How'd it go today?

Yah I had a forked up half day here. Rain/wet is starting to screw me up. I got a big elm to prune tomorrow but I think I'm gonna put it off if it's raining. I'm a feeble enough climber as it is without having to be slipping all over the place too.

Oh yah and now it would seem the transfer case in my pick-up is going. Alot of resistance and awful noise coming out from below and the rear output shaft seems quite loose.

Oh well if tomorrow gets put off atleast I can do some more wrenching :roll:
 
Ahh... I'm starting to warm up to the idea of this spring weather. :D


Low to mid 70's today, easy calls, and I am in a licensing class for the next 2 days.

On Monday, I get the day off, I work Tuesday, and I am off to a week and a half of class on Wednesday.
 
Ha a ATM was stolen here last night out of a local gas station(while it was closed). Smashed right through the bulding with a vehicle hooked er up and gonzo. Gets a guy thinking ya know?:D
 
Fairley easy day, finally! Had o fix some things the guy on third jacked up, had to listen to the new guy whine about him jacking them up and having to walk today because the golf cart was in use.
I still can't get it in the new guys head urgency. He wants to stand around and re-think/re-design these machines, rather than fix them.

Joy, just got a text from my new boss. The chip collector we tore down and moved last week I get to go back in and move it again in the am!!!
I am so glad they have a plan:lol:
 
Tired and sore from climbing

My boom truck is down big time for repairs. It going to be at least 2 weeks on the disabled list. I have never jumped through so many hoops trying to get parts from the manufacturer and the dealership I have to go through. Gawd they make everything so complicated. I have spent the last three mornings playing phone tag trying to figure out what parts we need.

To keep money coming in I have had to go back to climbing.

Yesterday and today we just finished one of those real rope and lanyard freindly Shagbark Hickory trees. What a pain that thing was. This wasn't a real huge tree but big enough 50 - 55 inches at the bottom and a good 60 to 65 foot tall.

It has been a long time for me to do a tree like this on spurs and had to really gear myself up mentally for it. Shoot I even had to go out and buy a ladder to avoid having to spur up from the ground. Any ladders I had if you want to call them that weren't in good shape to be safe nor tall enough to get into the lower branches.

Everything went good despite the late start and it took me a little time to get in the groove up in that tree. All I could thing of the whole time taking the tree down is how things have gotten easier and faster using today's climbing gear, a GRCS and the chipper I just bought with the winch really made work on the ground go so much faster for one guy.

I was tired yesterday but a good tired feeling at getting so much accomplished in just 5 hours. I thought we got alot accomplished for just the two of us. There was no way we could have gotten so much done if we did trees the way we did them 20 years ago.

Today was a different story. Yesterday's high of course has to followed by a low in the form of aching joints and sore hips from my saddle. Up the spar I went today cussing that tree the whole time because of that damn bark always wanting to stop your lanyard advancments. You never really know if spurs are in good enough on a Hickory to be safe. I had a few slips on the spar but nothing bad. I am thankful for a DEDA lanyard, split tail climbing system, and a rope guide. I used all those techniques to get up and get back down to the ground yesterday and today.

I know this isn't much of a post but it is a good feeling to know that an older climber like myself still has a good few years and trees left in him if you put your mind in the right mode and not be indimidated by the fact you are past your prime.

With the cost of fuel and a not so great workload the idea if push came to shove is to go back to climbing on some jobs just to save the cost of running an extra truck. The thought has crossed my mind as you can get by without a lift if you know how to climb. You don't need to grind stumps. But a chipper with a dump truck is a very neccessary piece of equipment. I know if either of those to pieces are down it really upsets the apple cart.
 
They are sharp. I make sure of that. Those pads I bought for them a few years ago really make climbing on them more comfortable for me.
 
spent some money on plants today, spent a few hours digging them in, will go back tomorrow to finish planting and spread 5 yards of compost mulch. ;)
 
G'day folks..

So how'd it go this week is more like it, the whole week in strange towns in the middle of nowhere with amazing gardens and trees, all these old homesteads and cattle/sheep stations are all 60 - 120 years old and very over crowded..

we came back to change blades and service everything too go back next week for the bigger stuff..

