How'd it go today?

I don't remember any sun in Fort Bragg.

Good idea, I'm thinking of going that way, too.
My parents had their whole roof covered in solar panels and were set up to sell surplus electricity to the grid.
That setup paid for itself in 2 years.
 
Went out and did stumps with the Dingo from a bunch of take downs from the past few weeks. Basically got $700 for 5 hrs. work (including driving). If I could finagle that scenario regularly I could almost be a "solo tree guy"...

What kind of Dingo/ grapple do you have? I'm going to get the BMG scoops. I was thinking of the broom. A guy on TB mounted a forklift broom, via custom mount, for his mini-X, maybe his mini-loader, too.
 
2019 Dingo TX-1000 Narrow Track (so I get in almost all fences; lots of small properties on hills with tight gate access; will lift almost 1200# with enough "ballast"; ie: fat brush monkeys). Standard BMG grapple, and got the scoops as per Rajan's recommendation (well worth it for big stump jobs or moving chips). Broom would be interesting, but not really something that would help my situation much.
 
As to your comment about being able to be a Solo Tree Guy,

Having the machines and techniques to roll solo makes time with employees more effective, and takes away the dependence on employees, who for any number of reasons may not make it to work on a given day, or be firing on all cylinders.

I scope each job to see how much Ican do in my own, possibly with a rental lift (rarely) or a crane (rarely... my last two crane jobs were unclimbable, dead alders).

Hanging a log midline keeps tension on a pull line as the tree moves (FOGT).
Anchoring one or two speed line ropes at the ground, adjusting at the top as you work the tree is a help.

Being able to tell an employee to shape up or ship out, as you can roll solo, takes pressure off you.
Some employees have an overinflated sense of being needed. Stephen mentioned this recently, more or less, having his groundman show up mid-solo action. iirc.
 
Got an urgent call from a friend of a friend. A willow that grew out horizontally out of a wet bank, and up through understory trees for sunlight pulled some roots and was closing in on the primary line. Luckily a solid enough Doug-fir to lift and lower the willow was available in the right place, with a redirect tree in the right place to compress the fir, rather than pull it toward the power lines, as it was already phototropically leaning ;) ;) . The fir was in the same wet area. Recent clearing uphill has changed the hydrology. Diced it up and left it in the trees. Pretty far from home, like 5.5 miles.


The homeowners new they had some issues, three good thickness cedars with slow tapers are dead or soon will be. Tight spot. I'll be able to flip 12'6 logs out, I think, later in the summer. Might just become a LOT of fence boards. Cedar siding has really diminished in use with the advent of Hardiboard (fiber-reinforced concrete siding, I think).
 
Lost another giant last night. The “Pop John” Sweetman oak tree collapsed.

Pop was born in 1898. Upon his retirement he sat under the tree for some twenty-five years, sometimes for a few hours, and often all day long. He would wave to everyone who drove past. He was great to stop and talk to whenever riding by. The white oak was about 350 years old.

Sally Rickerman, the mother of David, whom I work with doing crane removals saved the tree when the road was being widened about forty years ago. When I texted David this morning to tell him he replied:
“My mother had saved that tree when they widened Rt 896. They were going to cut it down and she pointed out they owned the land where the park is and why wouldn’t they just move the road to the right as you’re going north. Earlier this spring it looked really bad I hear that it was very hollow.”

Photo of Pop John, post by his great grandson, and a painting of the tree by a local artist:

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We had a similar oak around the corner. It started fading 3 years ago. Last summer they cut all the limbs towards the road off. Have to look and see if it has any life yet. The old White Oaks seem to be suffering from something. I have one on the farm on the edge of a steep hill right down by the creek. Extremely hollow. Still looking healthy. We have a few that tipped over.

I can't believe MB picked my avatar not knowing how much I admire old oaks. Uncanny.
 
We had a similar oak around the corner. It started fading 3 years ago. Last summer they cut all the limbs towards the road off. Have to look and see if it has any life yet. The old White Oaks seem to be suffering from something. I have one on the farm on the edge of a steep hill right down by the creek. Extremely hollow. Still looking healthy. We have a few that tipped over.

I can't believe MB picked my avatar not knowing how much I admire old oaks. Uncanny.
I drive by this one a lot.
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Was gonna rec climb my large beech (favorite tree on the property) and couldn’t get the climb line over something (couldn’t see what was going on due to foliage). Attached 2 throw bags on one side to try to better isolate. Both bags and the throwline now stuck. Spare throwline sucks and only other bag is 16oz which doesn’t fit the apta. Prime ordered another zing it 2.2 and 12 oz bag. Looking back, it was a stupid move to pull those bags up without a line on them for retrieving if this happened.
 
I recently bought that cube and extra weights cause I almost got everything I had stuck in a tree. I'm thinking you can't have too many backups. I have more line on the way. Backordered due to rope being oos, and I told them to hold it, and send when everything's in.
 
Easy arb and maple removals today. I just stood on the mini most of the day really. Left while they were blowing off the drive. The guys went to put mats down at tomorrows job and get a game plan while I drove to the Vermeer dealer to get a new drive motor for the mini. It’s been seeping for a while now. I pulled it apart last Friday and the mech replaced a seal. Told him that wasn’t the problem but what do I know. The seal he replaced was the dust seal. Oil is escaping from the inner seal which meant a new motor. Old one is going to be repaired as a spare for when the other side goes out (cost dependent). Took me an hour to swap it and that was with breaking two bolts and ripping out the operator presence wires🤬. That is now bypassed until I feel like screwing with it.
Then I came home and cooked up some eggs with peppers and onions. Topped them off with pepperjack cheese and some home made salsa.
 
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