# The most unusual customer requests you've gotten..



## arborealbuffoon (Feb 1, 2007)

Hello to all of you fine folks here @ AS. As you can see, I am new here and taking the opportunity to make my "maiden post".

Nearly twenty years ago now, I got a couple of very strange messages on my business line. The caller was a woman who was pleading to my answering machine for someone to come and remove her cat from a tree. Of course, I initially presumed that these messages were someone's idea of a clever prank. However, a short time later a third message appeared and this time from an obviously distraught individual. I decided I should probably return the call, and discovered after some discussion that a very frightened feline was indeed sitting about 30 feet up in a Silver Maple where it had been for a couple of days. I got in the truck with my usual gear, choosing to add some additional leather clothing to use as PPE while handling this potentially unhappy kitty. I did remove the cat without incident, and remember trying to figure out an appropriate cost for such work. I don't recall what I was paid, but the cat had apparently broken its hip and could not manage a descent.

Just yesterday I had another unique request which inspired this post. A friend called me saying "I have a friend who needs to use a chipper. I told her that you had just the thing...." . At first I was a bit skeptical (as you might imagine). It ended up that this woman wanted to recycle a large quantity of foam sheathing board scraps to use as attic insulation in her new house! Anybody here ever run Celotex thru a Brush Bandit?!

Regards


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## rebelman (Feb 1, 2007)

I refused a request to run phone books through my bandit. I wanted to help the recycling effort, bit dreaded some sort of damage to my machine. Unusual requests? How about "top 'er off halfway." Welcome.


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## yooper (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm sure running Styrofoam through your chipper wont hurt it,although i wouldn't do it,But that sure would be a sight on a good windy day.


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## younggun (Feb 1, 2007)

had a guy ask me to remove a tree then half way through asked if save it and remove the one next to it


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## treevet (Feb 1, 2007)

I had a 5 am crying call from a women to rescue her macaw parrot from a large oak. Upon arrival the distraught woman pointed out a huge white bird maybe 80 feet up that had apparently penetrated the canapy not in full wing span and was not about to try takeoff w an open wingspread. Not a stupid bird by any means. As I got up to him I was standing on the same branch as him but he kept scooting out and away from me. On the advice of the owner s brother I had some cocktail cherries sent up to me and asked also for a pillow case. During this time the bird kept saying a number of inappropriate things to the dog walking around below the tree. I visualized the beginning of the fiasco as they both lived together in the trailer below me. This all was all quite surreal as this was in my era of crooked cigarrettes (many years removed and something I am certainly not very proud of). It all ended well as after a few second thoughts and my repeatedly calling his name "psyche" ,hecame to take the cherry and I put the pillowcase over his head and took him down. She handed me a 100$ bill and gave me a big kiss and it wasn t a bad start for a day. Near Flemington, New Jersey around 1973.


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## ddhlakebound (Feb 1, 2007)

Nice save on the parrot treevet.....and I bet a hundred bucks in '73 was worth a whole lot more than it is now. 

I had one couple request that I take the top 15 feet off a 60' hickory. "We just need the part with all the leaves off there.....its blocking our dish reception.....". The thing was, it was their neighbors tree, but it was ok, because they had talked to them. We told them we'd have to have the owners of the tree sign off on paper. "You don't need to.....they said it was ok...."

We went next door, to the retired couples home, only to find out that the gentleman had alzheimers, and he was who the satelite impoverished neighbors had talked to. The wife had been told it was a maple tree in the back, instead of her prized hickory next to the deck. The wife still wanted to help the neighbors if she could. We had to explain to her that what they wanted would either kill or forever malign her tree. She finally realized that the neighbors needed to move their dish, instead of her tree. 

A funny one was this couple who had bought a trashed out property, to demolish and rebuild. It had a fairly large elm, 24 in dbh, and about 60' tall which they wanted dropped. "Sure....we can do that. Do you want to drag that truck out of there?" "Ummmm........no........just drop it on top of it". "Are you sure?" "Sure....I'm sure"

It was a beautiful crash, and a nicely mashed ranger.


