How'd it go today?

Finished a 2 day job consisting of 3 red oak removals. Probably got 2 other jobs with neighbors, quite the audience we had.
Picked up Maddy, and we’re gonna pick up some friends and go for a boat ride. Looks like a gorgeous day for it :)
 
Jonny, do you have a mini-loader or tractor/ iron? Oak is f'ing heavy.



Saw a customer who's become a friend, who wants to adopt me. She recently lost her husband after a long MS battle.

She needed a 2 dead trees knocked down. She does all her own groundwork and firewood cutting/ splitting. Works off frustration, and now grief, regardless of how little cartilage she has left.

She has two MS251's with EZ-Start, or whatever. She had a low-hour 026 that's too hard for her to start, had been her husband's. Asked if I would have any interest in it, if she got it running. Dumped out the old gas, unknown age, put in new gas, started up. Runs a bit smoky and won't idle long without stalling. Ran it to limb up felled cedar. Will send it to the Maintenance Department (my neighbor), along with a couple other saws, including my blown up MS660.


Offered me more money on top, but the 026, 2 dozen eggs, and two pints of homemade strawberry preserves and a cup of coffee and conversation was fine.

Has a few more pound-overs in the woods, that she'll take her p/u as close as possible and make trips...a round under each arm. Tough old woman, retired Army.

Their daughter moved back from the east coast a couple years ago, and my friend wanted to hook us up. haha.

Now it's mom and daughter, no husband/dad or everyday significant-care provider...
So they were thinking of taking their dog in to be put 'to sleep' today, when I called and said "can I drop by?", unbeknownst to me.
Old dog spent the day on the back deck in the shade. Passed peacefully in the living room. (luckily, not unexpectedly, no 'messes'). Loaded him into the suv for them, off to be cremated.
 
The guy I’m climbing for has a mini excavator with grapple bucket, it was picking up some heavy stuff.
I’m just getting it on the ground, the rest is on him. Hoping for more from him, he made it worth it for me to not take OT at the plant.

Got blisters on my calves from my spur pads. Maybe need to replace the foam rubber on them. Was never a problem before, but yesterday was the first time in years that I spent 7+ hours climbing. This morning I wrapped bandannas and duct tape around my calves and was comfortable then. It’s chafing, the caddies fit looser on these Bashlins than they did on my old Buckinghams.
 
Should’ve stayed in bed or got drunk. Expensive day. Blew a line somewhere inside the boom on my bucket truck. Guessing around the knuckle because it happened after I “flipped over” to reach some low limbs on the far side. No big deal ( really it is), I’ll climb after lunch. Went up the road to eat and the little burger joint lost power right before we got there. Found a place to eat and back at it. Decided since the bucket was out of the way we’d chip. After ten minutes on the mini I felt my foot slip. Look down and I’m covered in hydraulic oil. The oil cooler blew. Nursed it long enough to fill the truck. While he was dumping I finished the removal. No more mini though. The leak had become bad enough that I barely could load it after refilling the hydro tank. Definately did not make money today. Not a terrible loss but enough to be rather irritating. Both things in the same day is just about enough to say F-it. Oh well. Come Monday I’ll be making phone calls for repairs and parts.
 
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One yellow jacket to the lip! Lots of swelling. Doing some high-risk pruning of the rhodie away from the house, at 4.5' feet off the ground.

Cat prednisone is the same as human prednisone. I know a cat lady. Rescue, not hoarder.



Cory, how's life without the ninja?
 
Hey thanks for asking.

Long story short, pretty good. I've been doing all the climbing which isn't that that much because we have a 75' bucket. One big hairy crane/storm damage job I tried to recruit various climbers for and struck out. I didn't want to be stuck up in the tree with all my life-giving equipment on the ground working without me. Turns out, the bucket got 85% of it :|: and the guys did great on the ground. The new guy is a burly young stud who is the best friend of my now-top guy. He has a good attitude and just got out of jail (which as a buddy said, is "perfect!" lol, cuz of course tree work can suck but its a lot better than jail). They both want to learn how to climb and they have way more than enough physicality for it, it'll just take time.

Been making the same money even without the ninja, at 1/2 the labor cost. So I bought the guys gym membership where they are learning bjj and boxing which they are ecstatic about.

So life goes on, s'all good but it was a bit scary contemplating life without the ninja cuz we had all come to rely on him after 10 years OTJ.
 
Well total hose replacement isn’t as scary as i thought according to the mechanic. About a third of my guess. And he looked at the oil cooler and basically reminded me that we have a radiator guy just down the road that most likely repair it. And if not he can build a new one for prolly half of what Vermeer would want. I feel much more relieved now. It’s 9:15 and I’m heading out to pull the cooler/radiator now
 
Yeah, nothing better than when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel re mechanical problems
 
Well after three hours the damn thing is out. I’ve come to the conclusion that engineers are the dumbest smart people. Half the machine is apart just to remove this thing. I’m pretty sure they weld the frame around it when putting it together. Decided to replace a few other things so I don’t have to go through this again because that’s what needs to be done to do it.
 
Sorry to hear of your friend Jim.

Shitty run of luck Rich. Things are bound to turn around.

Good update Cory. No one is irreplaceable at work, no one. Hard to remember sometimes but always true.
 
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