The most unusual customer requests you've gotten..

[BostonBull]

I did the cat rescue thing once, about 2 years ago. Got a call at 5:00 on a friday to get a cat down from a tree. Good thing I took the bucket to this one. it was a small dia Black Locust in a filed that was around 50-55' tall. The cat was all the way to the top and was having no part of anyone coming near it. As I approached in the bucket it would climb higher hiss and paw at me. I coaxed it over to me with treats and it started purring and letting me pat it. EVERY time I tried to pick it up nice and easy it would let its fon paws off, then scratch the heck out of me and into the tree. This became very frustrating so the owner, who is also the animal control officer, told me to stick a pillow case over it then pry it of and tie the pilowcase up tll we got to the ground. That didnt go over so well with the cat basically smae outcome as befoe except a little less scratched up. She then yells up to grab it by the scruff and stick it in the bottom of the bucket with me, this wasnt happening by any means I am already bleding from my hands and arms. The final outcome after a few hours of doing this was to get one of those poles with a wire thorugh it that cinchs around an animals neck to keep them at bay. I went up got the cat around the neck with it and pryed it off the branch but I had it too loose for fear of hurting it and it fell 20 feet!! Uh-oh! She says you have to really crank on it pu you muscles into it, it'll be fine on the short ride down just let it loose when you get to the ground ASAP! I got it around the neck one more time cinched up real hard the tongue came out and flew down as fast as the bucket would go to the ground. the cat was clawing the stick and doing twirls a the end of it trying to get free. I let it go and it clawed the crap out of the owner before running up on the house roof! The owner says I can handle this one. She paid the co. 400 for the cat rescue and gave me a $50 tip for stayingso late on a friday.

NEVER AGAIN!!!

 

[SRT-Tech]

I love cat rescues....cats, no matter how mean and ornery, calm down around me. A little trick to getting a cat closer to you in a tree is to carry those tiny tins of Fancy Feast and open it up near the cat....you can ussualy "scruff" the cat at that point. Also a small tin can filled with kibbles works well, rattle it they come running...(most times) .


my most unusual request was to retrieve a small (2' wide) helium weather ballon from a tree. Neat little device, carried a small box with temp sensors, airflow fans etc. It got stuck in Lynn canyon in vancouver, when the helium leaked. 60 feet up a masiive douglas fir with 4 limbs only near the top. had to spur that one, i could'nt verify the integrity of the limbs.... Got $100 and 2 cases of beer and a $50 BBQ voucher for a local eatery!!! for that from the researcher. Apparently the ballon and device was worth around $5000.

 

[begleytree]

srt, sounds like the best paying one yet!
-Ralph

 

[Sunrise Guy]

check out this man. Greg Napolitan chainsaw artist at Studio On 12
[email protected] www.studioon12.com #908-996-0794. he does amazing work at a great price of $800.00 per day and he is very fast!

Man, very cool! Thanks for the link. As a guy who tattooed professionally for almost twenty years before getting into the trees, I have lately been getting the itch to do something more artistic, again. I may contact this guy to talk shop with him.

 

[antigrassguy]

This last summer I got 2 separate calls to come get parachutes out of trees. 1 had a 70' white oak wrapped up like a christmas present. It made for a nice canopy, pun intended. There are a LOT of small lines on a parachute, so it was a tad tedious to untwine this bugger and get it to the ground with out ripping or tears. It could have been 4-5 hundred but I view these as community service and had their rigger sew us up a new pole saw bag instead. It is a nice custom bag with ballistic cloth and the hole 9 yards. The money would have been long gone but I think of this job whenever I pull out the pruners. Cats, kites all the usual stuff. The ones I really like are "could ya just smash my, pier,garage,etc I need a new one. You're insured right?" Not on my dime, buddy!
We also have a local guy in SE Wisconsin that is friggen awesome at chainsaw carving. He does relief carving that is truly amazing. Whatever the homeowner can think of he can carve. I recommend him for any trunks that are close to homes or patio.

 

[Safetylady]

Unusual requests

There was a woman in Woodstock, NY who requested time to "release the spirits" from a tree before line clearance pruning would be permitted.

