkwerI]

It’s a poor weld, nothing wrong with the design, these machines are high end. Vermeer have just acquired the rights I The US, they just paint ‘em yellow and put Them up for sale.

Don't forget that Vermeer will also add $10K to the price as well as a 50-80% markup on all parts.

 

[lxskllr]

What does an "estate agency" do?

 

[Mick!]

Realtor?

 

[lxskllr]

Staked a lot out today, and that's looking like it's it. Really nice weather, and it would be a good day to play with my locust, but I'm too tired. Woke up at 2am this morning, and could get back to sleep. I might have gotten another hour in tens of minutes at a time, but that's it. I'm beat. Right hip also hurts. I was probably favoring it yesterday, and I can't do that in spurs. Makes it act up. Recovered my rope this morning, critter free, so I'm good to go til next time.

 

[lxskllr]

Gotcha Mick. That's not a term I hear around here, and I thought it was maybe a property maintenance firm, or something like that.

 

[stig]

Sounds like something to try out, Mick.
Old age is knocking at the door here as well.

Makes a fellow think, for sure.

 

[Tree09]

nothing wrong with the design, these machines are high end

I wasn't implying that it was an inferior machine by any means, but engineers do mess up and have poorly designed spots on an expensive heavily engineered thing. Hell, just look at all the recalls they have on automobiles, and those are some of the most heavily engineered things on the planet. Sometimes things get stressed in ways they didn't account for so things bend, leak, or break. If a bracket on that tank was designed without accounting for something, you could have a situation where having a leak there is common.

 

[Mick!]

I understand what your saying Kyle, but this is not a common fault, that’s been part of the problem.
Hydraulic oil is very fine so they took some convincing that it wasn’t the résidue from an earlier leak from the filter housing working it’s way down the machine.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Do you and family do much butchering Jim?

Used to. Grandpa ran a custom butcher outfit for a while.

Now its just deer and tame rabbits.

We think our next beef will be a hamburger animal.

We will rebuild our cooler and grind it ourselves.

 

[lxskllr]

Forgot, went in the bathroom this morning, and there was a huge spider on the floor. Almost a 4" leg spread. I said "Well aren't you a creepy thing", kept my eye on him while I took a leak, thought happy thoughts, and left :^D I think it was a dark fishing spider. I'm not real excited about having him around me, but I like them better than other bugs.

 

[FireFighterZero]

I like jumping spiders.