Crushed hand

Work will become more mundane when you're more skilled, if you don't have new challenges.

I bet the best tree peeps have found this.

Used to want to run big saws with big b/c... now short bars skills are preferred. I love a whole day with a 2511t.


Some jobs may never spark joy... we all need plumbers and trash collectors.


PHC and Consulting are arborist work all day.
Tree wrecking isn't arborist work.
New challenges can be found within and outside the tree world.
 
I was on the bike after the cast was off. It was a whole lot more motivating than squeezing a dish rag. Three metacarpals at once. At first I could only hook my hand and pull the clutch back with whole forearm movement. Later I was able to finger squeeze it. Sure picked up my spirits doing some riding. :) Ask me about riding with a cast on my ankle, dare ya :) Favourite line, I'm limping along with bandaged ankle, broken hand and sprained other hand, a few fractures they missed, not a mark on my face and a guy passing me on the sidewalk goes "I'd hate to see the other guy." Was a beer drinking, fighting type of town I was passing through. Took me a few moments to get the guy's gist after he said it.

Hoping some levity helps :)
 
Sutures came out yesterday, new removable cast made. Pin sticking out of my metacarpal for another few weeks. Getting more movement in some of the fingers. Hand is very swollen, cuts are on their way to healing but they’ll be a while.

Bone should be healed in a month or so. Lingering soft tissue will be a recovery of 3-6 months.

Learning some old a cappella Scottish tunes. Learning to hang laundry up, do dishes, and more with one hand. Haven’t started one handing a chainsaw so don’t ask lol. Exploring some work opportunities that keep me involved with plants and trees in a more… let’s say… observational sense.
 
Do not speak openly of - how do you manage your pants for a wizz one handed? Challenging. Even worse - asking your buddy to help you when both your hands are toast! "Unzip me... " "This shall never be spoken of ..."

On the soft tissue, I took over a year to feel fairly normal again. But the early gains were rapid up to say 75%. I think the bone bumps/bulges in my palm were a factor in the full use of my hand.
 
tough one... it's often the simplest mistakes that happen to the highly experienced. sounds like you have a good attitude... hopefully you will find a way to turn this around and make something good happen. there's a trick to it... simply make up your mind to do it and use your creativity.

did you ever hear of the late great Scottish storyteller, Duncan Williamson?
 
Daniel said:
tough one... it's often the simplest mistakes that happen to the highly experienced. sounds like you have a good attitude... hopefully you will find a way to turn this around and make something good happen. there's a trick to it... simply make up your mind to do it and use your creativity.

did you ever hear of the late great Scottish storyteller, Duncan Williamson?
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Not until now… will definitely check him out. I’m a devotee of Jean Redpath (scot), Shirley Collins (Brit) Jean Ritchie (Appalachian) and Ivor Cutler (scot) and learning about more as I go.

I wish my great uncle were still alive. His cabin was a museum of Scottish memorabilia. Not to mention he was an arborist for 40 years.
 
Welsh.
The Welsh are as British as the English and there’s no appetite amongst them for independence.

Edit. From the United Kingdom btw, but that’s a different story.
 
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Treezybreez said:
Any update on your hand?
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Hey, thanks for checking in.

With a bit of luck and a great surgeon, and slow gains with PT stretches, it’s mostly back to normal. My index finger has slightly less mobility, and my hand strength is still lagging. But I’ll take it.

I was doing soil work in the winter but developed tendonitis in my good hand due to overcompensating. The tendonitis in that hand has persisted for months after quitting manual labor, unfortunately. So hand strength in both my hands is shot. My wife almost beat me in an arm wrestle which goes to show you where my arm and hand strength is at.

Luckily staying busy doing tree sales work. My life is very different these days- been focusing more on music (should have a new album out at the end of the year) and silly skit videos on Instagram (had one go viral recently.)

I miss climbing though. I’ll probably never tote a chainsaw up a rope again but I’d like to do more rope access work in the future- possibly do some holiday decoration installs or something.

Cheers.
 
Do elaborate about the music. I'm a guitar man myself. "played both kinds of music, Country and Western" :) Rollin rollin rollin, rawhide... just kidding, played pop metal etc
 
Bart_ said:
Do elaborate about the music. I'm a guitar man myself. "played both kinds of music, Country and Western" :) Rollin rollin rollin, rawhide... just kidding, played pop metal etc
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Pop metal. Hell yes. Not what I’m up to, more like dream folk or something.

It’s what I went to school for… it’s what I was nerding out about when I was 13 recording weird ditties.. had some fun times back in my 20s but haven’t been active in a long while.

Pheribee.Bandcamp.com
 
The stuff at pheribee was all pay, any free snippets to hear? Would you go as far as to do a Booooob Dylan song or is that not in your wheelhouse?
 
Bart_ said:
The stuff at pheribee was all pay, any free snippets to hear? Would you go as far as to do a Booooob Dylan song or is that not in your wheelhouse?
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No covers. Takes a lot of time and money to get things recorded, so I do my own material. I’ve covered Bob Dylan before- something off Desire, 20 years ago..
 
"Still not sure exactly what happened in that split moment."

then you should be DONE in this industry. If you can't figure the mistake out within a week, then go away for your own sake; or die.
 
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