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[Rabid K9]

Trying to fit three day jobs into two to get more done in a week. Don’t mind or 14 or 15 hour days, but the family does.

Blasting out a block clearance for new build last two days, lots of wood products from the job, retained some beautiful trees on the lot. Have rustled my old man out of semi retirement to operate the stump grinder, previously ran his own business, loves to thrash other peoples machines & being around the action.

If jobs are co-ordinated well, between wood products & a reliable stump grinder, has almost doubled daily turnover with little extra work.

 

[Rabid K9]

Tow rig unexpectedly needed new breaks last week. Had to break out the old back up truck. 96 12v 2500 320,000 on the clock.

My brother said the colors remind him of Mardi Gras. A real head turner going down the road. Haha

Can see that. Some kind of baby blue that ute has going on there.

Do you cool out the job site kitchen in the camper?

 

[Rabid K9]

Got a typical highly technical MDS style job set up for this week. Me and my main ground guy went out and delivered mini G, some plyboard and a lift today. Job is out in the country a half hour away, and limited space for vehicles, so will be nice to just show up with the truck/chipper (and pickup), back up and go to work.

Hoping for five days pay in four with that bit of pre-planning/prep. Make up for the holiday.

Half an hours drive?

Jeez, gets one of part way down the driveway in Oz.

 

[tree MDS]

Damn!! Thems some beautiful pics!!

All I got is a big old ash we set up on one of those heavy duty septic systems for. A lot more going on than you can see in the pics. Pretty damn complicated rigging for even The MDS, but we’re getting here. A huge piece on the other side (like a third of the tree) was already off in these pics. Wood is gonna be a chore over the septic, not looking forward to it. Killer view anyway!

 

[Helmstein]

That thing fits in a dump trailer!!?? Don’t they recommend a jib rest?

Here you go! Thoughts?

 

[mikewhite85]

Absolute tong hammer, pretty much booked out for the year & filling up next. The real constraint is numbers of good staff, which is partly why good operators who are still in business are so busy, basically not enough people in the workforce to do all the work there is demand for. And if your an employee, with half decent skills, there is plenty of $200K jobs begging for staff in the resources industry.

Anyway took a Saturday morning off to do quotes, looked at a good national park job to get a campground open from fires eight months ago & snuck in a quick surf at a favourite tucked away beach nearby. Good to see a healthy carpet python moving in the burn area.

German shepherd might be the supermodel of the operation, but the pedigree mongrel is brains & muscle. No one gets within 50m of the equipment without his permission.

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Those pics are amazing. Time to move to Australia!

Been working hard in a fairly rainy week. Would have been nice to have an MDS machine on this one. Took jason a day and a half to finish it. I climbed a very nasty ash nearby. Had a nice tie in point in an adjacent maple.

 

[Rabid K9]

Damn!! Thems some beautiful pics!!

All I got is a big old ash we set up on one of those heavy duty septic systems for. A lot more going on than you can see in the pics. Pretty damn complicated rigging for even The MDS, but we’re getting here. A huge piece on the other side (like a third of the tree) was already off in these pics. Wood is gonna be a chore over the septic, not looking forward to it. Killer view anyway!
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Septics!! Got to love the bastards....

Find that bombing a decent piece of wood is a sure way to locate the 'unknown' tanks that the plumber hasn't been able to find in two months.

The compact track loaders do a fair job of breaking through the lids as well.

 

[Rabid K9]

Those pics are amazing. Time to move to Australia!

Been working hard in a fairly rainy week. Would have been nice to have an MDS machine on this one. Took jason a day and a half to finish it. I climbed a very nasty ash nearby. Had a nice tie in point in an adjacent maple.

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Manky!!

Just phone photos lately, haven't had time to download my SLR in months.

 

[Rabid K9]

Another job last day before ‘holiday’. Coastal lot in pretty expensive little hamlet. Bit of a sandbag through landscape contractor, 3 hrs of travel, didn’t factor in all the iron hard coastal stumps, property owner with all the personality of a hibernating salamander.

Rained like a bastard, but we got make a hell of a lot of noise in compact surrounds.

Got it done. Negotiated a middle ground price. Got stitched up $50 selling the mulch to a little old lady who pulled the ‘little old lady’ trick. Small dog people!! Can’t be trusted.

Didn’t fall in any septic tanks, went on holiday afterwards.

 

[tree MDS]

Back on that Ash this morning. Really was an impressive specimen. Had a lot of fight in it too. Lol.

 

[tree MDS]

****ing tree.,,

Not one broken branch in the surrounding trees. I was pretty impressed with that outcome.

