Rented a lift for two days, for I had a bunch of trees to do. 5 to come out altogether, and 4-5 to trim up. Some for myself, but most for others, so I started with the paying jobs first. Good thing I did.
I took down a mid-sized dead hard maple no problem. Then went on to the large silver maple. I had a young man helping me that morning, and we got most of the tree finished before he had to go. He had worked with me for 3 hours as my clean-up crew and groundie, and when he got home he went straight to bed. I guess he's not used to that kind of work!
I then went on to trim a tree at one of my rentals, for that neighbor asked if I would trim it up as it was hanging low over her driveway.
So I got all the low and dead branches out and left everything lying there while I went and got my big dump truck to clean up.
Of course, while I was away, she got home from work and saw the big mess in her driveway and nobody around.
I then returned with the dump truck and she came out to tell me she was pissed because of the mess. I told her I would get it all cleaned up in no time and it would be just fine, but she went on and on about it, so I finally told her the longer she talked about it, the longer it would sit there, so I turned around and left her standing there and started cleaning it up.
An hour later it was done and looking great, I raked every little bit (including the leaves from her trees) and blew off the driveway. I thought she would then realize she had nothing to whine about. Sheesh - did she think there wouldn't be any mess when doing tree work? Anyway, I then chatted with my renter for a bit and then got in my truck and drove away. I noticed that as soon as I pulled out, she came out to park her car in the driveway. Funny, because she could have come out any time to do that after I finished, but she apparently didn't want to come out while I was there. What a snowflake. I wonder if she will ever be grateful for me trimming my tree for her?
Next morning I went to a place out in the country to take down three trees. Then were all near buildings, so I couldn't fell them without removing a lot of branches first. Got the first tree down and left about 8 feet of stem for the owner to deal with. Hickory.
Next two trees were oaks that were dying. First one got all trimmed out and left about 20 feet of stem to drop later. Second tree got most of the trimming done when disaster struck. The lift stopped working. Well, partly. Every hydraulic worked except the one that lowered the second boom, so when I tried to get as low as I could, I was still 20 feet in the air. The customer was away on his tractor somewhere, and I left my phone down below, so I was stuck.
Fortunately he came back a couple minutes later, and I flagged him down. He brought a ladder, and I climbed down and fiddled around with the machine. Looked like a wire got pulled, but I couldn't do anything about it, although I did figure out how to use the manual emergency lowering button. So I got it stowed and moved it out of the way, and had just enough room to fell those two oaks. The customer was going to do all the cleanup, so I was now done with that job, but I still had 3 other trees to trim elsewhere.
But the lift was dead, so I took it back, and they only charged me for one day's rental. Nifty!
So I'll get to those other trees another time, but I got a bit of hard maple and about a cord of silver maple to split. Also got a fair bit of oak and ash leftovers from my sawmill that needs splitting.
The work never ends!
I took down a mid-sized dead hard maple no problem. Then went on to the large silver maple. I had a young man helping me that morning, and we got most of the tree finished before he had to go. He had worked with me for 3 hours as my clean-up crew and groundie, and when he got home he went straight to bed. I guess he's not used to that kind of work!
I then went on to trim a tree at one of my rentals, for that neighbor asked if I would trim it up as it was hanging low over her driveway.
So I got all the low and dead branches out and left everything lying there while I went and got my big dump truck to clean up.
Of course, while I was away, she got home from work and saw the big mess in her driveway and nobody around.
I then returned with the dump truck and she came out to tell me she was pissed because of the mess. I told her I would get it all cleaned up in no time and it would be just fine, but she went on and on about it, so I finally told her the longer she talked about it, the longer it would sit there, so I turned around and left her standing there and started cleaning it up.
An hour later it was done and looking great, I raked every little bit (including the leaves from her trees) and blew off the driveway. I thought she would then realize she had nothing to whine about. Sheesh - did she think there wouldn't be any mess when doing tree work? Anyway, I then chatted with my renter for a bit and then got in my truck and drove away. I noticed that as soon as I pulled out, she came out to park her car in the driveway. Funny, because she could have come out any time to do that after I finished, but she apparently didn't want to come out while I was there. What a snowflake. I wonder if she will ever be grateful for me trimming my tree for her?
Next morning I went to a place out in the country to take down three trees. Then were all near buildings, so I couldn't fell them without removing a lot of branches first. Got the first tree down and left about 8 feet of stem for the owner to deal with. Hickory.
Next two trees were oaks that were dying. First one got all trimmed out and left about 20 feet of stem to drop later. Second tree got most of the trimming done when disaster struck. The lift stopped working. Well, partly. Every hydraulic worked except the one that lowered the second boom, so when I tried to get as low as I could, I was still 20 feet in the air. The customer was away on his tractor somewhere, and I left my phone down below, so I was stuck.
Fortunately he came back a couple minutes later, and I flagged him down. He brought a ladder, and I climbed down and fiddled around with the machine. Looked like a wire got pulled, but I couldn't do anything about it, although I did figure out how to use the manual emergency lowering button. So I got it stowed and moved it out of the way, and had just enough room to fell those two oaks. The customer was going to do all the cleanup, so I was now done with that job, but I still had 3 other trees to trim elsewhere.
But the lift was dead, so I took it back, and they only charged me for one day's rental. Nifty!
So I'll get to those other trees another time, but I got a bit of hard maple and about a cord of silver maple to split. Also got a fair bit of oak and ash leftovers from my sawmill that needs splitting.
The work never ends!
