A confession

[Humptulips]

Well I think I'm going to have to finally admit that I'm through logging. Been kind of fooling myself for a while now. I kind of hate to admit it.
I've got this problem with my foot. Doctor calls it Mortons Neuroma. I think they can fix it but by the time it's better the way the logging is going there isn't going to be much for me anyway.
I cut a small patch of timber recently and some days I could get in 6 hours but some days I'd have to give it up after 2. Damn foot hurting all the time.
I've got a few other things going so I won't starve. Hope you fellas won't mind if I still get on here to reminisce. I'd hate to be banished to the wood cutting forum.

 

[forestryworks]

hang in there man

 

[Cedarkerf]

Hope treatment goes well for you. PNW logger always welcome here anybody with a chainsaw or just interested in chainsaws. Sure you have a wealth of knowledge and a good sense of humor helps.

 

[deeker]

Hang in there....and don't give up.

Kevin

 

[Zodiac45]

No worries Hump,

Your posts are always a good read. Yaking with Bushler about the old days in Alaska or wherever else is a good reminisce, and is entertaining reading for an old East Coaster like myself. Hope it works out for you with the foot. Those nerve deals are always tricky too treat. Take care of yourself and keep posting.

 

[slowp]

Bummer. Everybody's nightmare. Something putting one out of commission. Keep on this site please.

 

[Bushler]

Its just a foot.

Stick around, for sure. We have lots more stories to exchange. I haven't even started in on my commercial fishing stuff yet. I spent 12 seasons crab fishing the Straights of Georgia, from Bellingham up to Pt. Roberts....

 

[tramp bushler]

Hurt foot

In 03 I broke my left ankle and didn,t get it treated .. . Sometimes it hurts like heck . .. I have had troubles with that ankle for decades ,,, .. You may be suprised how takeing a year and resting up can help body parts ....Remember cuttin is an old mans game .. I,ve cut with sevral guys who were near or more than 70 years old ... .

This winter I topped out @ 275 Lbs of muscle ,fat and slug ..
Decided life was too short to shorten it by 20 years so I,m on my way back to 185 Lbs of Twisted steel and sex appeal [ my wife may laugh at that ] ..Even 200 lbs is running weight for me ...... I,m @ 243lbs. right now in 3 months,, so by fall I should be good for high alpine deer hunting ..... Even being fat I,m still putting as much wood on the ground in a day as I ever did ., as long as the ground isn,t to big and steep , and even then I can beat more than half the crew .......Take your time and heal up , , There will always be timber to slam on the ground ...

As far as keepin up with chocker dogs with 20 year old legs , well I definately can,t ,, but I get more done than they do so there ya have er ...

 

[Bushler]

Tramp Bushler, where's Chichagof Is.?

 

[A. Stanton]

Hump,
Invest in one of those big machines that grabs the tree, cuts it, and de-limbs it. This way you can sit at the controls and rest.
Take care.

 

[ak4195]

Tramp Bushler, where's Chichagof Is.?

South of Cape Spencer and west of Chatham Straights.
In the north you have the world famous Rosies Bar & Grill in Pelican"Take your pants off lets party!",
and to the south west is the world famous "P" bar of Sitka.On the east side its the Village Bar in Hoonah,and the Tenakee Inn @ Tenakee Springs.

ak4195

 

[Humptulips]

Hump,
Invest in one of those big machines that grabs the tree, cuts it, and de-limbs it. This way you can sit at the controls and rest.
Take care.

I never wanted to run a piece of equipment. The few times I got on one I got bored and antsy. Don't really care for cutting either. I always liked hooking and if I dare say so I think I'm one of the best at it but the way I feel now I know I couldn't do the job properly. Pride in my work and reputation is one reason I wouldn't hire out now. I possibly might take a small cutting job myself if my foot heals a bit. One thing if you're working for yourself you're not likely to get chewed out by the boss, unless you're married of course.
It's just discouraging. Not many towers,everybody wants to shovel log, the economy is shutting outfits down every day and the big timber companies are squeezing the gypos to the point you never get a raise.
I remember a poem a chaser I had once used to recite.

I can hook, cook, climb and splice
and sew the boys riggin' clothes on sunday
I can go coast to coast
On a piece of toast
and I logged every light pole
between here and Spokan WA

Kind of the way I used to feel. Thought I could do it all. Don't feel that way anymore.

 

[redprospector]

One thing if you're working for yourself you're not likely to get chewed out by the boss, unless you're married of course.


