Now hiring!....still
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vharrison
Island Girl
My lawn maintenance crew of 3-4 left this morning with ONE. I guess all the prospective workers are going off to college. 
Fiona, that just sucks big time.
However, Bob has seen and done more in his life than less than 5% of the rest of humanity gets to do, if even that many, and he has a wonderful wife, who has done it with him.
So, all being added up, I don't feel as sorry for him as I would for most people in that situation.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
Idk.
A lot of single or double-wrap natural crotch rigging, sometimes with an additional stub friction/ tie off in a near by location.
Lots of double-whip tackle with natural- crotch friction, either with sling and biner, or natural-crotched through a fork.
I've used a BMS Belay Spool (inspiration for the TreeStuff Aerial Friction Brake).
Having a mini let's you make "grapple piles", stack them cross- cross, dump chunks onto them, pick log chunks up, then grab the grapple-piles and shove them in the chipper.
I just did an easy pruning job on recommendation from the neighbors (a removal job last summer) a couple days ago.
For the neighbors' 60-70' phototropically- grown, forest-edge maple overhanging their garage, I took three rigging ropes, landing some from in the tree on the swing with timing, or suspending off the ground, with wraps on stubs. Tying midline can give 3-4 pieces per rope.
Once in the ground, i could flip the lockoff wraps until i had lowering friction. Once a piece hits the ground, the wraps would keep the remaining piece(s) locked off, as weight was removed.
Solo speed lining just means terminating the rope(s) at the bottom, and tensioning at the top. I have around 20+ slings and biners.
Blocking logs down with an overhead or to-the-side anchor point is easy enough. Negative blocking smaller stuff is possible...
Bigger stuff with a little more care... sometimes redirect the tail away from the rigging point. This pulls you toward a point away from the work, and finger-eating friction points.
Good cutting alleviates the need for pull ropes often...vertical pieces can have the COG undercut with or without a hinge. Leaning pieces have a lean to pull them off.
It takes a good roper to land on the swing, but it is Not rocket science. If i can't land it, i tie it off for the time, maybe tips on the ground and butt leaning at a building, and move on within the tree until I'm ready to come down.
Hanging a piece and dicing it while hanging comes into play, too.
Most of the time, i cut and lower when i have a ground worker.
Some of the time i need help landing a piece, or need it cut as its landing.
No time lost communicating a place, and contingencies. I feather the tension as i cut, as needed, without hoping the groundworker understands, or that i can relay the necessary info at the pace they can absorb and implement.
Sometimes, like with an ascending limb, mud-tied, you have to feed slack before it will drop, then hold tension to catch/ lower the piece.
Way easier for one person, close to the action to do it right.
I always know not to swing the piece into me, no matter what.
It's great to have safe, productive assistance...and climbers are often very reliant on ground workers, unnecessarily.
This is a solo speedline opportunity. It was tightened once at the bottom, but could have been adjusted up to instead. I slung and slid about a dozen limbs on one rope tensioning.
The second picture was a maple where i lowered most of the limbs myself.
The one i didn't do myself, i should have. From the ground, the rope through the Morgan Block was not able to be pretensioned the right direction, nor enough, and i clipped the fence, with minor damage.
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I didn't say it was impossible, i just said it's nice to have help sometimes. 1+1 doesn't always equal 2 when doing some stuff imo. You have clearly done a ton of solo work and that shows your high skill and fitness levels, I'm not that good so i prefer to have ground people do a bunch for me if i can. I natural crotch a ton, solo even, but for flat out production (comical with me i know) and different rigging situations like pretensioning to lift tips away from roofs a couple people make life easy and safe for me. I often use pull lines to initiate movement of the piece, after i have moved to a safer location. I also work on shorter spreading trees where i lack the headroom to do simpler rigging other than cutting baby pieces. Often I'm 40 feet sideways of my original tie in, and only 30 feet off the ground, trying to wreck out a declining tree over a 2 story house, and the only place to land stuff is back where i came from. I love getting taller ones that other people's lifts won't reach, then i have room to work. Some good tips tho, I'll study them and implement them where i think i can.
pigwot
M's, Juniper's, Lowen’s, and Inge’s Grandpa
Mike,
Telford is a nice area. Bicycle camped with a girlfriend and we passed through (camped that evening in Perkiomenville) on our way to visit her mother in Allentown in the 70s. Used to take the kids camping up at Mauch Chunk near Jim Thorpe and the Philly Folk Fest in Upper Salford.
I need to get through some stuff here and maybe see about giving you a hand for a week.
Do you have a good Infectious Disease doctor who is up on advanced Lyme's on board?
Telford is a nice area. Bicycle camped with a girlfriend and we passed through (camped that evening in Perkiomenville) on our way to visit her mother in Allentown in the 70s. Used to take the kids camping up at Mauch Chunk near Jim Thorpe and the Philly Folk Fest in Upper Salford.
I need to get through some stuff here and maybe see about giving you a hand for a week.
Do you have a good Infectious Disease doctor who is up on advanced Lyme's on board?