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## Blinky (Feb 1, 2007)

ddhlakebound said:


> ...
> 
> A funny one was this couple who had bought a trashed out property, to demolish and rebuild. It had a fairly large elm, 24 in dbh, and about 60' tall which they wanted dropped. "Sure....we can do that. Do you want to drag that truck out of there?" "Ummmm........no........just drop it on top of it". "Are you sure?" "Sure....I'm sure"
> 
> It was a beautiful crash, and a nicely mashed ranger.



That sounds pretty fun... too bad about the elm though.


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## feller (Feb 1, 2007)

*Getting kitties out of trees.*



arborealbuffoon said:


> Hello to all of you fine folks here @ AS. As you can see, I am new here and taking the opportunity to make my "maiden post".
> 
> Nearly twenty years ago now, I got a couple of very strange messages on my business line. The caller was a woman who was pleading to my answering machine for someone to come and remove her cat from a tree. Of course, I initially presumed that these messages were someone's idea of a clever prank. However, a short time later a third message appeared and this time from an obviously distraught individual. I decided I should probably return the call, and discovered after some discussion that a very frightened feline was indeed sitting about 30 feet up in a Silver Maple where it had been for a couple of days. I got in the truck with my usual gear, choosing to add some additional leather clothing to use as PPE while handling this potentially unhappy kitty. I did remove the cat without incident, and remember trying to figure out an appropriate cost for such work. I don't recall what I was paid, but the cat had apparently broken its hip and could not manage a descent.
> 
> ...


I don't think you can charge less than $300.00 to get a cat out of a tree. Unless you know the customer or have a really big heart.


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## oldugly (Feb 2, 2007)

Early last year while doing powerline clearance a property owner came out complaining and said I couldn't touch one of her "beautiful" trees. I tried to explain why they were flattopped (being burned off in the primary) and personally I didn't think her Chinese elm were really all that pretty. Needless to say the gutless wonders in the powerline office decided I shouldnt touch them.
About six months later I got a call to come out to do some clearance for a satellite dish. The same woman who didn't want to hurt the environment by trimming her (now dying anyway) chinese elm, had no qualms about removing several nice pines for her tv.

Removed a cat from a tree a few months ago. Beautful tabby in a skinny little birch. Climbed the elm next to it, threw a rope around the birch, and pulled the cat over to me. Gentle and docile little thing, crawled up on my shoulder, and rode with me as I repelled down the tree. Cool cat.

Back in early 80's I tried to remove a cat from a tree in OKC. Got halfway up the tree, and a raccoon jumped out of a hollow below me, and the cat jumped out above me. Both took off in opposite directions, although the cat was limping pretty good. (about a 60 foot jump for him).


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## Timberhauler (Feb 2, 2007)

I have two customers that call me every year to come and hang christmas lights in their trees,and then come and take them down.Both are huge water oak trees.I must say that it looks kinda cool


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## beowulf343 (Feb 2, 2007)

Once had a couple kids walk four blocks to my job site to see if I could get a kite out of a tree for them. Seems one of them had lost control of it a couple days earlier and they couldn't get it down. One of the kid's friend's lived next door to where I was working and he called his friend to let him know there was a guy in the area who climbed trees. Cute kids-probably 7-8 years old, was happy to help them out. Funny though, I finished my job and headed over to get the kite down and there was probably 30 kids and their parents standing there to see what I would do. Most captive audience I've ever had-even got some applause when I reached the kite.


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## DFD34 (Feb 2, 2007)

*Funny requests*

I too have had some of the same requests. Can you get my cat out of the tree and so forth. A first for me was, "Can you come over and get my remote controlled plane out of my pine tree".
I went over a few days later and did climb up and retrieve the plane with out any incident. When I got done out of the tree the guy asked me what he owed me. I told him $100 and as he was walking away I crushed and yelled to him $75 would be fine. I packed away my gear and the customer returned with a check. I then asked him how much the place had cost him. He stated $35. I could not believe what I just heard. He could have gone to the store and bought 2 new ones. Funny stuff..... DFD34


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## Mtnman4ever (Feb 2, 2007)

