Those ladder guys

[TREETX]

Saw this one last week near my house. Post Oak - dead, still has bark. I think these guys stopped because someone got hurt. I have not seen them at the site in a week.

Not sure if you can see the tree goes over the house.

Left a note w/a number for just disassembling the tree.

Laughed when I saw this though.

House looks poor and small but it is central Austin $350K easy.

NEVERMIND - save yourself time, only 1/4 of the pic is there. Sorry.

I'll try to resize.

Nate

 

[M.D. Vaden]

THESE LADDER GUYS

Hi,

Only saw a photo with the top 2' of an extension ladder and some tree canopy.

Reminds me of something I saw in Beaverton, Oregon about 10 years ago.

It was a big Weeping Willow - 70' to 80'.

There was a fully stretched 24 foot extension ladder against the trunk and maybe 12' of a main limb.

Then, about 3' to 4' above that, started the bottom of a second 24 foot extension ladder extending upward.

How they held it there, and tied it in place along its entire length, I did not see.

But limbs were pruned off all the way up that 50' of the 2 ladders plus an additional 15' to 20' that must have been with a pole pruner.

Nearby was a pickup with some of what I call "migrant" landscape maintenance people that have slowly been encroaching on landscape contracting, maintenance and pruning in the Portland, Oregon area.

Mario Vaden
Landscape Designer / Arborist

M. D. Vaden Trees & Landscapes
Beaverton, Oregon

 

[NeTree]

You're just kidding.... right??

Maybe we should get into the life insurance business...

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

The ol'fella that i first did tree work with pulled up here to try to 'borrow' some rope one day. i said "Chris, Dean doesn't believe that you are stupid enough to tie 2 extension ladders together end to end and climb up on'em!"

Well, Chris spoke right up for himself; he said "Hailllllllllllll, i've tied 3 together when i had to!"

 

[murphy4trees]

I saw a tree co. a decade or so ago that had a 60', three section, extension ladder on the job.... pretty hefty...
The guy pointed out that he had drilled the top and put an axle on it with a pair of lawn mower wheels just outside the rails.. said it helped the ladder roll over the bumps and imperfections in the trunk, as they extended it while it was leaning against the tree.
With modern ascending techniques it is unnecessary to have that size ladder on the truck, and I have always believed in and effectively used ladders....
And the only time in 20 years of this work that I've had more than a scratch was when I set up a ladder wrong..... serious brain fart... like... what was I thinking????? And hopefully that will take care of complacency for the next 10 years or so. Who knows... it may have even saved my life.
God Bless All,
Daniel

 

[underwor]

Showed my video in class last week of a fellow on a 16' extension ladder, set in the fully raised bucket of a bobcat loader, making a cut with a O40 Stihl on a 18" upright cottonwood branch with no notch. It was hooked to the construction companies big loader with 3 spliced log chains and enough tension to bring the rear wheels of the loader off the ground. He got by with it.

Bob Underwood

 

[NeTree]

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how some people can roll the dice like that and still live.

Reminds me of the logger I saw one day a few years ago who would nose his skidder up to a tree, leave it in gear, and slash-cut it over. Of course, jumping like a jack-rabbit into the cab of the skidder to keep it from running anything else over.

Problem with luck is that it eventually runs out. And the people who get by on it either kill themselves, or someone else.

Considering the high cost of liablility insurance, and the death and injury rate in this biz, I'd say there's nothing wrong with running these people out. Ya never know- it might be YOU or your FAMILY they kill someday!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I was working with an old timer recently. I'm untieing a rigging line and he walks up and starts bucking the stick for firewood right next to me. Saw flying all over the place. I had to tak a little walk, stuff a rope or something for a while. Had a talk with my "boss" on the job over diner.

Man I was hot.

 

[Tim Gardner]

I just started grinding a 36" stump when the home owner came over with a shovel and started scooping out the chips from the hole to fill in spots the tree hacks made while taking the tree down. I din't say a word. I just loaded up the stump grinder and headed for the yard. If that metal shovel would have gotten into the teeth, one of us would have been hurt.

 

[Stumper]

Tim, I've had that happen also. I just stop and ask the homeowner to stay back till I'm finished. So far I've had 100% compliance-if some idiot doesn't listen THEN I'll load up and go!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I can understand Tim's situation, having sum yutz come up and stick a shovel next to the running head would get my heart going.

 

[xander9727]

Situational awareness is a never ending job for us. For most of us it would feel "uneasy" to walk under a laden crane, or run a chainsaw right next to some one. However, for the average person who has never seen a chain saw injury or a strap break these things are "no big deal". There are two things that worry me the most with tree work, power lines and "lookie loo's". The first I'm sure is tacitly ($5 word) understood. The second can be the greatest of dangers. It never fails to amaze me how the sound of a chain saw will bring a whole neighborhood out of their houses but a car alarm can go off all night and no one even looks out the window. You could be cutting down a 120 foot oak in the middle of a field and people will feel that they need to be 5 feet away to see it. I tell myself on every job to look down before making a cut. I know it seems like common sense but it is easy to get focused on the task and not pay enough attention to your surroundings. You get into a groove and you "just looked down a second ago". I have had a few close calls but the Lord has blessed me so far in that no one has been injured. A few months ago I was topping a large maple and I had made my notch and was about to make the back cut when I looked down to check the LZ. There was the home owner, standing at the base with a glass of water. Now his intentions were good but his judgement was very poor. I asked him to step back and then chewed the groudies when I got down for letting him get as close as he did. I have had people try and put garden tools in front of the grinder and take it upon themselves to try and chip brush. I've even had a guy "borrow" a chainsaw without asking, and he was the neighbor not the customer. I can't say these things really surprise me. I've been in over 30 countries and there are "mentally challenged" people all over the world. What does amaze me is when you politely (if possible) tell them that they are endangering their life, your life or both that their response is usually apathetic (another $5 word). I can see why my life may not be at the top of their list (we don't live in a stranger friendly world) but, not their own. I guess that's why some people dig ditches, some are doctors and engineers and the luck few that endure become arborists.

 

[Stumper]

Hmmmmm...... My worst worry is the seemingly ever increasing number of unattended children. I like kids. I like to teach kids about trees. I DO NOT like to look down to find the 4 yr old from 3 doors down standing under the limb I'm about to cut!

 

[Reed]

Xander, you should be our 'poet laurate'.

"we don't live in a stranger friendly world" and...
"...the lucky few who become arborists."

Well said, thoughtfully put, and I couldn't agree more.