Today....

Muggs said:
It's tied down to 3 ground stakes, the twisty kind that you drill into the ground. Heavier duty than the cheap ones for small dogs. These things are strong, I've thought many times about using them for ground anchors for zip lining on the job but still haven't tried it...
Click to expand...
Haven't tried a zipline, but I have used them as a redirect for pulling back leaners in certain scenarios. Damn things don't budge
 
Have a friend who is 88 years of age call me to take down a tree he was afraid would fall and get hung up over his driveway. I popped on down to his place to take a look. 60' tall, thin balsam that was still kicking on the top 20' but rotting terribly at the base. If it fell it would have hung up at about a 45 degree angle over the driveway. No way to drop it down the drive without smashing some young paper birch he had planted. I managed to get a line about a third of the way up and pulled on it hard enough to feel comfortable climbing it. I hate balsam trees. Nothing but a lot of dead branches for 40 feet. Not like the ones that grow out in the open. So, I sheared branches on my way up until I was able to lope off the twin tops and chunk my way down. I knew he was going to try and pay me for the job, but I talked him into letting me dip my hand into his cigar humidor instead. I withdrew an Aston Cabinet which runs about 25 dollars. He grabbed one himself and we spent the next two hours sitting in his screen porch enjoying the cigars and reminiscing about how the world has changed, and what the hell happened to our politicians and their parties.
It was an easy day with a good friend. Would have been a dandy day to sip some good bourbon as well, but since I have not had a drink in several years, I was not about to go down that road, and he knew not to offer, although I'm sure he was dying to get his hands on a glass himself. Probably made a run for one as soon as I left. I also know I will get in my truck one morning and there will be 50 to 100 dollars sitting on my seat and he will claim he knows nothing about it. We have been good friends for more than fifty years. We have watched each other grow older and weaker over the years, and have always lent a hand when needed. I know he feels bad that he is not able to help me as much as he used to do, and I pretend that he helps me a lot still, but he knows I am just pretending to make him feel better.
Good, old friends. Becomes important at a certain point in your life.
 
Shadowscape said:
Have a friend who is 88 years of age call me to take down a tree he was afraid would fall and get hung up over his driveway. I popped on down to his place to take a look. 60' tall, thin balsam that was still kicking on the top 20' but rotting terribly at the base. If it fell it would have hung up at about a 45 degree angle over the driveway. No way to drop it down the drive without smashing some young paper birch he had planted. I managed to get a line about a third of the way up and pulled on it hard enough to feel comfortable climbing it. I hate balsam trees. Nothing but a lot of dead branches for 40 feet. Not like the ones that grow out in the open. So, I sheared branches on my way up until I was able to lope off the twin tops and chunk my way down. I knew he was going to try and pay me for the job, but I talked him into letting me dip my hand into his cigar humidor instead. I withdrew an Aston Cabinet which runs about 25 dollars. He grabbed one himself and we spent the next two hours sitting in his screen porch enjoying the cigars and reminiscing about how the world has changed, and what the hell happened to our politicians and their parties.
It was an easy day with a good friend. Would have been a dandy day to sip some good bourbon as well, but since I have not had a drink in several years, I was not about to go down that road, and he knew not to offer, although I'm sure he was dying to get his hands on a glass himself. Probably made a run for one as soon as I left. I also know I will get in my truck one morning and there will be 50 to 100 dollars sitting on my seat and he will claim he knows nothing about it. We have been good friends for more than fifty years. We have watched each other grow older and weaker over the years, and have always lent a hand when needed. I know he feels bad that he is not able to help me as much as he used to do, and I pretend that he helps me a lot still, but he knows I am just pretending to make him feel better.
Good, old friends. Becomes important at a certain point in your life.
Click to expand...
Great story, put me in mind of this superb ad from 2001
 
A while back, someone thought it wise to “prune” off a 20” lead from a Silver Maple. Well, the resulting cavity led to an entire 1/3 of the tree doing exactly what they were afraid of. When it came down, it wiped out half of a Norway Maple and several fences and understory trees. Came in to take out the remainder of the Norway and the bits of Silver that made it into this back yard. Second phoot is over 600# of carnage that had filled the yard when we got there. Wrapped up and shipped to the street in minutes. The remainder of the trunk will remain as habitat. If you zoom in on the second photo you can see where the Silver trunk tore out.

img_2039-jpeg.88319
IMG_2041.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2039.jpeg
    IMG_2039.jpeg
    816 KB · Views: 135
L3VI said:
That crane is super cool. What a rad piece of equipment. Never seen anyone else using one either.
Click to expand...
You may see some in the near future, but I’m not sure if anyone else will share their experience online. The dealership told me I was the only owner in North America when I pulled the trigger back in 2020. Since then, at least 3 other units have been purchased by tree care services. I find it hard to believe there aren’t more, but I also think it will begin to catch on. I imagine it was hard to compete with the grapplesaw truck craze going on when the unit first hit the market. Thinking back to the TCIA Expo events of the past, the shows these days are basically iron-fests. That tiny little crane is a hidden gem.
 
I got great satisfaction with a view- pruning and ornamental pruning job, both from my own experience, and the customer's benefit. 5 Japanese maple, salvaging an ugly blue spruce with some semi-cloud pruning, a dogwood, and a mystery flowering tree with fragrant flowers.

An elderly lady, now house-bound, and somewhat limited to her bedroom had lost a beautiful view to growth. She can see all her many flower-filled rhododendrons, and so much more of the Puget Sound, now. Her maples were quite overdue for pruning. Looking airy, unclogged, and ready to show their structure in the dormant season.



Had a lunchtime break to see my gf play her mandolin and sing her songs at the Olympia Farmers' Market.
 
southsoundtree said:
I got great satisfaction with a view- pruning and ornamental pruning job, both from my own experience, and the customer's benefit. 5 Japanese maple, salvaging an ugly blue spruce with some semi-cloud pruning, a dogwood, and a mystery flowering tree with fragrant flowers.

An elderly lady, now house-bound, and somewhat limited to her bedroom had lost a beautiful view to growth. She can see all her many flower-filled rhododendrons, and so much more of the Puget Sound, now. Her maples were quite overdue for pruning. Looking airy, unclogged, and ready to show their structure in the dormant season.



Had a lunchtime break to see my gf play her mandolin and sing her songs at the Olympia Farmers' Market.
Click to expand...
This sounds like a perfect day.
 
Second day on this site (shared photos of round one before), pruning firs and madrones between the house and water for small pocket views and more light without losing much screening. It's a challenge trying to take a somewhat light touch on the trees so they don't look stripped out or too artificially 'windowed' while achieving eye-level views of the opposite shoreline, and doing so taking into account multiple levels/rooms of the house and multiple decks. And I was solo with the customers taking a hands-off approach, so I'm often climbing trees, doing the obvious, going to the ground, hiking up the hill, looking from two rooms and decks again, then climbing the trees again to do final touches. You can only work with that you have in terms of trees/foliage, but it's going well and the customers are very happy so far.

0 thinning 01.jpg

0 thinning 02.jpg

0 thinning 03.jpg

0 thinning 04.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom