Alcoholic post by tree climbers for tree climbers. AKA nobody gets it and thats OK.

[stig]

I have one, but I didn't win it.
Willy gave it to me, when I visited him.

I'll have to bring it on this year's company excursion and have a picture taken with a mind blowing natural back ground.

 

[stig]

Tree work is very similar to combat. You can do everything right and still get killed. People who have not been a climber absolutely cannot understand what it is to go up there. They can't, and thats OK. It is OK because frig you that's why. Other climbers will understand what it is, but no matter what you do to put the right words in the right order to explain what it is to somebody who hasn't been up there is a waste of time.

Your friends, your wife, your kids, literally anyone you try and explain what you do to, cannot understand. They absolutely can't. Don't get mad, don't get bent out of shape. You wanting a non tree climber to understand what you do is the same as me wanting a non-veteran to understand combat. Both are like showing a crazy porn to a virgin to explain sex. If you take a pick on a crane and intend to make it butt heavy but it ends up brush heavy, it tips, breaks in half, and you almost die, talk about it to other climbers and leave it at work. If you go home and try to explain it to your wife she will nod her head and ask if you got dog food on the way home.Not because she doesn't love you, but because she has no idea what your talking about.

This is what I'm up against every time we interview a new apprentice.

They have no idea at all what kind of world they are entering, and I can't make them understand it.

Only thing I can do, is choose the one I think will do best, and either they can hack it or not.

My last apprentice and later employee is a cop now.
He visited yesterday and we got to talk about this.
He said that so far, nothing inhis new job has been able to get his pulse up like a logging situation where the shit hits the fan.

They should probably make a couple of years of logging mandatory for cops.
Might get rid of all the fat ones, who totally over react

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Interesting post from OP.
It's no surprise that I've had lots of ex soldiers desperate to get into tree work. All of them say it's the closest job they can get in civvie street that matches being in the military

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[Peter]

Same here. One of my best ever lads was an ex Royal Engineer with two tours of Afgan defusing ieds. I try to make working under my trees as "exciting" as possible, I think they appreciate the effort.

 

[cory]

I of course was not a winner, as Chicago Tent and Awning could not licence the logo in time.

 

[Tim_B.]

I went to Iraq as an infantryman(Non gender based Infantry Human as its called these days) in 2006. I came home in 2008. That being said I was privileged by my nation to take part in what would become know as "The Surge". It. friggin'. Sucked. I hung out and partied with our local and beloved insurgents for about 18 months through 2007 when the U.S. Army had the highest KIA/WIA of all years of the war. Afterwards I was able to take a huge shit on the bare chest that is stop-loss due to an injury that flagged me for deployment and snag a discharge. I made my way home and tried to explain to everyone who would listen for about a month what I had been through and came to realize that 1)Nobody gave a shit 2)People who didn't understand but tried to act like they did just friggin' suck.

Being as that I cannot remember a time in my life I couldn't weld(Thanks Dad!) I got a job as a millwright post Army. My pre-military life mostly consisted of working on cars and building stuff from steel. It paid well but I ended up working a corporate job at around 20 different plants up and down the east coast. By working about 90 hours a week, missing my daughters birthday 4 years in a row, and living in hotels while my family pretty much fended for themselves I grew to hate my job. I was making about $110,000 a year as a 25 year old. One of the few times I was home A tree crew showed up across the street and I saw this guy do something amazing.

He threw on a saddle and some spurs and just frigged up this tree. (I know now that he actually frigged the tree up when he spurred up it and did a bunch of peel cuts, he was pruning it and absolutely frigged up that tree, but at the time I thought it was awesome.) So out of nowhere I left my job and bought a bunch of saws and a saddle.

I applied the same concept of perpetual eduction to my newfound career as I did to my millwright job and the military and progressed rapidly. I'm still absolutely friggin' shit at what I do but can sling it without friggin' much up these days. After trying to explain the military stuff and hitting a wall I don't even try with tree work.

