introduction

[tordon22]

Just wanted to take a little time to introduce myself. This is a really cool website, never seen anything likr it. I am 54 years old and have been in the tree service stuff since 1975. I,am not a new age tree man wit the caribiners, blocks, and all the other rigging parafinilia one needs to be a tree man today. I come from an age of manila climbing lines, plain snaps and cast aluminum chain saws that weighed a ton. I,ve seen a lot of evolution over the years that has been for the good, and have even tries some of them out. While I was in high school, a close friend of mine who was a little older got killed doing tree work. I was due to his own laziness in that he failed to undercut a large limd on a willow and it came back on him and crushed his chest. I had a close call back in 81. I was working back East then, We were removing a large pin oak that was dead. I checked it out and it seemed real sound. While climbing up I had to really slam the hooks into it because the wood was so hard. I rigged a bull line at 60', dropped down to 40' and lowered a 12" limb. The guys on the ground feathered it down real nice hardly jerking the tree. Next limb, a little bigger, did not get feathered down so nicely. Instead, they let it come over then took up on the line abruptly. Doing so was too much for the tree as it caused it to twist at the stump and me, the limb and the rest of the tree went for a fast ride with a hard stop. I had gone down 40 feet and got tore up. I broke numerous bones in my right ankle and leg, crushed my left ankle, broken all 3 bones in my left elbow, and totally wrung my right wrist around 180'. Also I got harpooned with a stick all the way accross my ribcage between the bones and skin. Thanks guys! That was in August and by the grace of God I was back climbing in March of the next year. All during my tree climbing days I also sprayed trees for insects, fungus ect. In 95, I moved to Oregon to do tree work with a friend and after a while got into herbicide spraying. I have my own company now that specilizes in noxious weed control and tree spraying. I still climb some, but it is getting kinda old. Its easire spraying weeds. I do a lot of work on a 4 wheeler and 4 wheel drive pickup in areas that are really remote. Its the coolest job I have ever done in my life. See lots of deer, elk and other critters and find great places to hunt and fish. I still ache from the fall sometimes, but its a reminder. Through it I came to know the Lord. I think that everyone should know Him and what He has done for us, especially tree climbers cause the work is kinda dangerous.........I guess that is why we do it. Thanks for your time. Tordon 22

 

[treeseer]

Hey I rememger Tordon; nasty weedkiller we used on ROW work. No one else on the crew bothered reading the label. I suited up and got laughed at. My ROW career was brief. :alien:

Welcome! I'm the same age as you; started 10 years earlier. My major accident was June 1980; could blame coworkers or Act of God, but my own bad decisions played a big part. 8 monhs off, and back to school after that, thanks to generous voc rehab in WI. Many minor ones and many more near misses. I still climb 20+ hrs/wk; aches from old injuries but do not plan to stop til I'm 75 or the world ends, whichever comes first.

Glad you're likin what you're doin; I went the other way, more urban work, more small jobs.

 

[smokechase II]

Tordon 22:
Is there a way a fella could have figured out how sound your oak was?
When falling, you bore anything that you're doing something special with to check for rot. How much rot was in your oak? Could one bore in with saw or drill to check? If your oak wasn't solid, oh boy.
All the best, I'm 53 and a fair bit slower than I was at 35 and I was whining then.

 

[stehansen]

That's quite a story. I just turned 52 last week. There are more of us geezers in the biz than I thought. Thanks for the story and welcome.

 

[begleytree]

Guy, you sure you read the right label? Used to be a rep around here who would eat the pellets at the shows to prove it was harmless to animals.

Tordon, Welcome.
-Ralph

 

[Tree Machine]

And you post a picture of yourself in your avatar and we're suposed to think 'no problem'.

Begley, please stop eating herbicide.

Good that you could join in, Tordon. Your ride down with the oak just give me shivers. Glad you recovered and found a peaceful way to carry on.