I had A guy who wanted me to drop about 4 huge white pine because he thpought it woudl be a cheap way to create a retaining wall the thought I treid to expail they would both rot bec0me infested with insect like wasps of soem sort . and asl o tey would not makea retain ing wall he was going ot pay mea mint but I told hime he was better off calling a guy who built rock retaining wall I am happy to drop the trees but at least let me make soem use of them . BTW Any one near SE NH looking for fora roadside sale of about 10 - 20 100 ft plus white pines noit sure on board feet yer as i only took a quick look but hey areeasly accsiublev once on theground . . Thsi isanothert guy he needs to drop them as he has no sunlightand itisa college rental place so They could use a lawn and aplace ot hanf out side as of now they only hace adrive way . or the are in te pines but it sure would makwa nice placeand looks like all nice clean wood


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## musch (Feb 2, 2007)

Mtnman4ever said:


> I had A guy who wanted me to drop about 4 huge white pine because he thpought it woudl be a cheap way to create a retaining wall the thought I treid to expail they would both rot bec0me infested with insect like wasps of soem sort . and asl o tey would not makea retain ing wall he was going ot pay mea mint but I told hime he was better off calling a guy who built rock retaining wall I am happy to drop the trees but at least let me make soem use of them . BTW Any one near SE NH looking for fora roadside sale of about 10 - 20 100 ft plus white pines noit sure on board feet yer as i only took a quick look but hey areeasly accsiublev once on theground . . Thsi isanothert guy he needs to drop them as he has no sunlightand itisa college rental place so They could use a lawn and aplace ot hanf out side as of now they only hace adrive way . or the are in te pines but it sure would makwa nice placeand looks like all nice clean wood



idsh is sorhyajherd torerde yerr postsewhenyu tyiope withgyor fete.


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## begleytree (Feb 2, 2007)

cool, good stories.
I too did the cat thing, once. big old cat 2/3 up a prev topped out pin oak, and all the way out on the clusters. the suckers were thick as hair in that tree, I got tied in and came down to the limb and the cat met me at the stem, I came down level to the limb and the cat climbed right on real sweet, I started to come down and felt the claws unsheath into my t-shirt. had to set him back on the limb and pull out the customer supplied pillowcase. she and the cat were thrilled, and I smiled all day. It took 18 years climbing trees before I was asked to rescue a cat.
-Ralph


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## rbtree (Feb 2, 2007)

feller said:


> I don't think you can charge less than $300.00 to get a cat out of a tree. Unless you know the customer or have a really big heart.


How so? Dan Kraus, 2005 ITCC world tree climb champ, has a side business called "Cat in a Tree Rescue" He probably does 60 some a year...and charges 60-100, I think. I do a few, and charge the same....consider it community service.


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## 9th year rookie (Feb 2, 2007)

*arboreal.....*

I don't think that material will hurt the chipper either, but as others have said, .... I wouldn't put it in my machine.

There's a guy in my town that has an old disk chipper that he uses for demo.
He's a builder and just loads it with everything.

I haven't seen this done but I've seen the chpper, and the only tree work he does is with a giant excavator.


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## 9th year rookie (Feb 2, 2007)

*unusual*

How about removing a large Oak and leaving the bottom 20 feet (about 24-30"dbh) of trunk so they can use it to make a tottem pole?


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## (WLL) (Feb 2, 2007)

we once removed all the duck weed out of a womans pond. we walked through it with blowers and skimmed it out with pool skimmers. it was a fun jod because it was 106deg out and we were paid a toytal of $3800.00. all the duck weed was back in a week and i would be more than happy to do it again in the summer but im not shure she will wast her money again.


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## (WLL) (Feb 2, 2007)

*wow*



9th year rookie said:


> How about removing a large Oak and leaving the bottom 20 feet (about 24-30"dbh) of trunk so they can use it to make a tottem pole?



check out this man. Greg Napolitan chainsaw artist at Studio On 12
[email protected] www.studioon12.com #908-996-0794. he does amazing work at a great price of $800.00 per day and he is very fast!


