Not 15, but quite a few jobs today
Kind of a mix of more storm cleanup and pre-arranged pruning jobs. Hmmm -- the wise & foolish? Some wait till after the storm to do tree work, others are more proactive and have their trees trimmed to prevent failure!
1). Removed a Bradford pear leader and branches off of a roof, broken in last weekend's storm. Headed back 2 other leaders over the roof. 45 min job.
2). Took down a 25' Linden that had blown over in the recent storms. However, it really wasn't blown all the way over, just knocked against a fence, probably at a 15 or 20 degree angle. It could've easily been straightened and some stakes put in to support it, fertilized and watered to nourish it. It hadn't broken at all in the storm, just slightly uprooted. But the owner is selling the house and couldn't be bothered with it, so it was an easy drop-n-chip for us. I attribute the failure to the poor soil of the housing development, plus drought conditions over the past year or so. This makes it the 3rd of 3 trees for this property losing in just over a year, so something is definitely not right there. 15 min job; more stressful backing in the driveway and pulling out, trying to avoid hitting the state trooper SUV parked directly across from the driveway!
3). Pruned a rock elm off the house roof (growing up by their deck) and a white oak (damaged limb from the storm). It was a nice backyard, with the 3 major elms of the area represented: American elm, rock elm, and a "Mongolian" elm. Nice to be able to compare the bark, leaves, and structure directly, right up close.
4). Over to Massachusetts St, the main historic downtown street, so it was a high visibility, high profile job for us. A silver maple had two broken limbs, fallen on the owner's roof. He had rented an aerial lift and bought 2) 300lb test ropes from Home Depot to secure the limb. He did pretty well, ratchet strapping one broken limb to a limb below, then using the 2 lines to tie off the break to another pin oak nearby. But he realized the danger of the situation (1000 lb. limb under a lot of tension) and decided to call in the professionals. We climbed it, tied it off with our lowering rope and tag line, released the tension with some select cuts, then craned it away with our GRCS. Then took care of the cracked limb below it for him, getting that away from his roof as well. He's happy, enjoyed the show and the climber descent (coming soon to MBTV).
5). Started a 10-tree pruning job. Autumn Blaze maples, river birch, locust, Bradford pears, Redbud. Should finish it up in the morning first thing. Nice to do some fine pruning for a change (raise crown, crown cleans, deadwood, some safety trimming off their roofline).