 

[Xtra]

I work near several large senior communities, so we are constantly getting topping requests. They want their silver maples and white pines to stay under 30' tall and 20' wide. We pass on these and try to educate them on the damage and danger of topping trees.

I’ve had two requests of leaving a couple red oak 10' poles standing for hammocks.
- one of the customers swore the tree would re-sprout and grow a crown again.

I had a woman who keep running up to her 3rd floor balcony and then back down to the ground where I was working, to tell me which limbs to trim. The tree bordered the water and she only wanted select tips removed, for “the perfect view”. A 1/2 hour job turned into almost 3 hrs.

Springtime brings the wave of satellite dish clearance calls . . . “but I had great reception all winter”. I’ve finally given up of these. They have become a nuisance, either they want you to trim their neighbor’s tree (without permission) or they call mid-summer and complaint that not enough was removed and to come back for free.

Oh yeah, and a lot of, “can you put those squirrels back up into another tree?”.

 

[Blinky]

For all you cat rescuers out there, when you get a problem kitty, use the vet method for subduing them... As you scruff the cat, lift it and rapidly sweep your other hand down their back to the shanks of their rear legs, grip tight and stretch gently; it helps if you can get a finger between the legs. The more you strecth, the less they can move. Don't worry about hurting them, it's a safe technique so long as you don't rip their head off.

If you just scruff them without controlling their legs, they can instantly rotate and filet you with all four claws.

It will imobilize even the fiercest, squirreliest, prickliest cat. It's a little tough to bag'em at that point but it can be done if you hold the pillowcase (preferrably a big, deep one) in your mouth.

Obviously it's a lot better if you can coax them gently into your arms, but some cats just don't want to be touched when they're stressed.

 

[BostonBull]

If you just scruff them without controlling their legs, they can instantly rotate and filet you with all four claws.

Yes they can!

 

[Magnum783]

I don't like cats so I will have to decline on the having me resuce any one unless it is a hot blonde calling. Then I can't get me to the truck fast enough.
Jared

 

[Tree Machine]

For all you cat rescuers out there, when you get a problem kitty, use the vet method for subduing them... As you scruff the cat, lift it and rapidly sweep your other hand down their back to the shanks of their rear legs, grip tight and stretch gently; it helps if you can get a finger between the legs. The more you strecth, the less they can move. Don't worry about hurting them, it's a safe technique so long as you don't rip their head off.

If you just scruff them without controlling their legs, they can instantly rotate and filet you with all four claws.

It will imobilize even the fiercest, squirreliest, prickliest cat. It's a little tough to bag'em at that point but it can be done if you hold the pillowcase (preferrably a big, deep one) in your mouth.

Obviously it's a lot better if you can coax them gently into your arms, but some cats just don't want to be touched when they're stressed.

Thanks for that one, Blinky.

I've had 3 successful cat rescues. I learned on the first one that a peel-tin of sardines is really convenient and effective. If I can add, bring up a plastic fork.

You could pretty much assume a cat is stressed and doesn't want you messing with it. For the ones that crawl up on your shoulder and ride you down, wow. That may never happen for you again.

I guess the first rule to cat rescue is don't take the cat out with the BigShot. That would not be pretty, nor impressive. Now, if you were actually cat hunting WITH a BigShot (and I won't ask where you're from), I reckon a shot like that would be exceedingly impressive. Anywway, where was I?

Oh, Sardines. The reason the plastic fork is recommended is that there may be a period of time between when you get up there with the feline, and when you actually capture the puss. That few moments in time is actually the heart of the rescue. It is an excellent time to have a snack (without getting you fingers oily), embrace the uniquesness of your current 'job' and just enjoy a few sardines.

Now, if the cat has been up there more than a day, and he's watching you, smiling, extending an implied kindness and you're munching sardines...

Eat all but one. The cat doesn't know the difference, and you're gonna have to toss the can or risk spilling it when you do finally subdue the kitty. Offer the appearance of just how delicious these fishies are. It's cruel, but effective. When he decides you're a friend and you're offering up this can of .....mmmmmm.... It's really hard to resist.