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## BostonBull (Feb 2, 2007)

I did the cat rescue thing once, about 2 years ago. Got a call at 5:00 on a friday to get a cat down from a tree. Good thing I took the bucket to this one. it was a small dia Black Locust in a filed that was around 50-55' tall. The cat was all the way to the top and was having no part of anyone coming near it. As I approached in the bucket it would climb higher hiss and paw at me. I coaxed it over to me with treats and it started purring and letting me pat it. EVERY time I tried to pick it up nice and easy it would let its fon paws off, then scratch the heck out of me and into the tree. This became very frustrating so the owner, who is also the animal control officer, told me to stick a pillow case over it then pry it of and tie the pilowcase up tll we got to the ground. That didnt go over so well with the cat basically smae outcome as befoe except a little less scratched up. She then yells up to grab it by the scruff and stick it in the bottom of the bucket with me, this wasnt happening by any means I am already bleding from my hands and arms. The final outcome after a few hours of doing this was to get one of those poles with a wire thorugh it that cinchs around an animals neck to keep them at bay. I went up got the cat around the neck with it and pryed it off the branch but I had it too loose for fear of hurting it and it fell 20 feet!! Uh-oh! She says you have to really crank on it pu you muscles into it, it'll be fine on the short ride down just let it loose when you get to the ground ASAP! I got it around the neck one more time cinched up real hard the tongue came out and flew down as fast as the bucket would go to the ground. the cat was clawing the stick and doing twirls a the end of it trying to get free. I let it go and it clawed the crap out of the owner before running up on the house roof! The owner says I can handle this one. She paid the co. 400 for the cat rescue and gave me a $50 tip for stayingso late on a friday.

NEVER AGAIN!!!


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## SRT-Tech (Feb 2, 2007)

I love cat rescues....cats, no matter how mean and ornery, calm down around me. A little trick to getting a cat closer to you in a tree is to carry those tiny tins of Fancy Feast and open it up near the cat....you can ussualy "scruff" the cat at that point. Also a small tin can filled with kibbles works well, rattle it they come running...(most times) .


my most unusual request was to retrieve a small (2' wide) helium weather ballon from a tree. Neat little device, carried a small box with temp sensors, airflow fans etc. It got stuck in Lynn canyon in vancouver, when the helium leaked. 60 feet up a masiive douglas fir with 4 limbs only near the top. had to spur that one, i could'nt verify the integrity of the limbs.... Got $100 and 2 cases of beer and a $50 BBQ voucher for a local eatery!!! for that from the researcher. Apparently the ballon and device was worth around $5000.


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## begleytree (Feb 2, 2007)

srt, sounds like the best paying one yet!
-Ralph


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## Sunrise Guy (Feb 3, 2007)

(WLL) said:


> check out this man. Greg Napolitan chainsaw artist at Studio On 12
> [email protected] www.studioon12.com #908-996-0794. he does amazing work at a great price of $800.00 per day and he is very fast!



Man, very cool! Thanks for the link. As a guy who tattooed professionally for almost twenty years before getting into the trees, I have lately been getting the itch to do something more artistic, again. I may contact this guy to talk shop with him.


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## antigrassguy (Feb 3, 2007)

This last summer I got 2 separate calls to come get parachutes out of trees. 1 had a 70' white oak wrapped up like a christmas present. It made for a nice canopy, pun intended. There are a LOT of small lines on a parachute, so it was a tad tedious to untwine this bugger and get it to the ground with out ripping or tears. It could have been 4-5 hundred but I view these as community service and had their rigger sew us up a new pole saw bag instead. It is a nice custom bag with ballistic cloth and the hole 9 yards. The money would have been long gone but I think of this job whenever I pull out the pruners. Cats, kites all the usual stuff. The ones I really like are "could ya just smash my, pier,garage,etc I need a new one. You're insured right?" Not on my dime, buddy! 
We also have a local guy in SE Wisconsin that is friggen awesome at chainsaw carving. He does relief carving that is truly amazing. Whatever the homeowner can think of he can carve. I recommend him for any trunks that are close to homes or patio.


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## Safetylady (Feb 3, 2007)

*Unusual requests*

There was a woman in Woodstock, NY who requested time to "release the spirits" from a tree before line clearance pruning would be permitted.


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## Xtra (Feb 3, 2007)

I work near several large senior communities, so we are constantly getting topping requests. They want their silver maples and white pines to stay under 30' tall and 20' wide. We pass on these and try to educate them on the damage and danger of topping trees.

