How'd it go today?

[treebilly]

Had to cancel a crane job because the crane decided to spring a major engine oil leak Saturday evening. Went over some clearing limits with a builder. Hydro ax with the feller buncher head sitting there. Looked at another crane removal and headed back to the clearing to put fuel in the hydro ax. Apparently they forgot to fuel it up. Headed back to the shop to get more fuel and the boss called asking if I had a spare saw and chaps. We ended up hand cutting two acres. Both of us realized that we both suck running that machine. Crane guy called me with good news that he got a rental till his is fixed and he will work long hours to get us back on schedule. Ran some estimates. Then my neighbor text me asking how much room I had in my garage. I asked what he needed to store there. He said nothing, you need room for your side by side. We were chatting about the fact that I was looking for one. He decided he needed a new one and I could buy his for a grand. So I’m in a good mood. Haven’t told the wife yet. She thinks I’m in a bad mood since it’s almost 10 pm and I’m cleaning the garage. 😆

 

[treesmith]

Keep a pillow handy. She may make you sleep in that newly-cleared garage space...

 

[pantheraba]

That is crazy how that building is moving. This will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[gf beranek]

Jack it up? or is the ground to soft for that?

 

[pantheraba]

I don't think I would want to get close enough to try to jack it up. Even with the clear escape zone that is a lot of running as a building comes down. I have been using house jacks lately under an old, old log cabin at our farm. Soft dirt under the base blocks and you have to pay close attention that instead of raising the building you're not simply sinking the base. Lots of popping and creaking and it's really unsettling when you're underneath that thing.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Shit I do on my sorta day off. Had to take the lift back, but had enough time in the morning to prume some mistle toe at the property entrance ive been meaning to do.

 

[lxskllr]

Irritating day. I mentioned my robot was giving me issues, it's pretty much done. I tried more violence on it last week, but broke the display. I can actually fix that, but then I still have the connectivity issue. That means my boss had to come on my job today. He spent a couple hours this morning doing something that wasn't my job, so I got there late, and didn't get finished. We'll have to go back. Bright side is I think it kicked his ass doing my work :^D

I have no idea how to handle that building properly. That's waaaay out of my pay grade, and I haven't seen anything like it before. All the shoring solutions I'm familiar with, aren't meant to hold up a falling building. There's probably something clever and exotic that could be done, but clever and exotic is $$$$$ and that's on top of the $$$$ that goes with commercial building. That it doesn't have a footer makes it especially difficult.

Me just musing over might think sinking pile deep into the footprint of the building that's being constructed, filling around the pile with concrete, and brace the building using something like they did to hold up the facade, but use steel, or huge timbers...



Ok, we got the building shored up, sorta, kinda, I hope... Now we gotta get a footer under it so it can be jacked. You now have a bunch of shoring in the way, but you have to dig below the building, and somehow get something solid under it, and it can only be done a small portion at a time, and tied together. After we wave our magic wand and get that done, it has to ever so slowly be jacked into position, and have some kind of masonry or something put underneath so it stays when you remove the jacks.

I have no idea... Tell ya what though. I'm glad I'm not the engineer that designed the shoring for this job. The engineer we're working for questioned his use of #57 stone around the pile instead of concrete, and the guy got kinda butthurt over it. Bet he wishes he used concrete now...

 

[CurSedVoyce]

And as I am in the middle of fixing brakes, my guy Ty gives me a 3 day notice. Grrrrrr.

 

[lxskllr]

That sucks. Was Ty good? I guess sometimes even a pulse is better than nothing, but it's worse when you lose someone good.

 

[cory]

Damn, CV. Well, one door closes, another one opens.

Why did your climber mike leave?

 

[Nutball]

I used one of those free swinging dangle brush grapples, and they suck. There's just so much more you can do with the single hinge lockable Vermeer grapple.

 

[treebilly]

Depends on the operator. I despise the Vermeer grapple

 

[Nutball]

I disagree. I have found I'm a quick learner and have about mastered the Vermeer grapple long ago, but there is physically less that can be done with the double hinged clumsy dangle grapple. Maybe it was designed to be simple for dummies, no offence. Seems like everything these days is designed for dummies and functions worse.

What don't you like about the Vermeer grapple? Maybe we aren't talking about the same one?

 

[treebilly]

I find the free floating one to have a better range of motion for dragging long sections and less fighting for the sharp turns. It’s honestly what one gets used to. I too am a quick learner. The Vermeer grapple actually works well for me but the crews had a terrible time with it. We also have the power rotate BMG and will never own another. Not that it’s junk but the guys have tiny little brains and can’t adapt to change well.

