Funny day on Tuesday

[John Paul Sanborn]

Had an 85 ft dead sugar maple in a tree line that had significant basal dieback and signs of brown rot. I got up it and blew it out in less the 45 min, breaking only 2 small branches in adjacent trees.

Went to an inner city back yard next with a small storm damaged Norway maple, which i had tried to get a power drop on twice. Rained out both times. I had to rig almost everything small, and took around 65 min to get it down.

It sure is nice when you can let the big wood fly, and work ass fast as the ground guys can clear the DZ out.

 

[treevet]

Sure is, and it is boggling just how much extra work a skinny little wire can cause.

 

[tree md]

It doesn't take but one time of having to replace a weather head and I'll guarantee you will go to great pains to avoid touching one with even the smallest branch...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Oh, I'll touch small tips on this one the pole looked worse then the house connection.

 

[BlackenedTimber]

Oh, I'll touch small tips on this one the pole looked worse then the house connection.

Just a quick note here:

It's funny, or maybe a little strartling, that the great majority of the telephone and power infrastructure was built following WWII during the baby boom, and shortly after into the 50s and 60s. That means that most of the poles are over 50 years old, and way past thier recommended service life.

Some poles are damaged in car accidents, storms, freak accidents, etc. The power company will usually install a new pole and transfer the lines from old to new, finally they cut off the tope 10-12 feet of the pole and leave what's called a "double-wood". The phone company and cable company will send out telsas and move the lines from old to new, and then usually leave the half of the old pole standing. Whoever owns the pole, sometimes the power company, but usually the phone company, has to pay $2 per day to the public utilities commission for each double-wood that is on the books, because the PUC considers double-woods hazardous, which they can often be.

This means that power companies and telecom companies are absorbing huge fees from the PUC and passing the cost onto the consumer, without ever rectifying the situation and rarely upgrading the distribution infrastructure, ie: poles.

My old man was working with Verizon to develop a work plan to gradually remove all double-woods on their books. The savings in fees would have paid for the work and still saved Verizon $20 million a month. Some dude in a fancy suit and expensive shoes put the kaibosh on the deal. Oh Well.

Thought you fellas might wanna know that, especially the next time you open up your power and phone bills.

Don't mean to Hi-Jack the thread...

T

 

[tree md]

My dad was an old telephone guy too. Some of the ways they do things and the decisions they make boggles the mind. Pops started out with AT&T back when they were all part of Ma Bell. Utilities, phone, railroad and the like is about like government when it comes to running their show in my opinion.

 

[BlackenedTimber]

I with ya bro.

Maybe it has something to do with the govt being so heavily involved in those industries...