I’ve had two requests of leaving a couple red oak 10' poles standing for hammocks.
- one of the customers swore the tree would re-sprout and grow a crown again.

I had a woman who keep running up to her 3rd floor balcony and then back down to the ground where I was working, to tell me which limbs to trim. The tree bordered the water and she only wanted select tips removed, for “the perfect view”. A 1/2 hour job turned into almost 3 hrs. 

Springtime brings the wave of satellite dish clearance calls . . . “but I had great reception all winter”. I’ve finally given up of these. They have become a nuisance, either they want you to trim their neighbor’s tree (without permission) or they call mid-summer and complaint that not enough was removed and to come back for free.

Oh yeah, and a lot of, “can you put those squirrels back up into another tree?”.


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## Blinky (Feb 3, 2007)

For all you cat rescuers out there, when you get a problem kitty, use the vet method for subduing them... As you scruff the cat, lift it and rapidly sweep your other hand down their back to the shanks of their rear legs, grip tight and stretch gently; it helps if you can get a finger between the legs. The more you strecth, the less they can move. Don't worry about hurting them, it's a safe technique so long as you don't rip their head off.

If you just scruff them without controlling their legs, they can instantly rotate and filet you with all four claws.

It will imobilize even the fiercest, squirreliest, prickliest cat. It's a little tough to bag'em at that point but it can be done if you hold the pillowcase (preferrably a big, deep one) in your mouth.

Obviously it's a lot better if you can coax them gently into your arms, but some cats just don't want to be touched when they're stressed.


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## BostonBull (Feb 3, 2007)

Blinky said:


> If you just scruff them without controlling their legs, they can instantly rotate and filet you with all four claws.



Yes they can!


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## Magnum783 (Feb 3, 2007)

I don't like cats so I will have to decline on the having me resuce any one unless it is a hot blonde calling. Then I can't get me to the truck fast enough. 
Jared


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## Tree Machine (Feb 4, 2007)

Blinky said:


> For all you cat rescuers out there, when you get a problem kitty, use the vet method for subduing them... As you scruff the cat, lift it and rapidly sweep your other hand down their back to the shanks of their rear legs, grip tight and stretch gently; it helps if you can get a finger between the legs. The more you strecth, the less they can move. Don't worry about hurting them, it's a safe technique so long as you don't rip their head off.
> 
> If you just scruff them without controlling their legs, they can instantly rotate and filet you with all four claws.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that one, Blinky.

I've had 3 successful cat rescues. I learned on the first one that a peel-tin of sardines is really convenient and effective. If I can add, bring up a plastic fork.

You could pretty much assume a cat is stressed and doesn't want you messing with it. For the ones that crawl up on your shoulder and ride you down, wow. That may never happen for you again.

I guess the first rule to cat rescue is don't take the cat out with the BigShot. That would not be pretty, nor impressive. Now, if you were actually cat hunting WITH a BigShot (and I won't ask where you're from), I reckon a shot like that would be exceedingly impressive. Anywway, where was I?

Oh, Sardines. The reason the plastic fork is recommended is that there may be a period of time between when you get up there with the feline, and when you actually capture the puss. That few moments in time is actually the heart of the rescue. It is an excellent time to have a snack (without getting you fingers oily), embrace the uniquesness of your current 'job' and just enjoy a few sardines.

Now, if the cat has been up there more than a day, and he's watching you, smiling, extending an implied kindness _and_ you're munching sardines...

Eat all but one. The cat doesn't know the difference, and you're gonna have to toss the can or risk spilling it when you do finally subdue the kitty. Offer the appearance of just how delicious these fishies are. It's cruel, but effective. When he decides you're a friend and you're offering up this can of ....._mmmmmm_.... It's really hard to resist.

Let him eat his sardine. He'll really get into it (see photo below). Make friends. Then grab him and ....well, you figure out the rest.


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## TimberMcPherson (Feb 5, 2007)

Radio control plane and cat retrieval. Chipping giant bamboo for special effects on the movie King Kong, Changing the top pulley on a flagpole, hanging deep friend bread shapes in an oak for an art students project (yep she was real pretty).

Fun and games!


