A & E...The art and Zen of the Grunt (Groundworker)

[TreeTarget]

You wandered into the drop (sometimes called the kill zone) zone and got chewed out I assume. Make eye contact with your climber and get him to give you an all clear after you request to enter.

Yes, walked into the zone...no chewing, just a head's up shout. Hard situation with vines and hang-ups. No excuses...caught being distracted by the cold wind and rain...

 

[treevet]

Yes, walked into the zone...no chewing, just a head's up shout. Hard situation with vines and hang-ups. No excuses...caught being distracted by the cold wind and rain...

A climber left me a few years back to go on his own. Within a couple of weeks he dropped a chunk on a groundy (from a pine) and cracked his skull.

 

[jefflovstrom]

A climber left me a few years back to go on his own. Within a couple of weeks he dropped a chunk on a groundy (from a pine) and cracked his skull.

Debbie downer, can;t you have a good ending?
Jeff

 

[treevet]

guess I could make something up just for you Jeff, instead of trying to help Treetarget to be aware and not suffer consequences.

 

[jefflovstrom]

It's all good,
Jeff

 

[tree md]

Here's what I tell the guys that work the ground for me...

The idea is to be smarter than the log you are trying to work with...

 

[treevet]

You always are gonna get the ones that want to put their heads down and barrel in there and make you wait to make a cut tho. I fired one that kept doing that to me and ended up with a scar on my left thumb having to grab the branch and hitting it with my thumb to save his ass.

 

[tree md]

My guys know to ask me if they can clean up. I generally tell them that as long as the saw is not running they can move but when I say stand clear that means stand clear. I will usually take a break every now and then to let them get cleaned up if I am burying them. And I always let them get caught up before I drop chunks on brush. Just makes the ground work go quicker it they don't have to move logs off of brush to cut. Might keep me in the tree a little longer but it makes the overall operation go faster I think. I just take a comfy perch and watch them work for a change.

 

[treevet]

Sometimes too, esp in a bucket, you can work one side while they safely work the other side after you have moved (especially in a large spread tree). Sycamore we worked last week had about a 160 foot canopy spread. You could hardly hear each other talking from gm to me it was so far..

 

[tree md]

Wow, that's a heck of a Sycamore! Is that the one you were going to try to get some footage of? Would love to see that tree.

 

[TreeTarget]

I think that was the point of this...as I rounded the front of and passed by the engine of the bucket-truck, I didn't hear the chainsaw motor going...should have said that up front. Still, no excuses...

 

[treevet]

Wow, that's a heck of a Sycamore! Is that the one you were going to try to get some footage of? Would love to see that tree.

I got some mediocre picts on my compact but next week I have to take a few with my slr for tree of the year award for our town. I will put some up then. There is a tree in the next yard just as big we are doing after the ho files his tax return 4/15. I have had my Teco which is 70 foot plus my reach of 8 feet or so that is a little over half way up both trees. There are quite a few Tuliptrees taller than that around here and a few oaks in that range and even a few pignut hickories. Lots of the big boys have gone down in storms lately tho.

The big sycies are mostly around the creek beds.

 

[treevet]

You said they don't get real big in your area MD but they are usually the biggest tree in eastern states. I worked on one in NJ that was the biggest one in that county and I think the biggest tree in the state was a sycamore. They are also called buttonballs and right now the balls are breaking up all over the streets and gagging me up and alot of others from allergies.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/nature_sketches/93314

 

[tree md]

Good article.

Yeah, from what I have read, the Sycamores are the biggest Eastern tree as far as mass. Tulip Poplar do get taller they say but don't have the same mass as the big Sycamores. I'd say that they are our largest tree around here as well. I have yet to see a Tulip Tree here.

I'd venture that we have some Sycamores and Cottonwoods approaching 100' around here. Mostly in the river bottoms. I'm sure there are a few taller trees in the state but generally speaking, we have a low canopy compared to other parts of the country. We still get some pretty massive, sprawling trees but they just don't generally reach the heights of trees in most other parts of the country.

I'd say the tallest tree I have ever worked in was a Tulip Poplar that was right at 120' (we pulled a tape on it). But that was back in GA

 

[TreeTarget]

I think the biggest tree I ever worked on (height wise) was a sycamore in Wisconsin. The boss up there refused to take out a tree, not a sycamore, that was more than 6 feet in diametre. Never seen a tree with that big of a circumference this side of the Rockies...but I don't get around much. The sycamore we trimmed and vacated of ice damage the other day was nice, but nowhere as large as I have seen them (more asthetically pleasing as symetrical, but not overly tall.

 

[TreeTarget]

Had a change of pace last week...did not have to clean up. Cannot say how much that bugged me, but less work I guess. Back was sore enough after stooping over with the saw all day.
Dealt with a bunch of nasty vines today. No poison ivy, but a mess nonetheless.
See, lotto winning could go both ways...retire, or get all the toys to do the job right, use each one once...and then retire. Tough choice.

 

[tree md]

Yes, I am on the lotto retirement plan as well...

I had to come down out of the tree and teach some Art and Zen of ground work today... Can't say I was happy about that. Hopefully I got my point across...

 

[TreeTarget]

Boss got out of the tree more than once yesterday...could have kept up, but was busy trimming furniture wood out of the pile. Didn't work out too bad, he knew I was pressed to do both. There was just so much to deal with later, that it didn't matter, and he'd had breakfast, so no guilty feelings. Vines and lack of access proved to be the bigger obsticles.
Great news...more vines tomorrow...

 

[TreeTarget]

Can't say today was a good day, but was definately not a bad one...BIG trailer of brush, almost full trailer of furniture-wood. Boss is gonna move soon, and I am not looking forward to moving all the furniture-wood we have saved. At least 6 loads that I can think of right away...probably alot more than that. Good thing, it will sure be alot lighter after having sat for the drying.

 

[TreeTarget]

Trunk of the beast today was sound...up to two feet, then came the rot...would guess a person could have stood up inside the thing before it was cut, and all of the tree was that way. Made for a pretty easy job...just nasty-slime rot everywhere...and the loss of habitat for and life of critters. Lunch was good, but have to stop eating so much...Damned buffets.