Tree work is very similar to combat. You can do everything right and still get killed. People who have not been a climber absolutely cannot understand what it is to go up there. They can't, and thats OK. It is OK because frig you that's why. Other climbers will understand what it is, but no matter what you do to put the right words in the right order to explain what it is to somebody who hasn't been up there is a waste of time.

Your friends, your wife, your kids, literally anyone you try and explain what you do to, cannot understand. They absolutely can't. Don't get mad, don't get bent out of shape. You wanting a non tree climber to understand what you do is the same as me wanting a non-veteran to understand combat. Both are like showing a crazy porn to a virgin to explain sex. If you take a pick on a crane and intend to make it butt heavy but it ends up brush heavy, it tips, breaks in half, and you almost die, talk about it to other climbers and leave it at work. If you go home and try to explain it to your wife she will nod her head and ask if you got dog food on the way home.Not because she doesn't love you, but because she has no idea what your talking about.

Great post. August has talked about this very issue in at least one of his videos; something about the wife calling when you're 90 feet up in a tree and the wind is blowing your rope sideways, but she needs you to pick up something from the grocery store on the way home. No point in trying to explain the situation; just say "yes, honey" and be done with it. He also said, I think, that the better he listens to his wife, the better she listens to him. He's better off not trying so hard to explain what cannot be understood.

As far as Reg and August go, my perception is backwards from yours. August often says he's not a planner, that he figures stuff out on the fly and most times it seems to work out alright. I've seen a video by Reg, on the other hand, walking a job out days in advance of the work, in which he discusses the approach he's considering using when the time comes. Reg seems like a really good planner to me, and very deliberate in what he does.

They are both amazing to me, and I just love how down to earth they both seem to be. This might sound funny coming from a guy who's never met either one of them, but I love them both. They just have such big hearts, sharing what they know with the world the way they do.

Tim

 

[cory]

+1

 

[MasterBlaster]

I can't imagine having my phone on me when aloft, but that's just me...

https://www.sunfrog.com/TREE-CLIMBER-143562169-Black-Hoodie.html?70177

 

[Altissimus]

Phone in Tree exactly twice to take pics. First time no problem , second time cost me $300 ... So NO Phone in the Tree ever is my rule.

 

[Raj]

I will aswer the phone definately for my parents, just because I'm expecting to get "that" call, anyone else can wait. Sometimes my GF will get answered if something has been going on (hospital, doctors appointment, etc). Now mind you my nipple tends to call people, like treegongfu a few times.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Anything I take aloft always gets banged up.

I had a hell of a time figuring out how to pack my smokes and lighter around until I came up with a system...

 

[Peter]

I have my phone on me all the time, including in the tree. I make and receive calls as necessary, log new clients details, schedule bids etc, and chat to the wife.

 

[Raj]

If I'm spuring up the phone goes in my shirt pocket, if I'm swinging around it goes in an ammo pouch on my saddle.

 

[treebilly]

Mine goes up almost all the time. Keep it in the ditty bag along with my chew, bottle of water, and my haas. Hardly ever take calls. It's mostly for the pics I forget to take. Tried a video with it once. Came out like shit but it was enough to show the ground crew my perspective. Also showed them why the rope needs to run better and how they need to work together better.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I have kids... phone is often involved these days

 

[Bodean]

Always got my phone.....otter box almost makes it tree proof. Don't buy a black case....get pink or red.....something that stands out from the woods.

 

[Bermy]

Not combat but blue water ocean sailing, 57' of three masted schooner, up to seven sails, only two people on board, anywhere from 11 to 23 days at sea,...yeah...tree work comes close.
No-one, but no-one understands if they have not been up a tree, or in the middle of the Atlantic in a gale at night with a broken mainmast...gotcha mate!

 

[flushcut]

No that might be closer to combat I think Fi. Three masts in 57' you must be flyin!