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## SRT-Tech (Feb 5, 2007)

TimberMcPherson said:


> Radio control plane and cat retrieval. Chipping giant bamboo for special effects on the movie King Kong, Changing the top pulley on a flagpole, hanging deep friend bread shapes in an oak for an art students project (*yep she was real pretty).*
> 
> Fun and games!




PICS!!! we want PICS!!!!


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## OTG BOSTON (Feb 5, 2007)

I got a call from a guy who had landed his rc plane in a park tree. Being that I was in a good mood I told him I would do what I could for him I took his address and he thanked me because this was a VERY expensive plane.

The thing was almost at the top of a 70+ft sycamore tree, when I got to it I realized it was a cheapo plastic thing. I returned it to his house and never heard from him again, what a :censored: :censored: he was.

Another one that comes to mind was when I first started in the biz working for a private company. I got sent to a home with another guy to DIG OUT a 25'' maple stump. It seems the misses was into some weird philosophy whereby the stump was sucking energy out of the yard, grinding it was not an option because little pieces of it would have remained........................


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## turnkey4099 (Feb 5, 2007)

arborealbuffoon said:


> Hello to all of you fine folks here @ AS. As you can see, I am new here and taking the opportunity to make my "maiden post".
> 
> Nearly twenty years ago now, I got a couple of very strange messages on my business line. The caller was a woman who was pleading to my answering machine for someone to come and remove her cat from a tree. Of course, I initially presumed that these messages were someone's idea of a clever prank. However, a short time later a third message appeared and this time from an obviously distraught individual. I decided I should probably return the call, and discovered after some discussion that a very frightened feline was indeed sitting about 30 feet up in a Silver Maple where it had been for a couple of days. I got in the truck with my usual gear, choosing to add some additional leather clothing to use as PPE while handling this potentially unhappy kitty. I did remove the cat without incident, and remember trying to figure out an appropriate cost for such work. I don't recall what I was paid, but the cat had apparently broken its hip and could not manage a descent.
> 
> ...



No, but I _did_ run a bunch of sheetrock through my small chipper. I'll never do that again. Couldn't even see the machine after the first chunk.

Harry K


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## Tree Machine (Feb 6, 2007)

timber]Radio control plane and cat retrieval. Chipping giant bamboo for special effects on the movie King Kong said:


> PICS!!! we want PICS!!!!



I pulled a picture of Timber McPherson's client.


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## Thetreewisemen (Feb 6, 2007)

I got asked, "will you go to bed with me?" I thought it was pretty strange............because she wasn't, pretty that is.


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## arborcareIdaho (Feb 6, 2007)

Dept of Agriculture in Idaho has a Pesticide container recycling program in which they run used, triple-rinsed pesticide containers through a chipper


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## 00chris85 (Feb 6, 2007)

*strange request*

A customer had called us up (having done previous work for him) and asked us to come out with our stumper in order to dig him a trench from the front of his house to his barn so he could run a water line in it. 
we refused in-case of hitting anything existing.

we were knocking down about 40 or so popular trees at the back of an Americans summer cottage on lake Erie, so that they may see the lake from their back window. these trees had and average of 2 ft dbh. as we were dropping the first couple the owners came out to inspect out work and come with a request for a seating area and set of stairs leading to the beach made out of the logs. popular is garbage wood anyway. so we cut logs in 6 foot sections and back filled behind them using our front end loader. for the seating area we cut 4 foot logs stood them up straight and cut down the middle making chairs out of them. it was basic carving but these people were so impressed and pleased that we ended up getting 3 extra customers from them.


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## yooper (Feb 6, 2007)

to bad ya wasted so much time maken it all out of popple, it;ll all be rotten in a couple yrs if sooner, although any good words from any custmer is great It's what keeps alot of us going.