Page
TreeHouser
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It is a nice area. My shop is minutes from where the folk fest is held. Where are you out of? Not sure about who specifically deals with lyme’s here but I am going to see someone from infectious disease soon. My insurance is crap and doesn’t cover much. I have some potential workers starting tomorrow but basically very unskilled, just there to rake and help clean up a bit. (Iffin they show up ) I had one guy do a trial day today. Smart young guy with not a lot of experience but quick learner. He seemed smart enough to know that so many people are desperately hiring that he can pick and choose whatever job he wants so to speak.
Bodean
Cali dreamer
Yeah. My friend trained and outfitted a promising young guy... then he decided he wanted to be something else then quit that morning.
Treework has a certain miserable aroma or taste that needs to be savored and appreciated.. if not. Should probably leave.
Treework has a certain miserable aroma or taste that needs to be savored and appreciated.. if not. Should probably leave.
Bodean
Cali dreamer
People are like... This is so much harder than walmart or amazon... I should be the boss.
Thanks for those kind words Stig 
I worked solo yesterday, and my chipper is down, geeze it was like old times. A grumpy old ivy covered crabapple dismantle in a tight spot, then cut and stack everything in segregated piles to make loading the truck easier tomorrow for the shuttle runs to the tip.
I miss my chipper and my groundie!!
I worked solo yesterday, and my chipper is down, geeze it was like old times. A grumpy old ivy covered crabapple dismantle in a tight spot, then cut and stack everything in segregated piles to make loading the truck easier tomorrow for the shuttle runs to the tip.
I miss my chipper and my groundie!!
pigwot
M's, Juniper's, Lowen’s, and Inge’s Grandpa
Mike,
I am out of Newark, Delaware, so it would be about an hour and a half commute.
There was a fellow interested in climbing that I spoke to about a year ago. He started as a landscaper, and was interested in learning to climb. Someone gave him my number. We had set up a time to meet and climb, but Covid got in the way of that, so he ended up taking the North American Training Solutions classes.
I'll try to find where I have his info.
I am out of Newark, Delaware, so it would be about an hour and a half commute.
There was a fellow interested in climbing that I spoke to about a year ago. He started as a landscaper, and was interested in learning to climb. Someone gave him my number. We had set up a time to meet and climb, but Covid got in the way of that, so he ended up taking the North American Training Solutions classes.
I'll try to find where I have his info.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
I'm done. I just decided to cancel 3 weeks of larger jobs. Fug this crap. Never going to hire again. I'll go solo next or workfor someone else if that is what it comes to. You just can't depend on people.
Mick!
TreeHouser
That’s a big call CV, let it chill for a day or two.
Nutball
TreeHouser
Tree work does, but not people. I can take the misery of tree work any day, but i havd my limit with miserable people.
I'd head over for 3 weeks if only you were less than 1000mi away.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Been trying to stay chill for 16 years.
Not the only tree company going through this.
If me and one guy cant pull it off, I am refusing the work.
flushcut
TreeHouser
I ran myself and one other for a long time. Two guys can cut a lot of shit it really comes down to scheduling and pricing it right.
lumberjack
Young man on the go
I’ve only used subs the last 14 years... it’s doable and with the right work and/or equipment it can be lucrative.
flushcut
TreeHouser
I landed my two guys now from a guy who I subbed for who treated his guys like shit but they were good workers and worth keeping. So they are with me now.
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Yup.
And trying to find a crane for a job. Just one after another issues. Even tried to get my Son as a pair of hands and now he has summer school. Got hit with that at 730 this morning. It's like WTF.
Not going to waste my time on these bids and estimates to end up with no dependable way to accomplish the deed. My subs are having the same issues. So they are out.
Bottom line is I have enought smaller jobs to keep me plenty busy. Larger ones are just nicer slurps of money. Not worth this head ache though.
And trying to find a crane for a job. Just one after another issues. Even tried to get my Son as a pair of hands and now he has summer school. Got hit with that at 730 this morning. It's like WTF.
Not going to waste my time on these bids and estimates to end up with no dependable way to accomplish the deed. My subs are having the same issues. So they are out.
Bottom line is I have enought smaller jobs to keep me plenty busy. Larger ones are just nicer slurps of money. Not worth this head ache though.
Dealing with other people is a pita. On my dumb little job I'm doing, my boss said he could help me with his skid loader. I didn't say anything, but I was thinking "When?". He isn't reliable. I can't count on him to show up(on *his* farm!), or to see the work through. It's always stuff like that with different people. That's why I like working by myself, either surveying, or cutting trees. It's harder, it takes longer, but I can always count on me, and know exactly what to expect.
BeerGeek
Tree Numbnutz
Well, on a more positive note, I got a good kid from my firehouse who's decided to stick around here for a while, and he left the crap of community college to work.He's already got rope and saw skills from fire school/drills, so he'll be a good brush monkey.
treebilly
Student of the Jedi. OH-7106A
I feel ya CV. I don’t even own the company and weekly I ask if we can fire almost everyone and go back to just a few of us. I’m just tired of every guy that climbed a tree as a kid thinking they are worth $25 an hour with benefits. And they think a drug test is a violation of their rights.
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