 

[Mellow]

My first mini was a Bobcat MT55 with a regular bucket attachment. I added a simple open/close grapple claw to the top of the bucket and used it that way for a few years. When I first upgraded to an Avant 420 with the Branch Manager Grapple, I hated it. I was so used to using the other machine that this new system seemed awkward totally inefficient. It took me a couple weeks to figure out the new system and what it was capable of. there's definitely a learning curve that takes some time to master.

 

[SeanKroll]

Throw lines suck, and wedges, too, when you're new to them.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Damn, CV. Well, one door closes, another one opens.

Why did your climber mike leave?

Mike left for greener pastures back during the beetle kill and then fires. No regrets. He drank hard and I had suspicions that he and a couple on the crew were indulging before work. So, rather than worry about it...

Ty was good, but its like having two Robs having ADD ADHD.
Kind of pissed about it, kinda not.
Would have been nice to talk it out. But all he did was mention his thoughts to Rob today and then give me notice in a text. I find that rude. I also find rude that Rob never mentioned the talk before I got the text.
Now of course the gods saw to it yhat I lost two weeks scheduled large jobs I needed a third body for. More like almost 3 weeks work. Big pondo removals. So I get to fix my schedule and move on from Friday when he leaves.
Mind you, he knows I am booked till June. Some of which he was scheduled for. But he never puts mr into his bookings. Ill give him at least a month or two ahead dates. Then he'll book his own work over mine forgetting the commitment. This irritates me to no end.
And he'll argue crap with me like Rob does. Ill ask for something to be done or done a certain way for a specific reason and I get told what they are going to do instead.
At this point, i am so frig it, you have no idea.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Oh, and, one of the guys I suspected, he was. He left too. Hooked up with Mike recent and lost his job for, yup...
Other guy I suspected after he was laid off, was confirmed, meth and alcohol at his next job.

 

[cory]

Just wow.

Some of your employee BS reminds me of my employee situation, sadly. The stress employees cause can be utterly massive. And one could say, "employee troubles? You need to lead them better to get them to perform better."

While I don't disagree with that, in reality it is like pulling teeth to get them performing better.

 

[biggun]

Why does Meth and alcohol play such a big part in the lives of US tree company owners?

 

[Mick!]

Good question.

Anyone here taken meth? What’s the hit like? Bad comedown?
Long time since took any drugs like that, it was not heard of back in the day.

 

[lxskllr]

Seems like a lot of owners start out as field guys, and they take the 'field guy' stuff with them. Alcoholics, drug addicts, degenerates, and weirdos of all kinds. That's why I like you all. It's like surveying. Can be a real PITA sometimes, but it keeps things interesting.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Believe me when I say that we are not the only occupation where addictions are a problem.
Then work ethic is another one Im afraid.

 

[SeanKroll]

The construction industry is full of addiction problems, I hear.


Machines have no such problems.

I feel your pain.




Employees know better than bosses, like kids know better than adults.

Employees often need to be treated like children unfortunately, expected not to really listen or retain. Expected to do what they think is right or how they want, even when told directly how, when, and why.
Good employees so often move on to much easier work, or their own tree operation.



Good employees don't want to work with bad employees.

There is a critical mass effect. You need good employees to retain other good employees.


So many times I've asked what would have worked better to convey a plan, and what words I could have used differently, only to hear I spelled it out as clearly as possible.



For example,
How do you more clearly ask someone to take the blue rope counterclockwise around the trunk?
Why do you have to tell people to move away from the running machine when they are having trouble hearing over the machine, Sena or not?
I've thought of writing NOISE on the chipper, so I can say, "move away from the noise when it's hard to hear".




Attention spans, critical thinking, and showing up prepared everyday are in short supply.

It's only going to get worse, I think.




Tree work is not particularly dangerous.
Lots of people tell me they've done lots of dangerous work. I tell them I believe them. I tell them I mostly do boring and predictable work.

Rope catches the cut limb. Limb comes down with gravity. Limb lays on the ground.
So often it's easier for me to do all parts of that operation, and they just unhook and drag.





Slingshotting a top back onto the spar, and getting to land and stay there, above the climber is Dangerous, not boring.
I've never even tried.

 

[pigwot]

Off to see my Primary Care Doc. The pre-procedure work up on Monday uncovered a complete Right Bundle Branch Block. Mom had it, too. Lots of fatigue and hitting a wall on long climbs. Looking at thyroid levels , too. Another day past turning 65 and realizing the warranty has definitely expired!! At least colonoscopy/EGD was mostly normal.