newbym
ArboristSite Member
Oh yeah, it's been one of those days.
So it's been snowing - a lot. If any of you saw the snow thread, that pic I put up was what we got in one day. Needless to say, getting the truck out is not an easy proposition, especially since the driveway is too narrow to bring the plow into beside the truck.
We get a call yesterday eve. from the school board for one of the small towns here. They have a compromised Pondo that has uprooted and is now laying into another tree, sitting at about a 35 deg angle with a nice bow in it. It's threatening an alley and a couple garages so we can't just cripple the tree that's holding it up and let them both fall. This is the consensus of 2 certified arbos, 3 professional timber fallers who all have old growth experience, and a licensed forester who's been in the game for over 30 years.
We tell the customers that we'll head back to the shop and start digging, get there as fast as we could with the truck. Dug until dark, then woke up to another 10"+ to deal with (not much, but my driveway seems to have converted to a swamp, and we have to back out). We decide that we don't have time to finish digging out, what with the fresh wet snow coming down, so we head over to the tree with plans to at least throw a couple of our rigging lines on it and guy it off to a large tree beside it, giving us some time to finish digging out.
Honestly, none of this is really much of an issue, just the joys of living in the mountains. It's what happens when we show up to the tree that really tests my diplomacy skills. We get to the tree and there's a city plow truck in the ally, and the driver's out moving the barricades and danger-tree ribbon we have set up. I figure he's wanting to plow the alley real quick, was a little irritated with him ignoring the barriers, but whatever. I say hi, he says how's it going, I say better once I've dealt with this tree.
This is when he looks at me and says "no you aren't, I'm getting ready to."
My first thought is that the customer called a few guys about the tree and forgot to tell this guy that they were using me. I tell him we can call the customer, try to get this figured out, because we had a signed contract for removal. He laughed and told me to go ahead and do that, then walked off to talk with some other city plow guy. I franticly tried to contact the customer, but with no success. Look up from my phone and realize that the city guy is pushing snow and mud up against the destabilized root mass (keep in mind that this tree failed out of a tight stand of trees, and I can see interwoven roots), clearing a path for his grand plan, which, he informs me, is to "just knock that guy over with my machine."
I explain to him that I'm not trying to be an ass, but he is on private property trespassing on a job-site which we have been contracted for, and that the board members had already committed to. He proceeded to explain to me that he "don't give a fudge (<---I'm being nice) what some school board has done, unless we start cutting in 10 minutes he's taking the tree down.
After a little more back and forth like this, I finally convince him to try to track down the customer, threatening sheriff involvement if he didn't start acting reasonably.
I can't believe how ignorant and full of themselves people can be! Oh well, in the end he made himself look like an ass to a number of prominent locals, and the school board would now like us to organize an arboricultural education day. Talk about you silver lining. I'm pretty sure I can get the local paper to pick up a little story if we do it. :msp_thumsbup: Pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten the speaking offer if the customer had walked over to find me rolling around in the mud and snow with that guy duking it out.
Alright, off the soapbox, I've vented, BP's back to normal....
So it's been snowing - a lot. If any of you saw the snow thread, that pic I put up was what we got in one day. Needless to say, getting the truck out is not an easy proposition, especially since the driveway is too narrow to bring the plow into beside the truck.
We get a call yesterday eve. from the school board for one of the small towns here. They have a compromised Pondo that has uprooted and is now laying into another tree, sitting at about a 35 deg angle with a nice bow in it. It's threatening an alley and a couple garages so we can't just cripple the tree that's holding it up and let them both fall. This is the consensus of 2 certified arbos, 3 professional timber fallers who all have old growth experience, and a licensed forester who's been in the game for over 30 years.
We tell the customers that we'll head back to the shop and start digging, get there as fast as we could with the truck. Dug until dark, then woke up to another 10"+ to deal with (not much, but my driveway seems to have converted to a swamp, and we have to back out). We decide that we don't have time to finish digging out, what with the fresh wet snow coming down, so we head over to the tree with plans to at least throw a couple of our rigging lines on it and guy it off to a large tree beside it, giving us some time to finish digging out.
Honestly, none of this is really much of an issue, just the joys of living in the mountains. It's what happens when we show up to the tree that really tests my diplomacy skills. We get to the tree and there's a city plow truck in the ally, and the driver's out moving the barricades and danger-tree ribbon we have set up. I figure he's wanting to plow the alley real quick, was a little irritated with him ignoring the barriers, but whatever. I say hi, he says how's it going, I say better once I've dealt with this tree.
This is when he looks at me and says "no you aren't, I'm getting ready to."
My first thought is that the customer called a few guys about the tree and forgot to tell this guy that they were using me. I tell him we can call the customer, try to get this figured out, because we had a signed contract for removal. He laughed and told me to go ahead and do that, then walked off to talk with some other city plow guy. I franticly tried to contact the customer, but with no success. Look up from my phone and realize that the city guy is pushing snow and mud up against the destabilized root mass (keep in mind that this tree failed out of a tight stand of trees, and I can see interwoven roots), clearing a path for his grand plan, which, he informs me, is to "just knock that guy over with my machine."
I explain to him that I'm not trying to be an ass, but he is on private property trespassing on a job-site which we have been contracted for, and that the board members had already committed to. He proceeded to explain to me that he "don't give a fudge (<---I'm being nice) what some school board has done, unless we start cutting in 10 minutes he's taking the tree down.
After a little more back and forth like this, I finally convince him to try to track down the customer, threatening sheriff involvement if he didn't start acting reasonably.
I can't believe how ignorant and full of themselves people can be! Oh well, in the end he made himself look like an ass to a number of prominent locals, and the school board would now like us to organize an arboricultural education day. Talk about you silver lining. I'm pretty sure I can get the local paper to pick up a little story if we do it. :msp_thumsbup: Pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten the speaking offer if the customer had walked over to find me rolling around in the mud and snow with that guy duking it out.
Alright, off the soapbox, I've vented, BP's back to normal....
