JeffGu
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Osceola, Nebraska
The animal kingdom goes about its business, rain or shine, with relative impunity and damn little complaining. The human condition, in contrast, is fraught with disaster and laden with misery... with only the occasional bright spots between. Now, you might be inclined to erroneously feel a substantial amount of sympathy for the stray dog or cat that wanders down your street; trust me, those stray dogs, feral cats and dumpster diving possums live a cushy, worry free lifestyle compared to humans. Unless, of course, they happen to live in one of those remote parts of the world where the lingua franca expresses the concepts of "dog", "cat", "road killed possum" and "what's for dinner" all with the same word.
I had to drive thirty-something miles yesterday, to hang a gate on a fence... the last bit of work to finish the job and collect payment. Two miles from the jobsite, it began to rain. Ten minutes into the work, the rain turned to sleet. By the time I finished, it was snowing, blowing hard, and the temperature had dropped from 43F to 31F in an hour. While I was out back, the homeowners had slipped out and were gone. No pay today.
Then, as I packed up to leave, the next door neighbor wanted me to cut another limb off his tree in the front yard. The only saw I had with me was the little Echo CS-271T that I recently bought but hadn't actually had in a tree, yet. But I agreed.
With the air temp slightly below freezing, but the trees and ground being warmer than that, everything was a horrific, slushy mess of stuff that was wet, stuff that was frozen, and stuff that was undecided as to whether it should freeze or merely turn my boots soggy. All three stuck to the rope and mechanicals like bad luck sticks to an arborist. I was miserable. I might have hanged myself with that Aztec rope if my friggin' hands weren't so cold I couldn't tie a granny knot in a rubber band if my life depended on it.
But...
The little Echo tophandle (poor man's MS-150T) started on the first pull and ran like a champ. Cut the whole limb up into firewood for the guy, I was so pleased. Even the 6" diameter stuff didn't give the saw any trouble.
There you have it. One of those occasional bright spots between the disasters and the misery. I charged him forty bucks because I was so happy that little saw didn't fight me when I was in the tree, and because my freakin' brain was frozen into a lump of mush. I mean, really? Forty bucks barely covered the gas the truck used getting up there and back. I blame it all on the miserable human condition, shitty Nebraska weather and the very distinct possibility that I'm an idiot. Hey, but that little saw...
I had to drive thirty-something miles yesterday, to hang a gate on a fence... the last bit of work to finish the job and collect payment. Two miles from the jobsite, it began to rain. Ten minutes into the work, the rain turned to sleet. By the time I finished, it was snowing, blowing hard, and the temperature had dropped from 43F to 31F in an hour. While I was out back, the homeowners had slipped out and were gone. No pay today.
Then, as I packed up to leave, the next door neighbor wanted me to cut another limb off his tree in the front yard. The only saw I had with me was the little Echo CS-271T that I recently bought but hadn't actually had in a tree, yet. But I agreed.
With the air temp slightly below freezing, but the trees and ground being warmer than that, everything was a horrific, slushy mess of stuff that was wet, stuff that was frozen, and stuff that was undecided as to whether it should freeze or merely turn my boots soggy. All three stuck to the rope and mechanicals like bad luck sticks to an arborist. I was miserable. I might have hanged myself with that Aztec rope if my friggin' hands weren't so cold I couldn't tie a granny knot in a rubber band if my life depended on it.
But...
The little Echo tophandle (poor man's MS-150T) started on the first pull and ran like a champ. Cut the whole limb up into firewood for the guy, I was so pleased. Even the 6" diameter stuff didn't give the saw any trouble.
There you have it. One of those occasional bright spots between the disasters and the misery. I charged him forty bucks because I was so happy that little saw didn't fight me when I was in the tree, and because my freakin' brain was frozen into a lump of mush. I mean, really? Forty bucks barely covered the gas the truck used getting up there and back. I blame it all on the miserable human condition, shitty Nebraska weather and the very distinct possibility that I'm an idiot. Hey, but that little saw...
I also use it alot for felling small trees that I want to use a Palm tree hinge on. Sorry I'm sure thats not whats it's called but I watched a guy using on a palm tree so that is what I call it. Basically it is both H & V cuts with the hinge center cut out so you can drive a wedge in without bottoming out.