 

[mikewhite85]

Some pruning today.



We usually wait til October to prune oaks but it's been pretty cool so we let this one slide a little early!

Finished a big difficult job yesterday. Thought it was a success...Used the smaller bucket for a small ash from their neighbor's driveway for about 10 mins. Our customer had already talked about it with him but he hadn't yet confirmed we could have access. Well this morning my admin assistant got a call from him claiming we damaged his driveway and we are responsible to replace it. Yikes! I checked it out and I am quite confident we did not damage it at all. There are lots and lots of depressions all over the driveway that must have been there for years... the morning rain really highlighted it well.


The insurance company is figuring it out. They will send out an adjuster to determine if any of the depressions are recent. I can't imagine there will be much of a payout if anything. Funny thing is that even if I did have explicit written permission, he would have dinged me on it anyway.

Next month I have a crane job where we need to set up in a neighbor driveway. We do have permission but I am deeply thinking of reconsidering after this experience.

 

[tree MDS]

More fun with ash trees and lifts. Grcs really shines on multi-stemmed clumps. Just gotta be gingerly, set it up right and have a real good rope man.

 

[tree MDS]

Some pruning today.

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We usually wait til October to prune oaks but it's been pretty cool so we let this one slide a little early!

Finished a big difficult job yesterday. Thought it was a success...Used the smaller bucket for a small ash from their neighbor's driveway for about 10 mins. Our customer had already talked about it with him but he hadn't yet confirmed we could have access. Well this morning my admin assistant got a call from him claiming we damaged his driveway and we are responsible to replace it. Yikes! I checked it out and I am quite confident we did not damage it at all. There are lots and lots of depressions all over the driveway that must have been there for years... the morning rain really highlighted it well.
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The insurance company is figuring it out. They will send out an adjuster to determine if any of the depressions are recent. I can't imagine there will be much of a payout if anything. Funny thing is that even if I did have explicit written permission, he would have dinged me on it anyway.

Next month I have a crane job where we need to set up in a neighbor driveway. We do have permission but I am deeply thinking of reconsidering after this experience.

Plywood?? I’ve never really plywooded a driveway for crane work, but I know a lot of pros do.

If you think you’re gonna spend your whole career without coming over to the plyboard side, it’s not happening!! Lol

 

[tree MDS]

Trying to fit three day jobs into two to get more done in a week. Don’t mind or 14 or 15 hour days, but the family does.

Blasting out a block clearance for new build last two days, lots of wood products from the job, retained some beautiful trees on the lot. Have rustled my old man out of semi retirement to operate the stump grinder, previously ran his own business, loves to thrash other peoples machines & being around the action.

If jobs are co-ordinated well, between wood products & a reliable stump grinder, has almost doubled daily turnover with little extra work.

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That last pic with the two slings, I’m wondering if a couple of grapple tongs bridged with some sort of weldment might help speed things up? I’m sure you’ve probably had that idea, but just wondering if it’d work, or why not?

 

[Groundman One]

Back on that Ash this morning. Really was an impressive specimen. Had a lot of fight in it too. Lol.
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We have two just like that to do within the next two-weeks. I'll get some pics. I asked the client what she wanted to do with the wood and she said her neighbours wanted it. Uh...... no no no no no

So I gave her a price that included taking two loads of wood. It was the same price as not taking two loads of wood, but, you know, to hell with her neighbours. If they want the wood they can cut the ####### trees.

 

[tree MDS]

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[Groundman One]

Did you have any concern about that limb taking the shock and weight of the dropped piece?

 

[tree MDS]

Did you have any concern about that limb taking the shock and weight of the dropped piece?

Oh course, my friend. That’s why I had everyone positioned in the safest possibly spot, and got myself and the lift out of there too. I knew by this point that it would be fine though, the cut before was bigger and taller and the rigging withstood that, so you build confidence, you know how it goes. I knew it was gonna graze that spindly rigging top, everything. 33 years baby lol

 

[Groundman One]

Oh course, my friend. That’s why I had everyone positioned in the safest possibly spot, and got myself and the lift out of there too. I knew by this point that it would be fine though, the cut before was bigger and taller and the rigging withstood that, so you build confidence, you know how it goes. I knew it was gonna graze that spindly rigging top, everything. 33 years baby lol

Now I feel like a newb with my 25.

What's you thought on single ring rigging instead of pulleys when the load is down around to 10 to 20% of the rope WLL? We've never used rigging rings but they look tasty.

I didn't write that out properly.