How'd it go today?

rangerdanger said:
I had a blast today, I've been hanging out in south Louisiana working with Keith and crew. Today was a day off, so me and Keith went water logging with a buddy of his, pulling old sinker cypress logs outta the river. I had a blast, something different, and real peaceful out on the river. We ended up pulling a big 50' cypress, actually closer to 60' but we cut the stump off. Along with a nice 14' cypress.

His buddy just mills it up and uses it too build things for himself or gifts for people. He's making me some picture frames as gifts for people out of the pecky cypress.
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That looks awesome, I would love to do that someday.
 
It was awesome, I had a great time. Our biggest regret is cutting off the stump, the more Keith and I think about it, the more it haunts us.

If I lived down here I'd go out doing this once or twice a month, it was peaceful out there with some friends on the river, no phones or anything. Pulling the logs out is a bit of a puzzle sometimes, overall real enjoyable.
 
For those who never heard of it Pecky cypress has a symmetrical series of small rot holes and is more sought after than sound wood.

My bud in florida took me out swamp logging. I was on the lookout for snakes and gators. They told me you could smell one of the snakes before you saw it. Can't remember what one.
 
It takes special permits here and the cost, well my pockets were never that deep. I do have diver friends who tell me about old log caches and offer to tag and help with recovery. I'm sure its real interesting to do!
 
I've heard that 'folk-lore' about smelling various snakes and such for years ... 'taint-so'. Even if it were true ... if it's down-wind, you ain't smellin' chit. I've had dogs run right over top of various snakes - nothin'. And, we humans don't smell as good as dogs - true.
:)
 
It always surprises me how much sound is carried by the wind. We have a dirt car race track close by.(about 1 1/2 miles) If the wind blows any direction but towards us we don't even hear them. My bud lives 10 miles from the track and if the wind blows in his direction he can hear them.
 
We have dirt track about that far away and we almost never hear them race
Today was a repeat client job, a don't bother with coming to look just schedule it in. Driving in nothing but dead bay trees for 10 miles. Booked a week with neighbors after my clients two.
 
With the Pine Beetle infestation I sometimes see a whole lot of dead trees. Occasionally someone will say, 'How much to cut one of them?" :lol:
 
Today was kinda nutz but panned out well. Spent all morning trying to get the 25 gallon spray tank back in order and succeeded after about 3 hours of trying to jerry rig it to work.. Finally found the right parts at a local shop that was the only one that had them. Dang little pump fittings. Anyway.. got all the electrical redone, some hose and fittings and filled her up.
Dingo became spray rig/poison oak killer today. Most the spraying was done with back pack, but it sure was nice to have 25 gallon of Gly-4 all mixed up and pumped into the back pack in close proximity. There is no water on this particular property, sooooo mixing herbicide sucks with a 1/2 life if you don't have a small rig all set up..
Sent Rob ahead in the AM to cut the weeds while I worked on the rig. Place was ready to spray when I got there. Probably covered close to 3 acres today by my self on some steep rocky. Dingo could be positioned on two different roads next to the areas needing the treatment.. Sweet.
 
Pruned big honey locusts. LOVE pruning them. Easy climbing, and the before and after is so night and day that the customer is always dazzled. With other pruning, sometimes I feel that the finished product is not a great contrast to the initial look. I refuse to make needless cuts and remove excess material just to make the customer think I did a great job. I do what is good, and nothing more. Honest locusts always need so much cleaned out between suckers and dead wood that I get the joy of watching the customers eyes light up. The first one I did today I worked mostly with a polesaw. The second I was feeling froggy and really boogied around that tree. I feel like my spikeless climbing has really started to shine. I always knew it wasn't my strongest skill, but always got the job done. Ive sort of crossed that bridge where Ive really started to move like a cat without my gaffs. I really think losing 45 pounds since last year has done wonders. I really find myself to be more agile and I can balance so much better without becoming fatigued.
 
Quitting smoking, if you remember me mentioning it, was a game changer too. My muscles don't burn like they used to. Honestly, I never knew how bad smoking compromised my body until I gave it up. With losing the weight, I lost a lot of muscle too though. Im eager to get some more muscle in my shoulders again.
 
Tucker943 said:
Pruned big honey locusts. LOVE pruning them. Easy climbing, and the before and after is so night and day that the customer is always dazzled. With other pruning, sometimes I feel that the finished product is not a great contrast to the initial look. I refuse to make needless cuts and remove excess material just to make the customer think I did a great job. I do what is good, and nothing more. Honest locusts always need so much cleaned out between suckers and dead wood that I get the joy of watching the customers eyes light up. The first one I did today I worked mostly with a polesaw. The second I was feeling froggy and really boogied around that tree. I feel like my spikeless climbing has really started to shine. I always knew it wasn't my strongest skill, but always got the job done. Ive sort of crossed that bridge where Ive really started to move like a cat without my gaffs. I really think losing 45 pounds since last year has done wonders. I really find myself to be more agile and I can balance so much better without becoming fatigued.
Click to expand...


Tucker943 said:
Quitting smoking, if you remember me mentioning it, was a game changer too. My muscles don't burn like they used to. Honestly, I never knew how bad smoking compromised my body until I gave it up. With losing the weight, I lost a lot of muscle too though. Im eager to get some more muscle in my shoulders again.
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:thumbup:
Rock on brother!
 
That's awesome Chris.

A good thing for most climbers would be some light-resistance rotator cuff exercises, thera-band/ elastic tubing style. It would be a simple thing to hang on the truck for everyone to use.

If a guy did just a little isolated strength training exercises with, say...a 200t, a water or bar-oil jug, a 460, and a tie-down chain at the end of the day on top of the other exercise from work, I'd bet he's strong in the shoulders toot sweet.
 
Fell about 20-25 feet today. Don't know what happened. Was tied in and recall shuffling around a little on my gaffs to reposition and throw my lanyard on the tree to make a cut. Opened my eyes on the ground. My tautline hitch was undressed. Still tied but entirely loose with no hold on the rope itself. Landed flat on my back on ground. Im sore and have a concussion. Very sore. I seem to think when I took my weight off my climbing line and was adjusting my position, my hitch somehow went slack, to an extreme. It was raining and I gaffed out I think. Im low key tonight. Sore. My groundman heard me hit the ground I guess. He was dragging brush out to the road. Im thankful Im ok. I feel like I was in a car accident though. Never fell before or even came close. I ALWAYS am attached with one method or another. 2 points when cutting.
 
Take care Buddy! Ice tonight and heat tomorrow and I believe you know the rest of the signs to watch for. Heal up.
 
Holy crap, that's a long way to fall! You got lucky, baybee!!! If you can remember enough, what would you have done differently?
 
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