How'd it go today?

:lol: Freakin' marauders NEVER do show remorse!!!

Indeed not! Wouldn't qualify as marauders if they did, donchaknow :D.

I'm hoping for the best for you, Mick. That would suck, to have to quit your work...plus, you never know where the stinging bastards might be about anyway, like in a bush besides your back door, or the carpark at your grocer, or...even if you were to quit treework.

Crap deal.
 
Oh Snap!

Big 4' DBH dead ash at the neighboring county's EMS station. Climbed, dropped off leaders and dropped the top, then felled the spar. Filled the log truck max load, ready for firewood. Cleaned up & stump ground by 2 pm. Job went off totally fine, headed back to the shop.

1/2 way back, oh snap. There goes the wheel off the chipper, eased into a country home's driveway. Brakes were in pieces, still seeing chunks of flaming pad on the gravel. Oh boy, bearing go on it? Yep, and the torsion axle sheared off, too! Local trailer place doesn't have one in stock, but can get us an 8000 lb Dexter one in a couple of days for about $1400.

At least the homeowner was fine with leaving it there overnight. Will have to go back first thing in the morning with a flatbed equipment trailer and try to pick up the 8,000 lb. chipper with the grapple truck and set it on the trailer to bring it home. Hmmm... could just take the other wheel off, set it on the flatbed trailer and chip like that into the chip truck!
 
When my chipper got messed up in a traffic accident I called a tow truck to get it home. He was able to winch it up on the flatbed and drop it off in my yard for about $100.
 
Bent up 2 panels for the corners, that was a treat with no brake. Ended up 2 panels short, picked some more up today, lucky the junk guy still had the same profile. First coat of paint. Hope to be drying wood soon.

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Wow Peter. Your ingenuity and ability never cease to amaze me! I hope you make a mint with it.

What will be your heat source? How will you monitor moisture?
 
Thannks! That open space in the wall will be glass. The rest... I don't know yet. Probably pickup some gauges or sensors or something.
I'll have a dehumidifier in it, some fans, may be heat lamps?
 
No chipper today (after yesterday's axle debacle). Hitched up a flatbed equipment trailer this morning in case we needed to stack brush on it, then to rescue the chipper after completing the job. Job was a dead, dead American elm in a backyard in the capital city. Climber climbed it and bombed 1/2 the tree away from the fenceline & power lines. Most stuff shattered to bits on impact, but still a good bit of limbing and mincing, then even more mincing once stuff was in the back of the chip truck. Log truck rolled in after a coolant leak repair, made a log bed and stacked more brush in the middle and minced that down. Then a full load of elm logs -- 4' DBH main trunk.

I went to the chip dump, their power was out, so I got a freebie dump. Then I got on the interstate and blew a tire on the trailer. Took it off, limped to an auto parts store and put on the spare (no jack onboard).

Now I'm off to Pella, Iowa to Vermeer headquarters to pick up a new torsion axle for the chipper. 8 hour round trip. See you tonight!
 
Worked around that old dead oak that had that bee hive in it, yesterday, setting it up for the crane. I was only able to piece out about 1/2 the tree from that 50 ft lift after we got the bee hive out. I'll work out the back of the tree with the crane from a basket since he'll have more horizontal reach. There was a ton of Bay Laurel under the tree and wrapped around the limbs. Took that all out so I can bomb stuff just this side of the neighbors fence and horse pasture. Met with my crane op and then finished mucking it out. Found some grinding holes in the rocks from the previous land users. Probably as old as the tree has been providing acorns. Fun stuff.
For reference, those last couple cuts on the driveway side are 28"
Stig, this tree is on the side of the driveway going up to Channa's place I took you to see that big oak she had out back and some of the clearing we had done.
 

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I was on the way to a training class 6PM on Wednesday...interstate travel. Tire monitor light came on (my 2012 GMC truck). I hit the info button it says 21 pounds pressure??? Supposed to be 60. Then it shows...11, 7, 4 and just as I drove into a lighted gas station showed ZERO. Apparently those monitors give immediate live time readouts.

Got out...yep...tee totally flat. Scheist! Have not had a flat in years. Truck flats are no fun. Took an hour. The long 3 piece extension would not engage the tire lowering system...had to perform a manual docking maneuver under the truck with a flashlight to engage the screwer downer. Luckily I keep a floor jack in the truck. Had to use 4x4 and 2x4 stacked to reach frame...truck only threatened to come off that tower once.:?

