Hola Chicas,
I'm Elena. Well, where to begin? I live in beautiful Portland, Oregon. I'll be 30 next month and I have worked for Honl Tree Care just shy a year as ground crew, and started climbing in August. I'm the only girl on the crew of 8 now I think, and I'm totally cool with that. I'm a bro's bro kinda girl anyway. Peeing in the back of the chipper truck gets annoying sometimes though. Ha! I grew up playing in the woods and snow in Anchorage, Alaska, I'm the daughter of a drunken sailor, studied Sociology and Spanish in Portland while waiting tables, lived in the jungle in Oaxaca, Mexico (mostly in a tent, then in a super adobe dome I built) the last two years prior, so yeah, I'm a tough cookie with a wicked dirty sense of humor.
I'll be honest, we lost one of our hardest working employees recently, and we've all had to step it up a notch. I'm climbing more and more now, and this week really kicked my ass. I messed up my shoulder somehow. I go to the bouldering gym a lot too so It could have been anything, but I realize I need to work smarter and cough up the coin for better gear so that I may punish my body less. I love working hard and outside in whatever the weather may bring, but it won't last if I don't take better care of myself.
I plan on taking horticulture classes in the fall and becoming ISA certified soon. Everyone always asks when I'll start competing, but I've never been much of a competitive sport person. We'll see I suppose. I've got a ton to learn, and it sometimes feels daunting, but I have an amazing, supportive crew and wonderful kind boss, not to mention tons of fellow tree people in town to reach out to. I spent my Saturday planting with Friends of Trees, getting kids and neighbors out in the rain to meet and plant street trees. Just creating a little job security.

Or maybe it helps clear my conscience of all the removals we do. Anyways, I love trees.
All the boys use this site, and with my little injury it occurred to me that I need to work smarter, so here I am. Teach me oh wise arborists! I'm an enthusiastic student.