Well, the little man is doing great and should be discharged from the labor and delivery ward today. Yesterday he tested borderline for Jaundis, so he was placed under a UV light yesterday afternoon up until about an hour ago. He was not a happy camper by any stretch of the imagination, which made it a tough night for my wife.
But, all is well now. I am holding him as I type this, and he is sleeping comfortably. He is doing amazing!
My wife is still doing well, although more sore today than she was yesterday. She has only taken Motrin for pain relief (even though Percocet has been offered a few times). She is powering through it and doesn't want the Percocet to transfer to the baby from the milk.
Thanks to everyone for all of the well wishes. We are looking forward to get home and introduce the little man to all of our animals (3 small dogs and 3 friendly cats). Also have many friends that are excited to come meet him!
On a positive note, the phone has been ringing off the hook since I've been in the hospital. My partner and I knocked out a tiny job yesterday (removed entire crown of a 50' tall Gumball, then felled tree in yard using a cinch line and a rope pulley system to pull it against the wind). Went quick and easy! Had 3-4 new estimate requests, as well as a few calls from estimates we did quite a while back that we had all but forgotten about and weren't ever expecting to hear from again. I am still planning on taking a majority of the next few weeks off, only accepting the best money making jobs that we can make a quick buck at and keep things rolling.
My partner worked yesterday to mount a small winch crane into the back corner of our dump truck, for lifting large logs into the bed for disposal. He got everything done except drilling the mounting holes, since my drill didn't have a big enough chuck for it. We bought the crane lift from Harbor Freight, for $135 with an additional 10% discount and $6 shipping. It has a 1000# capacity, and lifts somewhere near 90". The entire crane pivots 360* at the pole, so we can lift and swing logs into the bed. The crane boom is completely removable with just a small lock pin, so we can shoot chips into the truck leaving only the 5' pole sticking up out of the bed. We don't have the extra cash to buy a tractor or mini-skid yet, so we figured this is the next best thing to get us by. We have loaded several tons of wood into the bed on a few jobs, and our backs hated us the next day. Had to cut everything down into small pieces, and still took 3 men to lift them into the bed (which is chest height). Hoping we can use this to lift logs one end at a time that are ~6' in length.
~Will Courtier~
~Will Courtier~