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## ropensaddle (Feb 12, 2007)

*unusuall requests*

had a person call me to take a dead pine out when got to the 
top started blocking down the wood lady came out said that 
is good i asked are u sure? she said she wanted to give wood
peckers some thing to peck ! I told her the tree would fall 
and be a hazard she insisted said she would pay the same
but did,nt want the bird to kill other trees i then told her the 
bird was actually eating the beetles killing the tree she would
have no part of it and said she liked the way it looked 
I left there puzzled but paid but still hoped her neighbors
did,nt think this was my trimming style!!!!!!!!:


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## Mtnman4ever (Feb 12, 2007)

I also had woman isnit that i not use a chipper becuase it would cause acid to seep into he grass and gard she hadabout 4 inches of fress hemlock mulch in her "wld plant' gardern . only noe of th plant were wild on after that only moss old grow here and gras nver wouldagain . 
sheieplained hat we woildrake up as best as possible and that we do not chip alot as i use some ofthe samll stuff as kindleing and give it ot a few needy foks as wood to burn . Some of it is good sized too. she had about 4 inches of fresh hemlock mulch in her "wild plant' garden ,only none of the plants were wild 
She said that Martha Stewart , said a good tree sevice will not leave a single ciip! and even a small amount would permantly damge your lawn or garden . Too bad they cannot make giving false information a felony what stupid ugly :censored:

Great thread it shows we needvto some hopwwhave findaway to better infor the public abput what we do !


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## rebelman (Feb 12, 2007)

Martha Stewart said that? I've got some inside information for her. She needs to get out more, but I guess that ankle bracelet gives her a good shock when she gets too far out in the yard.


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## woodbutcher44 (Feb 12, 2007)

*strange request*

I just recently had a that a lady wanted all the rubbish chipped and put in the 20x 30 ft. in ground pool.I nearly filled the pool by the end of the job.
She was so happy she gave my help $50 tips and after she paid me she remarked that her next door neighbors and her husband will need shovels if they want to have sex in the pool any more.
I laughed for 3 months every time I seen a pool


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## Blinky (Feb 12, 2007)

woodbutcher44 said:


> ...
> She was so happy she gave my help $50 tips and after she paid me she remarked that her next door neighbors and her husband will need shovels if they want to have sex in the pool any more.
> I laughed for 3 months every time I seen a pool



That's hysterical! Great story.


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## M.D. Vaden (Feb 12, 2007)

Blinky said:


> That's hysterical! Great story.



Ever since you posted this, I can't think of one really unusual request, ever. Not since 1988.

I've heard of unsual things...

Like a lady fertilizing her lawn with Casoron !!

But no unusual requests.

Unusual names - yes...

Matt Dhillon

Steve Martin

Mr. Toothacher

Tom Cruise 

Not TV ones - just same or similar names.


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## booboo (Feb 14, 2007)

woodbutcher44 said:


> I just recently had a that a lady wanted all the rubbish chipped and put in the 20x 30 ft. in ground pool.I nearly filled the pool by the end of the job.
> She was so happy she gave my help $50 tips and after she paid me she remarked that her next door neighbors and her husband will need shovels if they want to have sex in the pool any more.
> I laughed for 3 months every time I seen a pool



Now THAT'S funny! :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2: :biggrinbounce2:


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## SilentElk (Feb 14, 2007)

Hmm... I have done the cat in a tree bit once. A pain but worked ok. 

I would say my most unusual job came from the Vermeer dealership. They reffered me because at the time I was the only person with a BC1800 in northern colorado. 

Some guys were cleaning out a water treatment plant and had about 300 or 400 of these 36"x18"x12' long honeycombed plastic framework for bacteria or something to grow on to break down the stuff in the waste. These were all dry and everything actually pretty clean. At any rate, we just shoved them in the chipped and shot them into 2 full sized construction dumpsters. Worked great! The plastic was so brittle you could crumble it in your hand. Took a total of an hr or so. They were so happy they gave me $350 for that little bit of work and I didnt haul off a thing. Heck they brought everything right too me so all I had to do was turn around and toss them in. Was easy money and would do it again.


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## Chainsaw_Sally (Feb 14, 2007)

Homeowner came to nearby road we were working on, and asked us to get his son's RC plane out of a tree. It was near the end of the day, and we had a little time to kill. So we headed over. Turns out it's about 65 feet up in a pine and we have a 55 foot bucket! While the foreman is trying to poke the thing loose with a rake, the homeowner tells me that his son crashed the plane in the yard, earlier, so HE (dad) had been showing him the correct way to fly when it landed in the tree. Hmmm...

Well, he got it back, minus a wing, that fell off and landed in a split in the trunk, junior got gloating rights, and I bought take-out for dinner with the payoff.

