Sorry if this was already discussed to boredom, I've been without electric and DSL for a week and missed them.Last Saturday (October 29, 2011) we had a very heavy, wet 8" of snow here in Southeast PA, that fell and did considerable tree damage to our trees that were for the most part still carrying most of their leaves. I had been away (USMC boot camp graduation @ Parris Island for my god son/nephew) and got home in the middle of the worst of the snow. My driveway was impassable, so I parked and walked up to get my chainsaw to saw my way in. It was a mess, but it was unsafe to leave my truck in the driveway, so with a little help from my son we got my truck in. But trees and tree tops were falling faster than we could keep up. We had long lost electric, but in the process of getting my son out, I watched a tree take out my own primary 4kV line. This is what the driveway looked like when I turned around the second time after getting my son out:
I went back to the house and snapped a few pictures of the lawn area where more than a dozen trees and dozens of significant branches and tree tops were down already.
Fortunately, I had only one glancing blow against the house that took out a section of spout. A larger limb came down on my son's car; breaking his roof rack, denting the roof, scraping the top of the door, and sliding down the front fender. Here is a shot of my shed bracketed, but not touched, by an oak and a bunch of maple tops:
We were without electric for 4 days before my electric provider even showed up at 1:00 a.m.. After about a quart of coffee, and enough spotlights to steer a plane in, they reported that the two damaged poles and the two severed power lines were "owner responsibility", and that they were going to pull the fusable link on my line, and I should call them back to replace it when I had an electrical contractor complete the repairs.
Fortunately, when the weather cleared, it cleared as a grand reprieve. So, it was only getting down to about 32° at night, and rising into the 50's during the day. Great weather for chainsaw work and stacking the fire wood and dragging the rest to brush piles. And I was too tired to notice if it felt a little cool at night. I worked 7 full dawn to dusk days. Even more fortunately, I had some help; on Wednesday I had 4 saws running more than 6 hours:
For you guys; A Stihl pro climbing saw in the bucket clearing power and phone lines, Husqvarna 445 wielded by a neighbor there in the foreground, me on a Dolmar 510 in the background, and an ancient Echo CS 302 hammering the down stuff into man sized drag fodder by the most experienced limber in three counties (my Dad). A virtual chorus of two cycle sound. Dad turns his hearing aids off to re-experience the pleasure of natural sound when running his ported Echo.
Daughter claimed the seat time, I served as rigger for the choker lines, and she (and the x728) pulled half a dozen large limbs and tree tops off other trees: Quick Video
All, in all, The Dolmar 510 and the John Deere x728 were huge help. I'm not sure how long I'd have been at this clean-up without them.
I went back to the house and snapped a few pictures of the lawn area where more than a dozen trees and dozens of significant branches and tree tops were down already.
Fortunately, I had only one glancing blow against the house that took out a section of spout. A larger limb came down on my son's car; breaking his roof rack, denting the roof, scraping the top of the door, and sliding down the front fender. Here is a shot of my shed bracketed, but not touched, by an oak and a bunch of maple tops:
We were without electric for 4 days before my electric provider even showed up at 1:00 a.m.. After about a quart of coffee, and enough spotlights to steer a plane in, they reported that the two damaged poles and the two severed power lines were "owner responsibility", and that they were going to pull the fusable link on my line, and I should call them back to replace it when I had an electrical contractor complete the repairs.
Fortunately, when the weather cleared, it cleared as a grand reprieve. So, it was only getting down to about 32° at night, and rising into the 50's during the day. Great weather for chainsaw work and stacking the fire wood and dragging the rest to brush piles. And I was too tired to notice if it felt a little cool at night. I worked 7 full dawn to dusk days. Even more fortunately, I had some help; on Wednesday I had 4 saws running more than 6 hours:
For you guys; A Stihl pro climbing saw in the bucket clearing power and phone lines, Husqvarna 445 wielded by a neighbor there in the foreground, me on a Dolmar 510 in the background, and an ancient Echo CS 302 hammering the down stuff into man sized drag fodder by the most experienced limber in three counties (my Dad). A virtual chorus of two cycle sound. Dad turns his hearing aids off to re-experience the pleasure of natural sound when running his ported Echo.
Daughter claimed the seat time, I served as rigger for the choker lines, and she (and the x728) pulled half a dozen large limbs and tree tops off other trees: Quick Video
All, in all, The Dolmar 510 and the John Deere x728 were huge help. I'm not sure how long I'd have been at this clean-up without them.
