whadja do today?

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Some days I feel like it but I am way to committed at this point to turn back. Had a good year this year. Finally found a good employee that cares and wants to learn. I been teaching him to climb, and new week he is taking a certified arborist short course. Hoping in the next 2 years to have a 75' high bucket truck too. I changed the way I was pricing jobs this year. I been pricing them for what there worth and not to get every job. I worked a whole lot less hours this yearand made more money. I only worked a few weekends the whole summer, which makes the wife happy. Lol

Don't lie. All you do these days is beat scrap metal into hammers and call it a living.
 
I greased my chipper today... real good!

I rooted through piles of debris to make clean chips to put atop the mud and horse **** at the ( you know where). I couldn't believe after all these years I actually NEEDED to make wood chips and didn't have any.

Old Bethy Baby called me in a desperate quandary needing the chips up there. Its been raining all week and I just can't find people stupid enough to pay to schlepp the plywood. I AIN'T GONNA SCHLEPP ALL THAT PLYWOOD! Soes I ain't be getting any jobs done and have been feeling pretty sad about the whole thing. Pretty sad in fact, very sad, a deep sad, a bad sad. Its bad.

I even rounded up the trash cans. I tied the big rolling bin to my hitch and promptly destroyed it when I tried to back up. I found a bunch of 20 ounce Budweiser cans in the bottom of one trash can and when I find the girl that put them there I am going to run off with her. I didn't even know they made 20 ounce Budweiser cans!

Just going down the 2 mile dirt road covered my trailer in a mud so rank and filthy that it would take a bright warm sunny day to wash it off. I just wanted to stop right there and cry.

Went to one of those I Fly places with the family today. Its a wind tunnel, like parachuting. The instructor was a young guy, svelte and muscular, dressed in a very tight orange jumpsuit and had a noticeable bulge in the middle. He said he would appreciate if we pay attention to the orientation class he was giving and he didn't really like touching all the strangers he came into contact with on a daily basis.

As we were exiting the classroom I approached him, breathed my liquor and cigarette breath on him and told him that if even came close to touching me I would kill him and to just let me die in any such case as him needing to touch me for any reason. My daughter challenged him to a handstand competition which she won after the wind tunnel.

I got in there and bashed against the glass and bounced of the metal grate on the bottom but the instructor did indeed keep his distance. This was around 10 O'clock Sunday morning. Then I told my wife that if she said 'Penera Bread' one more time I would put her on the same program I put the svelte, muscular dude in the overly tight orange jumpsuit on. I wouldn't let either of them touch me unless I was plumb drunk. And guess what!??

After all that I came home and looked up the tablature to 'Slip Sliding Away' because the nearer you are to your destination the more yer slip sliding away.

Sing with me now ( and harmonize):

We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Think we're gliding down the highway
But in fact...
 
Hell if I know what Dan is on about. I'm prolly as drunk as he is right now!
By the way Jeff, I don't know if I admire or hate you at the moment.
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Do you understand my dilemma?
 

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So what makes this gadget so great and how much does it cost?

Like the ZigZag does with DdRT, it eliminates the hitchcord/rope and gives a more compact setup that is very predictable and consistent... only on single rope. Unlike the ZZ, it is midline attachable very quickly and easily. On ascent, the device will let the rope just flow through it, and slack tending is easy, like the ZZ. It's two friction pins/cams are adjustable, and so far I've found it quite easy to find the sweet spot for the ropes that I have tried. The only 1/2" rope I tried was an especially fat one, and there's a bit more friction than I like, but I will try it on some others when the weather improves. The KM Max is only 11.1mm and I'm liking that rope the most, so far, but it also really seems to like the 11.5mm All Gear Cherry Bomb and the 11.7 Yale Aztec ropes I tried. Others have had good luck with 11.5mm Teufelberger Tachyon and 11.7mm Donaghy's Cougar ropes, too. It very much likes a firm rope that doesn't flatten out too much under load through the device. A few guys have been trying it with other static, kernmantle ropes like Sterling HTP and Yale Kernmaster for this reason.

I can tell you that compared to the Rope Wrench and hitchclimber setup I have been using for SRT, this thing tends slack better, is easier to advance up the rope on ascent, grabs more consistently and doesn't slap you in the face with a bunch of metal like the RW setup can do. The ability to quickly take it off the rope and midline attach it makes redirects and other climbing scenarios a whole lot easier. You can even set a couple of lines and travel from one to the other... just lanyard in and swap ropes. It is a very well engineered and solid feeling device... more so than anything else I've personally seen. Very comfortable on the hands, and easy on the rope.

This is the GoFundMe version, technically a prototype (but a near-production version) that was a limited run Jaime made for the first 50 contributors that gave $300 to the fund drive. Rock Exotica will produce them, under license, from here on out. They made most of the aluminum parts for this run. They will do further testing and probably refinements and handle the certification process, before they go into production and are available. No idea what RE will set the price point at, but if I had to guess, I'd say probably somewhere in the $350 to $500 range. RE doesn't make or sell cheap stuff, but they will certainly produce a product that is highly refined. This version is about as perfect as can reasonably be asked, but RE is an amazing company and will probably find a way to make it even better. It might come onto the market this year, yet... nobody knows for sure, and RE is obviously not making any promises about a release date. They'll do that when they're ready to, I'm sure... these things are always a waiting game.

The good thing about all that... at least fifty people have them in their hands, so any refinements that RE might want to make can be based on feedback from climbers putting them to work in a real world environment. That's always a good thing, in my opinion. Better to work any bugs out well in advance of any production notices. I thought Jaime's early prototypes were shear genius, and had the potential to be a better mousetrap. I really feel that his dedication to his device's development... the years of steady improvements, especially in this last year or so... has produced the best mechanical SRT device out there. Not that there aren't other good ones, I just think this one might end up being the best of the lot, at least for many people.

Of course, all of this is just my opinion. There will be plenty more video and forum post information in the coming months, I'm sure, so y'all can decide for yourselves if it is something you want or need.
 
I greased my chipper top to bottom then made a bunch of chips and dealt with some nasty tangled vine infested mulberry trees. Got a couple inches of snow while in the process but temps stayed warm. As Jeff would say it was a beautiful day.
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So long story short I pulled ripped or destroyed muscles and or ligaments in my arm yesterday ....

I go to the immediate care today they refer me to a specialist, I call specialist they say sorry next appt avalible is Feb 7th....

Our work comp has a network of providers who seem to work at some of the busiest places in the state...
I can't move my arm it hurts to try and move it at all I have to move it with my other hand if I need to reposition it.

My question is am i stuck waiting on the orthopedic surgeon or since this is a work injury can I say **** this and just go into the ER where they might do something? Like is wc expecting me to seriously wait for 2 weeks?



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So long story short I pulled ripped or destroyed muscles and or ligaments in my arm yesterday ....

I go to the immediate care today they refer me to a specialist, I call specialist they say sorry next appt avalible is Feb 7th....

Our work comp has a network of providers who seem to work at some of the busiest places in the state...
I can't move my arm it hurts to try and move it at all I have to move it with my other hand if I need to reposition it.

My question is am i stuck waiting on the orthopedic surgeon or since this is a work injury can I say **** this and just go into the ER where they might do something? Like is wc expecting me to seriously wait for 2 weeks?



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You can try and get the immediate care doc to find you another specialist who can see you sooner.

I suspect the ER will give you some pain killers and muscle relaxers, pat you on your head and send you home.
 
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