 

See, stuff works out, sometimes.


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## Blinky (Feb 14, 2007)

I had my first cat call today... from a pretty young woman even.

It was about as routine as tree climbing gets except for this stupid little twig that kept my rope from pulling over the crotch I wanted for a TIP. The kitty was mellow and crawled right into my arms. He'd been there for 3 days including a really frigid rainstorm; just couldn't get back down that skinny little sweetgum.

When she called, I asked her if she could afford $100 to get the cat down and she said sure thing... then she wrote the check for $150! Nothing like a Valentine's Day bonus dinner to butter up the girlfriend.


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## Blinky (Feb 22, 2007)

Here's a new one.

I was asked to recover a squirrel nest from the top of a big holly we were removing so it could be re-installed in another tree.

The occupant was either a really big flying squirrel or a really talented grey squirrel because it jumped right as I got to the nest, assumed the position and sailed to the ground.

It was a nice nest, to be sure.


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## jmack (Feb 23, 2007)

arborealbuffoon said:


> Hello to all of you fine folks here @ AS. As you can see, I am new here and taking the opportunity to make my "maiden post".
> 
> Nearly twenty years ago now, I got a couple of very strange messages on my business line. The caller was a woman who was pleading to my answering machine for someone to come and remove her cat from a tree. Of course, I initially presumed that these messages were someone's idea of a clever prank. However, a short time later a third message appeared and this time from an obviously distraught individual. I decided I should probably return the call, and discovered after some discussion that a very frightened feline was indeed sitting about 30 feet up in a Silver Maple where it had been for a couple of days. I got in the truck with my usual gear, choosing to add some additional leather clothing to use as PPE while handling this potentially unhappy kitty. I did remove the cat without incident, and remember trying to figure out an appropriate cost for such work. I don't recall what I was paid, but the cat had apparently broken its hip and could not manage a descent.
> 
> ...


you can use my pool you wont need bathing suits


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## vapnut257 (Feb 23, 2007)

On the local evening news tonight (WAVY TV 10), there was a story about a baby owl that fell out of a tree. The local SPCA treated it and got a local tree guy to climb the tree it fell from and put it back. They made a special nest using a wicker basket lined with leaves, The climber placed the baby owl inside his throw line bag and ascended to the top of the tree only to find a distraught somewhat nervous sibling to the owl. He placed both babies in the basket and tied the basket to the limbs securely. In a couple days the mother owl returned to claim her babies and all was well. They documented the whole episode on camera. Really cool and I admire the local tree guy for his part, don't know if he got paid or not.


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## treebogan (Feb 26, 2007)

*5000 christmas lights*

One year when working in west Vancouver,a really nice lady had had over 5000 christmas lights installed in a 150ft Doug Fir by way of a crane and a bunch of Arborists.Well these had not been turned on for a year and needless to say didn't function when required,so there I was in the dark,climbing with a head torch and radio having my groundie turn the power off when I'd inspect a connection then turn it on when I'd done.Bloody slow,cold bad job!Didn't get the lights working that night.Buggar.


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## underwor (Feb 26, 2007)

While in college, I had a pet raccoon that was very efficient at getting my room-mate's girl friend's cat out of trees. It was a large Siamese tomcat that was very afraid of the coon. Once it got up the tree, the coon would walk out on the limb the cat was on until it dropped to the next. This was repeated until the cat was on the ground.

Cat rescue stories always bring back the memories of Tackleberry in the original Police Academy. Also the statement that "I have never found a cat skeleton in a tree" 

The only rescue I was asked to do resulted in the cat coming down the opposite side of the tree much quicker and easier than I went up, and under his own power.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Feb 26, 2007)

Doing crain work after a hurricaine we were asked to take ashifted chimney off a house. Kinda scary, with the gas meter right under it.


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## Soul Assassin (Feb 26, 2007)

" Can you wait four months for a three thousand dollar payment ?"


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## John Paul Sanborn (Feb 26, 2007)

Soul Assassin said:


> " Can you wait four months for a three thousand dollar payment ?"



Can you wait that long for us to do it?


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## Soul Assassin (Feb 26, 2007)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> Can you wait that long for us to do it?



Lol, No doubt.


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