I learned a LOT today--or at least was forced to ask some important questions.
First, though, I want you to bask in the Glory of My Arboreal Excellence. I hope this picture doesn't make anyone feel insecure about their skills...
In all seriousness, that took almost an hour to untangle.
The long and the short of it is that tree work kicked my a$$ today.
It started with a bad night's sleep. I was watching tree cutting videos on YouTube until midnight (dummy!) and then woke up at five because I was so amped to get back to work on the dead maple in the back. Felt pretty lousy but couldn't get back to sleep.
I'd set the throwline yesterday afternoon to save time, but once the sun came up, the climb line wouldn't run over the branch in either direction, so I had to pull it down and re-throw. Wasted time (like picture above) was a theme today.
One of my a-ha moments was this: Each of us has a finite amount of energy to expend accomplishing a tree job. (And it's not a hell of a lot when you're an old flabby amateur.) Doing extra stuff--stuff you shouldn't have to do if you were more efficient and/or experienced--drains that finite amount of energy faster, leaving less for the actual job at hand.
Based on the great advice in
THIS THREAD, I climbed up and reset the TIP without spurs to check and see if my 120' hank was long enough in DRT to touch the ground. It was. Just.
The problem was that 1) farting around re-tossing the throwline, 2) climbing up, 3) taking FOREVER to reset the TIP using the other end of the line, 4) waiting on my 12-year-old groundie to send up a stick so I could dislodge a stuck throwbag in the dead tree, and 5) untangling that disgusting rat's nest of oak branches, Long Shot, and Hawkeye took HOURS. Right when I was ready to work, it was time to go to soccer and then the local Greek festival. Gyros! Baklava!
Taking the time to do family things is #1, but any momentum I had was lost. When I got back home at 4pm, I suited up, connected to the climb line, which I'd left in the tree, and headed up. This setup was a little awkward but worked.
The afternoon session was a total goat rodeo: It took me 45 minutes to climb 60 feet the second time. I got about 20 ft off the deck and noticed I was climbing on the end of the line I nicked with the handsaw over Labor Day weekend. I think it's fine, but I'm not sure. (I'll take a picture later.) To be safe, I came down and tied in on the end with zero damage. At this point, I was making mental errors, like putting the split tail on the working end instead of the running end. ::eyeroll::
Of course I caught these things, but I didn't take it as a good sign. As I climbed, I was just gassed. Using a single foot ascender to climb DRT, gaining about 10" per stride in my ridiculously heavy chainsaw pants--which feel like the crotch is between my knees--lugging a full load-out was brutal. I was dreaming of a SAKA. A tendonitis-type pain in my elbow started to flare up.
This led me to my second insight: Sure conditioning is a factor, but I think I've truly moved out of "happy homeowner" type jobs and into more serious work. The problem is I still have hobbyist gear when it comes to accessing the canopy. I wish I had a nickel for every guy in his forties who's said SRT extended his climbing career. It's probably time for me to take the plunge...
Insight #3: Until I upgrade my current 1990's Blake's/DRT hotness, it's likely less draining to tie in to the healthy tree and just spur up the dead one with two legs, instead of ascending the good one with one leg and swinging over. File that under "Duh!"
When I got to working height, I had nothing left. As an old coach and an older athlete, I was ready to "push through." How the hell could I waste the whole afternoon work session by doing nothing?! Then my rational mind took over. If I continued to fight exhaustion, bad shiznit was not just likely but probable. Right after "SRT saved my body parts," I think the second most popular arborist quote is beginning the description of an accident with, "I was tired and hurrying..."
Down I came.
All was not lost. I learned some valuable lessons about conservation of effort and how equipment is more than just toys: it increases efficiency AND safety. Also, I think if I have another day when I feel like King Clusterf#$%, who's spending more time fixing errors than getting anything done, I'll pack it in earlier.
When I took the climb line down this evening, I tied a throwline to it which I'll leave up overnight. We'll see how I'm feeling after church tomorrow. Advil and ice for now. The trees won the battle today; I'm just happy to still be in the war!