Each of us are self made. Those of you lucky enough to have been born into a Family with Money and Values have, or most likely will, inherit some of both. But even that is not a sure thing. I know of many people who had it all at birth, born with a silver spoon as is often said, and they, feeling they had it made, never made anything of themselves. I suspect that there are many in that category posting here now. If your Father started a tree service and did all the hard start-up work, then handed it to you on a silver platter you got quite a head start compared to someone (like your Father) who had to put it all together on their own. This isn't a bad thing as long as you also acquired some values as well. The true measure of a man is how he treats others, especially those in a subordinate position. If you treat others like bums then you are a bum. I consider many of you losers because of this simple measure. The way the chatter goes on this site shows me that many of you are losers and bums regardless of your business or tree work skills. So flame me all you like because in doing so you are revealing your true nature. Real men are polite to others, washed up wanna-be's lash out and attack others because it makes them feel superior. You are not superior if this is your modus operendi, you are a lamer with nothing of value to add to any discussion.
I started out getting back into climbing by getting a job with a tree service here in Pittsburgh as a groundie for a year and a half. It was a Family owned business for over 60 years and the current owner (Mr. "B") was 74 years old. His Son, a 50 something drunk, was the "bucket queen" and couldn't have held a job anywhere else. Unlike many of you however he was a pretty nice guy, and never abused anyone. The hired climber (my Mentor) ran the show. Although it was a multi-million dollar operation it was totally old school. They didn't have a loader of any kind, not a BobCat or even a backhoe, the business relied on the backs of their laborers to load the trucks. The Old Man could have bought the best there is out of his pocket, but he didn't.
One job in particular was a huge Oak, easily 4~5' in diameter for 30 or 40' of trunk and the rounds were just too big to load by hand. The climber brought his splitter (which could lay right down horizontally on the ground) and we rolled the big rounds up on it and split them into manageable pieces. This was far faster than cutting them up across the grain with chainsaws. We were able to dolly them up a ramp into the truck. It was this experience that led me to think that a splitter might be a good addition to my gear. Especially since now, as in this thread, I am considering selling firewood as an off season business. Sure it would be great just to buy a nice grapple truck and forget about woodchucking firewood to make it through the Winter but that is not where I am at right now so I've got to figure a way to stay alive over the slow season and selling firewood might be it.