Got to deal with a neighborhood urchin begging for 20 cents to help him and his broken down van folks get to church...he was a character...never turned by back on him. I had my 4 foot long cheater pipe in hand while I talked to him...had to use it to break the lug nuts loose. He gave up on me...I started copping an attitude of GTF out of here...and he went to harass other folks.

An hour! crazy. But it worked. Got it patched next day for $15...had a nail size hole through it, in and out I guess.
 

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I haven't (knock wood!!!) had a flat yet! I'm gonna hate digging out that tool and lowering that frigging tire!
 
I have a pair of those tire pressure monitors on my BMW bike.
Sure takes the fear of going into a sharp curve without enough pressure out of the equation.
 
Where the indigenous peoples ground acorns for food. I imagine that tree has been a food source for about 350 - 400 years. Primitive mortar and pestle if you will. One piece was hidden or transported camp to camp. The boulders were a constant
 
Back from Vermeer HQ, just southeast of Des Moines, Iowa. Very impressive place — one square mile of “factory” without the factory feel, more like family. People were very helpful and friendly in the parts dept, even with me not having the order number. Just had to say I needed the axle for a BC1800 and they knew right away who it was for — the usual “small town” type of feel, didn’t even need to sign off on receiving the parts. They helped me load it in the mini van and promised to mail me 2 hats for my boys!

Took the Vermeer museum tour, saw the company history. A sea of mustard yellow equipment being produced under the same Midwestern work ethic as the founder had 70 years ago -- and still family-run. And a “Vermeer Strong” resilience, just 6 months after they lost 2 buildings to tornadoes. They’re back, rebuilt and running full steam ahead.

Stopped with 2 of my boys at Red Rock Lake — largest in Iowa at 15,000 acres. Had a quick picnic at the overlook, saw 5 bald eagles roosting & fishing.

9 hours round trip drive time = 12 hours total trip after stops, day started at 4 am this morning. Whew. Gonna get some R&R tonight & tomorrow, then install the axle Sunday afternoon so as to be ready for work on Monday morning.
 
thanks all for all the feedback on my posts and questions.

i don't want to take your help for granted and want to do justice to digesting and replying to all the comments.

I'm pretty far behind..... ha, don't need to start any newer one's until I get caught up on all outstanding ones.

(haven't been by the Athiest thread lately, but I've been thinking about it)

... but right now I need to go in and hang out with my wife by the fire and maybe watch a movie.....

either an old (1935?) version of A Christmas Carol
or else a Hallmark Christmas movie :) .... (as long as it doesn't have any "magic" or "wishes", etc. in it :)
... but her choice.

anyway, best wishes to y'all.
 
I wake up and get out of bed for Magic and Wishes.... It's called tree work and Sales.


Very cool Site, Stephen.

Gary, I gave a guy in a van $20 to help bury his nephew shot in the SE. His picture was taped to the notepad.
He was talking all kinds of church stuff and showed me a notepad with about a thousand signatures and dollar amounts next to their name that contributed...

I gave him the money and a business card... he said he was gonna get me turned on to his church trees.... haha.

I love the gas station.
 
:lol: Good story, Deva. Maybe you got some Karma out of it anyway.

My guy only wanted 20 CENTS! Pretty unique. Not a greedy fellow, apparently.
 
Going with my groundman to help an old-lady customer (Peg, a 60's hippie, now early 90's) with a off-grid cabin in her woods, built as an Evergreen State College student project in the 60s.
She helped him with his family needs, and we're going to return a couple favors.

She needs a little bit of carpentry and maintenance on a dome home I almost lived in, 12 years ago. I'll get some pics. A tiny house from days gone by. Little wood stove, sleeping loft, outdoor privy nearby.
It appeals to the simple life in the woods types, usually college students. One young woman lived there back whenever, who came from a filthy rich family. She told her dad not to buy her a farm, and she would be fine without running water, thank you very much. Last tenant was an artist.

A little work on the stairs and a better, metal heat reflector for the wood stove. I think some corrugated metal roofing and bent conduit will fit the funky modular triangular panels that form a curved wall, well.

I'm going to build a small cabin on my property, as I get time. I currently rent space, power, internet, water, laundry, and some storage space, to a married couple who built their own mobile tiny house (triple axle, 30' longish, with a max road height loft, and composting toilet, so no blackwater tank). I'll be able to start it while they're here, using it for storage, then when they find their own property, I'll change over.
 
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