It's a climbing thing, you'll never understand

[Munkee feet]

climbers

I have been climbing trees since i was knee high to a grass hopper. I started making $$$ in 1988...and 19 years later...I think I am starting to make money..great thread...in that I know I cant be wrong on this one.
Munkee feet

 

[feller]

what i like

Finding a way to flop a 65 foot tree into someone's 50 foot back yard. :hmm3grin2orange: I like a saw that sings when under load. I like working with my mates!!! Tree bastards like me. I sometimes like those old tiny canvas saddles made by Asplundh. You can hardly tell your wearing one. I like a good climb. I like it when work is made simple by me and my crew. I dam well like a cold beer after a nasty climb. I like the feeling I get when i finnish a large trim, and I know it's my best. I like smooth bucket work. I like being proud of one set-up that reaches EVERYTHING !! I like a good clean-up, especially when I had nothing to do with it. I like having the site groomed before the climber comes down. What do you guys like? Stay safe/sane.

 

[adam]

Finding a way to flop a 65 foot tree into someone's 50 foot back yard. :hmm3grin2orange: I like a saw that sings when under load. I like working with my mates!!! Tree bastards like me. I sometimes like those old tiny canvas saddles made by Asplundh. You can hardly tell your wearing one. I like a good climb. I like it when work is made simple by me and my crew. I dam well like a cold beer after a nasty climb. I like the feeling I get when i finnish a large trim, and I know it's my best. I like smooth bucket work. I like being proud of one set-up that reaches EVERYTHING !! I like a good clean-up, especially when I had nothing to do with it. I like having the site groomed before the climber comes down. What do you guys like? Stay safe/sane.

I loved watching my boss from a top of a tree, tiny, ant-size, insignificant figurine. Cold beer and clean-up done by somebody else are always good.adam

 

[feller]

prayers

While thinking about how long I've been climbing I realized that I haven't been to church since I started climbing trees. I still say my prayers, I just found a better place to say them.

Said a few myself.

 

[feller]

Where racoons defecate

20 years for me, mostly "where racoons defecate", but I love it
adam

I treaded where racoons defecated today. I think your analogy is much closer to our truth than ''Where eagles fly'' Feller.

 

[begleytree]

I treaded where racoons defecated today. I think your analogy is much closer to our truth than ''Where eagles fly'' Feller.

yeah well the eagles thing was more poetic
-Ralph

 

[feller]

My boss. The tiny, ant-sized figurine.

I loved watching my boss from a top of a tree, tiny, ant-size, insignificant figurine. Cold beer and clean-up done by somebody else are always good.adam

I once had a boss that was a tiny, insignificant, ant sized figurine!! Needless to say, he was a crappy boss!! He didn't understand what we do, and constantly he would be a pain in the ass on site. So, I would climb up much higher than necessary, and just look at him. He really was a tiny, insignificant ant sized figurine. I feel kind of sorry for him now, because my tree company now has 15 % of his gross sales. I should be ashamed of myself. Or not. Feller

 

[feller]

Poetry

yeah well the eagles thing was more poetic
-Ralph

I think your right. I like the eagles.

 

[feller]

Things I Don't Like

16 years for me. Started climbing, worked out of a bucket on various Asplundh models and had a skidder with an LR50 mounted on it for a while, and now climbing again.
The tree tops are a place where you really have to have personal experience to know the feeling you are describing so well. I love the outdoors and can't think of anything I would rather be doing. It really is something that makes me think how good it is to get paid for something you love to do. There are the really tough times but there are tough times in anything you do.:jester: Chainsaws-trees-sawdust-sweat-blood-the various smells-the various sights-sounds-silence. A very infectious combination.
Things I like: a sharp chain that cuts faster than it does out of the box because you sharpened it just right, a new saw, the amazement of a homeowner after a technical takedown, the smell of fresh cut wood, spring time, poplar trees, being outdoors, the sound a large tree makes when the hinge-wood fibers seperate, feeling the ground shake when dropping a large trunk from the ground or in a tree
Things I don't like: hitting a nail with a chain you just sharpened the chain, a saw that isn't running properly or is just a piece of crap, homeowners who try to tell you how do do your job or what they think you should do with no apparent concern for safety, the smell of sycamore trees, cold cloudy days, having one of the large sticker vines get caught in the teeth of the chain and slam a large thorn into your knuckle, being stuck inside, the sound of hinge-wood fibers seperating before you expect them to, feeling your chain come to a halt when a tree or top sets back:taped: What a job. I remember having one of the toy chainsaws as a kid. I remember chopping trees in the woods pretending to be a lumber-jack. I remember of wanting to go out West and climbing and topping one of the giants and eating lunch on top of the stub, hell, I'd still like to do that.

