whadja do today?

[mike515]

Good. I never thought I’d say it, but I’ve been too busy anyway. These good time Charlie tree services are snarfing up all the extras falling off my plate. Lol. ****ers.

I'm going to start calling them good time Charlie now.

 

[tree MDS]

Good time Charlie can suck it LOL!!! 20’ body kicks ass. I climbed down in the body to make sure that last chunk was in and I had a foot left. Nice Sunday project.

 

[tree MDS]

Not bad. Almost got it all. Heavy load. I have to say, these things are pretty tricky to operate. The learning curve to get real comfortable with it is still a ways out. If you never ran one before (like me), it’s a whole body thing. Every limb does something. And with the price tag it’s not for the faint of heart lol.

 

[treevet]

Picked up a new toy last week...'19 S650 Bobcat. Used but completely gone over and new paint by Bobcat Cinci. Looking for the best grapple.

 

[treevet]

Not bad. Almost got it all. Heavy load. I have to say, these things are pretty tricky to operate. The learning curve to get real comfortable with it is still a ways out. If you never ran one before (like me), it’s a whole body thing. Every limb does something. And with the price tag it’s not for the faint of heart lol.
View attachment 904654

Love to see a video of loading a pile of logs like that sometime.

 

[derwoodii]

If anchor or anything fails that boy is bout to have a cracked open melon.

agree i was very surprised the trainer thought this was ok especially as i ended up being the guy hooking the participant in harness

we did discover that most operators basic bucket helmets with out a chin strap just fall of when you get over the side & begin to rappel

 

[treevet]

agree i was very surprised the trainer thought this was ok especially as i ended up being the guy hooking the participant in harness

we did discover that most operators basic bucket helmets with out a chin strap just fall of when you get over the side & begin to rappel

I rappelled out of my 75 foot Teco boomed all the way out one cold day with temps in the low 20's and wind howling and blew a main hose. Thought about transferring to the big ash I was removing over the house but no confidence in the strength of the small limbs next to me.

Had my groundie shoot a bean bag at me and I pulled up a 150 climbing line, tied into the snap on my lanyard wrapped around the tip of the boom. Wasn't about to wait for my hydraulic guy to get there in 2 hours and then take hose back in and replicate it and come back and install it , likely 5 or 6 hours suffering.

 

[capetrees]

You need dot numbers for any commercial vehicle (even a one ton) regardless of whether or not you cross state lines. I forget the specifics, but anything over 11k pounds sounds familiar.

And I've asked before and nobody has an answer yet.

WHY do we need DOT numbers? What purpose does it serve?

 

[mike515]

The only times I've ever had to get out of the bucket and get down was a couple of times I didn't realize we were so low on fuel and we ran the truck out. I just had someone toss up a throw ball and then tie on my rope and then my climbing gear. Mostly just an annoyance.

 

[mike515]

I did some estimates today and then replanted (in pots....from the ground) a couple of small magnolias that weren't doing very well. I think they were planted too deep and I can save them. I also planted 83 maples from seed today. We'll see how many we can keep. I've been watching this tree drop seeds for a good number of years. It doesn't take much for the seeds to grow. I've been pulling them out of my landscaping for just as many years.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Worked for 9.5hrs, went to look at a Unimog, Home Despot for a few things, yard work, plugging away at cleaning the garage. Midnight now. Waiting on the burn barrel to die down so I can go to bed.

 

[treevet]

The only times I've ever had to get out of the bucket and get down was a couple of times I didn't realize we were so low on fuel and we ran the truck out. I just had someone toss up a throw ball and then tie on my rope and then my climbing gear. Mostly just an annoyance.

I try to NEVER run out of fuel in anything. Worry about sediment on bottom of tank fouling schit up.

 

[mike515]

I did some estimates today and one of them was for a couple of ash that are very obviously infected and toast. The lady wanted a price to elevate the crowns. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable taking her money for something like that when the trees are definitely going to die fairly soon. She asked me to give her a price as if they were totally healthy because she wanted to compare it to a price that "Good Time Charlie" gave her to do the same thing (I'm going to say Good Time Charlie forever now...maybe just GTC). So anyway....I gave her a price for about an hour or two. His price was about 4 times my price. I'm starting to think that maybe GTC isn't too bad if he's making it this easy on me.

 

[tree MDS]

Got my order from Sherrill yesterday finally (what wasn’t on backorder). Very happy with the slings (thanks, Dave). Wish we had these things years ago.

I was saying that if tree work gets any easier anybody will be able to do it. (Not really, but you know what I’m saying).

 

[tree MDS]

I did some estimates today and one of them was for a couple of ash that are very obviously infected and toast. The lady wanted a price to elevate the crowns. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable taking her money for something like that when the trees are definitely going to die fairly soon. She asked me to give her a price as if they were totally healthy because she wanted to compare it to a price that "Good Time Charlie" gave her to do the same thing (I'm going to say Good Time Charlie forever now...maybe just GTC). So anyway....I gave her a price for about an hour or two. His price was about 4 times my price. I'm starting to think that maybe GTC isn't too bad if he's making it this easy on me.

Apparently GTC has scoffed up all the 201tcm’s too.

If you’ve never had the on/off switch stop making contact on those, it’s a real pain in the ass. You have to rev it up in order to choke it to shut it off.

I ended up going through my saws at the shop and came up with my favorite 200t that the oiler stopped working on, but screams. Good enough for a day or two. Dropped off the 201 with the switch (I just don’t deal with saws) and two others. Next round I’m gonna drop off three 200’s. I should be able to get something that runs and operates right out of the six. Ordered a new 201 too. Grr.

 

[mike515]

That happened with the saws around here after the storm last year. It seemed like every saw in this state sold in one day. We had enough saws but it did make me wonder what it would be like if we somehow found ourselves with all of our saws stolen (or whatever could happen) and then another storm hit and we couldn't get saws or chain, etc. It would be inexcusable for us to not be prepared for that situation. So now we have a bunch of brand new saws in reserve and rolls of chain. I like to try to be ready for anything.

 

[treevet]

We had about 20 saws stolen years ago. It made me not want to ever get another saw stolen, not buy more saws in case it happened again. They are watching you to see if you slip up. You have to think that way. I have an amazing collection of saws now and most are modded. Guarded by this

 

[mike515]

We haven't actually had anything stolen in years (that I know of) but it's nice to know that we have back-up/replacement options for just about everything we own.

 

[mckeetree]

practices bucket escape technique, its part of required annual crew training

View attachment 904598

Where's his helmet?

 

[derwoodii]

Where's his helmet?

not worn to my surprise the trainer informed us not required

apparently due to helmets not fitted with chin strap just fall off once lean back 90 degree to get feet below bucket edge