The people around here sure are nice to work for latley, coffee and cake won me over, but id be wrapped with just coffee:thumbup:
 
I dropped a fairly small (about 20" dbh) pecan into the dump trailer today, hauled it to the recycling yard and came back to remove some limbs/vines that were hanging low over the driveway and city street.

On the street I raised the box on the dump trailer, then worked outta it, making for quick work.

Had an odd electrical fire on the manly lifter today when i was about half way through the tree. Something in the charging system became un happy. I put out the small (really small, no damage aside from the wire and a fuse block) fire and did the rest of the day on the job on the batteries.

Put out a bid on a fat good sized oak in a front yard today, figure it'll be 5 loads in the dump trailer and 2-2.5 days working solo. It'd be a fun, long, lucrative job.
 
Tom the tree guy had a down day so he put his crew to work splitting a big pile of firewood .He had trouble with the splitter so I made a run to his lot and got it going .

Now the funny part .I told those guys if they are making firewood to cut the danged stuff to size and not put it in a big pile to cut later,much easier .Now here he is with a pile of 36" rounds 4 feet long,hard as a rock semi dried red oak .Just about like trying to saw concrete . His poor old 066 was just a grunting . I'll the boys listen to this old man the next time .;)
 
Dual GRCS job......Threaded the needle on two really dead trees.....tried to "blow" up a third with black powder, which failed. Go back in the morning to try something different:X
 
Don't worry about the chip truck. I got a tree today that will have 4 loads of chips in wood under 12". Then I figure another 4 loads of wood over 10" in the dump trailer.

On yesterday's tree I didn't see a need to drop the limbs, then go down, untangle them and run them through a chipper. Made a lot more $en$e to just drop them into the dump trailer and be done with it. Tomorrow's tree is the same way, I have the leftovers from yesterdays job that I'll put an oak tree on top of, haul it and put the 6 river birches and a couple brush piles in the second load, should be done by 2.

Darin, I keep forgetting to take a shower. I figure I do 80% of the work solo, I have the equipment to make jobs easy. By doing it solo I keep more money in my pocket, building equity in the equipment instead of paying someone else's rent.

The tree I bid today and one other job are the only jobs I'll need a combined 3-4 days of help on.

Today I ground stumps from 9 to 11. One stump, a silver maple, I ground about 750 sq ft (30x25) to get all the roots out.

This afternoon I dropped the 6 river birches for tomorrow and got them decked and waiting on on the dump trailer. I got the lift set beside the oak and now it's shower time heading off to a bachelor's party in a bit.

:)
 
Gun powder's don't explode, they burn quickly.

One could make exploding compounds, but it's not for the faint of heart. The results are not entirely predictable.
 
In the last two days I've climbed about 30 or more mountain oaks. I say mountain oaks cause that what the local tree folks call um. Ive had some concern on a view cut as to my TIP. As a general rule I tie into nothing smaler than my ankle. However as I have been climbing these tree I have noticed the sucker growth rips off easily in my hand up to 1/2 inch diameter even. I dont know the species of oak so I am throwing my book in my bag from the truck. Just some concern I've been having with different kinda trees. Other than that enjoying a new crew and enjoying mountian steep trees. I am lucky to have the work as most will not employ part time business owners. I have next week booked already and hope that they will relieve me so that I may climb my own.
 
Well took today to straighten out my pick-up. I'm glad I took it to a real mechanic before pulling my transfer case. After some diagnosing the rear, rear end is shot. It was transferring(ha, ha) the noise right up to the transfer case.
 
Bahh it's only money right? Sucks fixing things but that's the alternative to big payments I guess. And then still ya never know what might go wrong.

Gonna work saturday to try and catch up.
 
Rear end is cheap compared to a trans case!

Had a crew come in to move the chip collector, not sure why I needed to worry about it, spent most of the day watching paint dry while they worked? Got home, took a short nap, picked up the boy and got called back in at 5:30. Back home at 8.
 
Rear end will be about a grand for them to do it all. I'm done wrenching, I had a line on a good used transfer case for $250 which would've been a real good deal.
 
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