Hinge wood snapping before you wanted it to? We all have some sh$!ty days, but we make it work none the less. Anyone who does not admit to that is not a vet.

 

[treemendous]

that was kinda poetic.
Great post.
I do love doing this stuff.
Certainly gets into your head thinking about trees, looking at trees, talking about trees. Oh, and tools too!
I like getting the mojo going when dropping a big top!
I really love eating lunch 100' up on a big D-fir with a view of the ocean, eagles and hawks around with a cool breeze on a sunny day.

 

[adam]

yeah well the eagles thing was more poetic
-Ralph

poetic and very true. I was there too, contemplating the view. racoon stuff is very small price to pay for "eagle's" experience. adam

 

[Thetreewisemen]

Best part of 20 years off the ground. Worked as a forester and a gamekeeper also...........but during that time was always climbing on the side for the extra $$ and of course the buzz. Smashed two discs in my back which kept me off my feet for almost 3 months last year, had a (freakishly large) bone chip removed from my elbow socket the year before and according to 'them' part of my hearing range is totally non existent. Cortisone and lidocaine baby.......and just say 'WHAT?' to the wife.

 

[rebelman]

Tree wise man--that;s a catchy phrase.

 

[Thetreewisemen]

Why thankyou..

 

[cobbler]

While thinking about how long I've been climbing I realized that I haven't been to church since I started climbing trees. I still say my prayers, I just found a better place to say them.

One spring in the mid seventies I got a "job" climbing into eagle nests around the Chesapeake banding the young. Before each climb I would get very meditative. The nest would be 70+ feet up, weigh 500 or more pounds and overhang 2 to 3 feet all around. All dead sticks and not much to grab onto. The last few moves up and over the nest overhang were always a trip. After that move I would lay in the nest next to 1 to 3 eaglets to let my arms and mind relax. The adults would be flying 1000 feet overhead chirping in that funny call. The sure don't sound like red tail hawks Sit up, take a sip of water, pull the bands and rivet gun out of the bag and reach over for the nearest chick. Finish the job, climb back over the edge of the nest and set up the rappel down. Hit the groud and say the prayers again. Did not make my living from tree work but the impression was indelible. Cobbler

 

[Thetreewisemen]

WOW!! that sounds incredible, I would love to do that. I've always had a fascination with raptors, eagles esp. Saw some golden eagles nesting back in the UK, but to actually get up in the nest with them, that's just magical! Were the parents 'dive bombing' you when you were banding the chicks? My back yard is on a tidal flow river, so I often get the chance to watch ospreys swoop down and pluck striped sea bass from the water, quite a sight. I'm trying to persuade the village that I live in to erect, or let me erect, a nesting platform for them, then I can get a decent spotting scope and watch the 'private' life of a family of ospreys. I helped out in a bird of prey centre back in the UK for a while also, mainly flying and hunting rabbits with a Harris hawk....that was pretty cool too.

 

[cobbler]

Were the parents 'dive bombing' you when you were banding the chicks? .

We were never bombed by the eagles. I've been told that the only place Bald Eagles do that is in the Aleutians where they tend to nest on low ledges and get the habit from defending a nest from ground predators. There are not many ground predators that will climb 70 feet to raid an eagles nest in the lower 48. Goshawks and Coops are another thing. Don't want to climb into there nests without back of neck protection. Cobbler

 

[begleytree]

We were never bombed by the eagles.

tell that to chris farley! remember the movie almost heros? c'on ya dam bird!! funny movie!
my favourites were " whitewater in the morning", "the bear is worse!!" and "he's got something in his hands!"
-Ralph

 

[hobby climber]

Nothing better than eating your lunch 75'+ up in a big cottonwood tree and having the best seat in the HOUSE!

Just can't beat the view! HC

 

[Industry]

Been climbing for tree work 2 years. I used to climb trees as a kid all the time. My friend and I used to climb up these two trees that were 4 feet apart at the top, then try to kick the other out of their respective tree. I can't believe we are still alive actually I don't know what we would have done if we had actually succeeded in kicking someone out of a tree top! I get to do all the fun stuff in trees like trimming over 19Kv lines, doing removals near those same lines, but I do like my Bucket truck on days when it's really windy or I'm just too sore to pull myself into the tree