Any other compulsive tree trimmers out there?

[Old Monkey]

I am an obsessive compulsive tree trimmer. There I admitted it. I can't look at trees without starting to prune or remove them in my head. My wife barely puts up with the running tree commentary when we are driving around in the car. I am thinking about volunteering(that's right--no money!) my services to my neighbors so I won't have to keep looking at their unkempt trees. I suppose I could seek professional help and try to cure myself but I prefer to canvass my fellow tree folk to see if its just me or others prune trees in their sleep...

Well, how about it? How many of you see tree branches in your neighborhood that your just dying to cut? Have you ever got caught looking over someone's shoulder at their trees when you were supposed to be looking at them? Do your spouses groan when start talking about poorly trimmed trees in town? Fess up.

 

[fpyontek]

Good thing your not a gynecologist.

 

[JonnyHart]

Not so much a compulsive trimmer as much as a remover. I drive around and want to start knocking on doors. " Sorry to bother you sir, but I want to let you know that your wood is plenty seasoned, and it should not be standing a hundred feet high.

 

[hobby climber]

Your not alone. For me its the City trees and the the Pi$$ poor job that some city workers do on them. Things like lion tailing, topping, improper limb removal, removing over a 3rd during reduction, butchering trees while line clearing, and my biggest pet peeve...overlooking dead trees(or trees with dead limbs) that could fail that are located in parks & playgrounds! And yes, my wife has been known to roll her eyes whenever I start talking about trees and there condition. HC

 

[treechick]

Gazing out the window at a restaurant, my boyfriend asks me, "Whatcha thinking about ?" I'm afraid to tell him that I think that the crabapples throughout this Bob Evans landscape are so poorly pruned that I'd be willing to do them for next-to-nothing. Drive myself nuts with it sometimes. Have also been known to (and caught at) stopping the truck, jumping out, and exposing root flares of newly overburied landscape trees. Crazy.

 

[PTS]

My wife would rather ride by herself as apposed to riding with me for the same reason. Always got wood on the brain.

 

[tinman44]

i work for utility full time and i say to my wife "look they installed that new recloser" or "that lightning arrestor looks bad let me stop and call it in".

 

[dayman]

Doing windshield trim jobs is something that our enablers tolerate, some better than others. I've been told, with gritted teeth, to NOT look at trees! Yes, sweetie ;-)

 

[jimmyq]

*

 

[Stumper]

Always got wood on the brain.

My wife thinks that about me too.

 

[Stumper]

Do you guys find that you frequently forget a previous customer's name and address but remember the trees when you get there?

 

[PTS]

I try to tell my wife... Looking at trees is a whole lot better than looking at other woman. That will usually settle the score!

 

[treechick]

Heyyy... he's right ! We just may have the next "AA" going here ? Let's start a 12-step for it !

 

[geofore]

I come to this site because I talked the wife out on the subject of trees. Her eyes start to glaze over when I talk about trees. So I head for the computer and AS. She said I need an "I Break for Trees" bumper sticker. You don't need "AA" you just need the bumper sticker.

 

[rb_in_va]

Well, how about it? How many of you see tree branches in your neighborhood that your just dying to cut? Have you ever got caught looking over someone's shoulder at their trees when you were supposed to be looking at them? Do your spouses groan when start talking about poorly trimmed trees in town? Fess up.

My wife tolerates my idle tree talk while driving around, and I'm a computer programmer! One day we were driving home and the guy that lives two houses away had cut down all the trees in his yard. I started fussing that the guy never considered how him cutting his trees would affect the neighbors. She's a good woman though, she puts up with my ranting, al least for now.

The other day at work I remarked to a coworker about some new trees that someone had put in. They were planted about 18-24" from the curb, and mulch was piled about 6" high around the trunk. I said, "some people just put trees anywhere." Then she said that she had planted some trees close to her house. I asked how close and she said about 5-6'. Then I asked her what kind of trees they were and she didn't know.

Sign me up for the 12 step program!

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

i also suffer from this disorder..and unfortunatly it look's like my 12 yr old daughter has inherited the illness

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It's not an illness, it's a vocation. You have a little voice in your head calling you to climb threes.

(for you who don't get my humor, a vocation is a calling, hence the little voice...)

How often do you do your winshield ID's and then see something you need to slow down for and get a rude comment about being late...again!

My new girlfriend is still in the stage of being impressed by my knowledge. I wonder when she's going to fall off it .

 

[rb_in_va]

It's not an illness, it's a vocation. You have a little voice in your head calling you to climb threes.

You think so?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

You think so?

It is for me, in the litteral and the humorous way I use it above.

I've tried to go in other directions on a number of occasions and missed tree work so bad i had to go back to it.

Not only is it fun, but I'm fascinated by plant science.

BTW, the WAA conferance with Gilman was great, once again. It is so good to have ones intuitive and anecdotal beliefs validated and explained by science.

Maintaining branches and sprouts by a pruning wound does fasciliate compartmentalization.

Using reduction cuts and short cycle pruning does help develop good long term structure in young trees

Oops! I got on the soap box again

 

[MasterBlaster]

I look at just about nearly every tree I go by. In my head I'll trim em, put a treehouse in em, drop crotch em. I routinely check up on the very first tree I ever trimmed. Over the years I've accumulated many trees in this town. It's cool.