whadja do today?

They do say “Arborist” on the side.

lol

 

Elm removal and some stump grinding. I broke my jaw and had to play catch up. Injury was not tree related or anything cool.

 

Beautiful day doing some storm damage down on a lake. Tree service of the future was lookin good, if I do say so myself.

 

Had crummy day today. Bid on a removal real tight quarters on the edge of a road JUST outside the MAD's of a residential service drop on one side, a house on the other only maybe 3ft of swing room from the closest limb. And fiber/comms lines on the road side. bid it high knowing it was gonna be a PITA got the call last week I beat the bid of one of the big outfits but just barely.
So show up this morning, road flagging company showed up shortly after and shut the road down so we could start work. Set a TIP in the highest crotch. tree looked healthy enough from the outside to climb boy was I wrong.
Started spuring up to the first fork get about 15' up and gaff peeled a huge chunk out, no big deal. Reset made two steps up and another big chunk peeled out on the other side.

My trainee seen me gaff out and asked if all was good, told her ya not exactly, give me a minute to assess before I go any further.

So I re set yet again up but this time it just didn't feel right setting in sortta like stepping on foam or loam ground. So decided to descend and re evaluate the plan of attack.

Get feet about 6' from ground and sloop both gaffs came out, loaded my line with about a foot' of slack in it and snapped the crotch I had set my line through.

No injurys, thankfully. Decided this tree was not getting climbed by me. Called the client *township* gave them the bad news and the supervisor met me onsite to see for himself.

We shut down the site sent the flagging crew home, unfortunately I took a loss on job *still gotta pay for the flagging the crew*but town is one of my biggest clients so a bit lost on one job will get made up over time.

The tree itself looked sick but still sturdy enough to climb from the outside, unfortunately that was a lesson learned, thankfully without any serious injury. I am sure there's someone reading this that would have kept climbing it but I tend to err on the extreme side of caution. Don't make as much money but my kids only have me so can't really take unneeded risks.

Offending tre
e

 

Doesn't look too bad from my tiny screen but the guy who put hands on it and puts his life in it makes the call, it's that simple for me.


I've heard stories of people who couldn't climb a step stool giving advice on tree work.

Nah sir.

 

Cost of living is pretty low around here, $20 and up is livable if it's full benefits/insurance.

I just think this upcoming generation would rather be plugged in and sitting down. No matter the pay.

That a ground position or climbing?

 

Ground

 

Looks like I finally landed a full time climber/bucket operator. starts in a couple weeks.

Finally.

 

So are we going to make a betting pool on how long he lasts?

I have a guy coming to talk to me tomorrow.

 

Yeah, I know, right!!

We’ll see. This kid has already helped me out here and there over the last five or six years, so we both have an idea what we’re getting into.

I’m willing to give it an honest try, that’s all I can do. If it doesn’t work I’ll just keep doing everything myself like I’ve been doing forever anyway. Lol.

Good luck with your interview!

 

At least you know what you’re buying. 99% of new hires, especially “climbers” blow smoke up your rear.

I got a guy trying out today. Can’t wait to see what comes in.

 

I’ve been “trying out” this scrawny little puke for the ground this week. Kid makes me absolutely sick just watching him. It’s like a combination between a little girl and a very old man. And I’ve never seen anything move so slow in my entire life!! Boot thirty after today.

 

The scrawny puke probably would look like treeman of the year had not you got a call from a "climber bucket" champion lol.

 

Trying to get this guy to come in for $15/hr. Stud.

 

That is one funny as heck and easily relatable description ! (like a combination between a little girl and a very old man)

 

Haha. He never even got started. Sounds like his current employment offered him more money to stay. so he's doing that (with winter coming and all).

That's okay. It was a nice thought. Back to the tard heap. Lol.

 

Prolly whip you right into shape!

 

That’s typical. I tried out a new guy yesterday. Lots of experience but he twisted his back around 10:30 and had to sit in the truck the rest of the day. I checked a reference and his work history is riddled with no-shows every week.
In other similar news, my old slacker worker who lost his bed pan cleaning union job. Now I have him again unfortunately. If I can get him to not show up with red eyes in the morning I think this can work.
Also had a new guitar amp come in the mail and the ******* I bought it from didn’t include the foot switch for switching channels. Stuck in clean mode and that isn’t going to do me any good since I’m not serenading a church service.

 

That’s typical. I tried out a new guy yesterday. Lots of experience but he twisted his back around 10:30 and had to sit in the truck the rest of the day.

Ruh Roh....Work Comp claim :-(

 

He didn't have the vision of the Tree Service of the Future I guess