Let him eat his sardine. He'll really get into it (see photo below). Make friends. Then grab him and ....well, you figure out the rest.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Radio control plane and cat retrieval. Chipping giant bamboo for special effects on the movie King Kong, Changing the top pulley on a flagpole, hanging deep friend bread shapes in an oak for an art students project (yep she was real pretty).

Fun and games!

 

[SRT-Tech]

Radio control plane and cat retrieval. Chipping giant bamboo for special effects on the movie King Kong, Changing the top pulley on a flagpole, hanging deep friend bread shapes in an oak for an art students project (yep she was real pretty).

Fun and games!

PICS!!! we want PICS!!!!

 

[OTG BOSTON]

I got a call from a guy who had landed his rc plane in a park tree. Being that I was in a good mood I told him I would do what I could for him I took his address and he thanked me because this was a VERY expensive plane.

The thing was almost at the top of a 70+ft sycamore tree, when I got to it I realized it was a cheapo plastic thing. I returned it to his house and never heard from him again, what a :censored: :censored: he was.

Another one that comes to mind was when I first started in the biz working for a private company. I got sent to a home with another guy to DIG OUT a 25'' maple stump. It seems the misses was into some weird philosophy whereby the stump was sucking energy out of the yard, grinding it was not an option because little pieces of it would have remained........................

 

[turnkey4099]

Hello to all of you fine folks here @ AS. As you can see, I am new here and taking the opportunity to make my "maiden post".

Nearly twenty years ago now, I got a couple of very strange messages on my business line. The caller was a woman who was pleading to my answering machine for someone to come and remove her cat from a tree. Of course, I initially presumed that these messages were someone's idea of a clever prank. However, a short time later a third message appeared and this time from an obviously distraught individual. I decided I should probably return the call, and discovered after some discussion that a very frightened feline was indeed sitting about 30 feet up in a Silver Maple where it had been for a couple of days. I got in the truck with my usual gear, choosing to add some additional leather clothing to use as PPE while handling this potentially unhappy kitty. I did remove the cat without incident, and remember trying to figure out an appropriate cost for such work. I don't recall what I was paid, but the cat had apparently broken its hip and could not manage a descent.

Just yesterday I had another unique request which inspired this post. A friend called me saying "I have a friend who needs to use a chipper. I told her that you had just the thing...." . At first I was a bit skeptical (as you might imagine). It ended up that this woman wanted to recycle a large quantity of foam sheathing board scraps to use as attic insulation in her new house! Anybody here ever run Celotex thru a Brush Bandit?!

Regards

No, but I _did_ run a bunch of sheetrock through my small chipper. I'll never do that again. Couldn't even see the machine after the first chunk.

Harry K

 

[Tree Machine]

PICS!!! we want PICS!!!!

I pulled a picture of Timber McPherson's client.

 

[Thetreewisemen]

I got asked, "will you go to bed with me?" I thought it was pretty strange............because she wasn't, pretty that is.

 

[arborcareIdaho]

Dept of Agriculture in Idaho has a Pesticide container recycling program in which they run used, triple-rinsed pesticide containers through a chipper

 

[00chris85]

strange request

A customer had called us up (having done previous work for him) and asked us to come out with our stumper in order to dig him a trench from the front of his house to his barn so he could run a water line in it.
we refused in-case of hitting anything existing.

we were knocking down about 40 or so popular trees at the back of an Americans summer cottage on lake Erie, so that they may see the lake from their back window. these trees had and average of 2 ft dbh. as we were dropping the first couple the owners came out to inspect out work and come with a request for a seating area and set of stairs leading to the beach made out of the logs. popular is garbage wood anyway. so we cut logs in 6 foot sections and back filled behind them using our front end loader. for the seating area we cut 4 foot logs stood them up straight and cut down the middle making chairs out of them. it was basic carving but these people were so impressed and pleased that we ended up getting 3 extra customers from them.

 

[yooper]

to bad ya wasted so much time maken it all out of popple, it;ll all be rotten in a couple yrs if sooner, although any good words from any custmer is great It's what keeps alot of us going.