I can hook, cook, climb and splice
and sew the boys riggin' clothes on sunday
I can go coast to coast
On a piece of toast
and I logged every light pole
between here and Spokan WA

Kind of the way I used to feel. Thought I could do it all. Don't feel that way anymore.

Hahaha. I've found that I'm the hardest S.O.B. I've ever worked for. I chew myself out 2 or 3 times a week, I can't seem to get away with anything.

I know how you feel. I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was.
Hang in there man.

Andy

 

[Bushler]

Forget the rigging Hump, you can still cut like the Tramp says, until you're creaky. I'm no spring chicken, but I can still justify my existence with a saw.

The accumulation of experience and the lighter saws make it work.

I ran a crab boat up through the inside passage to PWS in 1979. We fueled in Bellingham on the way up, then fueled again in Ketchican. We spent one night anchored in Thorn Arm, then ran on up and out across the Gulf to Cordova.

I think we went out through the Sumner Strait after we left Prince of Wales. I'd have to look at the chart to be sure.

 

[loggerbydesign]

Hanging in there

My old man has a bum foot. Gives him hell these days. Most of the time he is on the job just to ride my tail.

Don't worry about what you can't do... concentrate on what you can. My old man still works, just not like he did when he thought he wanted to rule the world or die trying.

BTW, anyone from the southeast? Has anyone heard that the Baxley, Georgia expo was coming back? Last one I was at was in 2000 with my old man. If the powers that be bring it back... I'm thinking I might go.

 

[tramp bushler]

Forget the rigging Hump, you can still cut like the Tramp says, until you're creaky. I'm no spring chicken, but I can still justify my existence with a saw.

The accumulation of experience and the lighter saws make it work.

I ran a crab boat up through the inside passage to PWS in 1979. We fueled in Bellingham on the way up, then fueled again in Ketchican. We spent one night anchored in Thorn Arm, then ran on up and out across the Gulf to Cordova.

I think we went out through the Sumner Strait after we left Prince of Wales. I'd have to look at the chart to be sure.

.

I had a nice long post all typed out that disappeared into cyber space .. If you are in good shape $ wise , take some time and rest up ., Then when you can,t keep your self from grabbin a saw ., find a situation where you can ease into er ..,., ..Sides , makin logs is more fun than movein em ...

 

[Humptulips]

.

I had a nice long post all typed out that disappeared into cyber space .. If you are in good shape $ wise , take some time and rest up ., Then when you can,t keep your self from grabbin a saw ., find a situation where you can ease into er ..,., ..Sides , makin logs is more fun than movein em ...

I think I will disagree with you on that. I always liked yarding logs or seeing the lines clear up on a nice road. Heck I think I even enjoy splicing allthough you can get too much of that in a hurry.
Cutting especially the way it is most commonly practiced now is just mind numbing work. Mostly tree length, mostly 2nd growth and of course on the hillside or the faller/buncher gets it. Just looks like slashing to me, everything down the hill. Don't get me wrong I think they earn their money and then some but fun, can't see it.
I'll tell you another thing about cutting I could never put up with. It seems like if someone wants a unit cut they never let the cutters in until the last minute and then it's a race to get a setting cut out before the equipment arrives. No days off,7 days a week until the units cut and then layed off until 2 days before they want to start logging the next unit.
Maybe I'm too picky or just not hungry.
Foot feels better. It should it's been sitting on the foot stool for the last two weeks. Another steroid shot friday.

 

[slowp]

Humptulips: How about writing a guide to splicing? I'm not kidding. Take pictures. I've come across crews where a guy will be gone, they need to splice, and they start asking me. All I know is how to knit, we did a splice at OSU but I have no idea how. I ended up making copies of a brief description I had and handing that out, and they figured it out from that and what they'd seen done. Scary.

 

[Humptulips]

That could be a real project. I don't have a digital camera but I will think about it. What are you thinking about? Eye splice, long splice, short splice and then there's that other one that I will get in trouble for speaking of.
Once in a while I would have to put in a rolled in long splice and that would throw everybody on the crew. Most people only know the tucked splices.

 

[slowp]

Might as well do a bunch. The one they seem to be in the process of doing the most is the flat one for the skyline? Seems like that was the one I got asked about a couple of times. Write ups are good. I tried to learn how to knit from my mom, but she didn't have time and was impatient (sounds like some of the rigging guys) so I learned from a book. We did the eye one, I think, at the Forest Engineering course. Then went out in the afternoon and set chokers until the support trees pulled over. I guess we should have been fired.

The camera I finally bought, at the Wal Marche, is a lower priced Nikon. It is very small--palm sized so I can pack it around in a pocket. I think it takes good pictures.