How'd it go today?

Sometimes it's tough to trouble shoot. I had a rumble and loose sound/feeling in my front end of my S10, changed rotors, bearings and pads, no luck, notice an upper control arm bushing was bad, changed that, no luck, tighten up the bearings a bit more, still no luck, had the front end up, noticed the front passenger brake line was rotting, had to change that, the front end rumble would not go away, sounds like hell on small bumps.......$4.55 rubber and sleeve kit for the brakes, the rubbers in the calipers were worn. Now it's quiet. I need to change the other stuff anyway.
 
Had 4 maple branches to remove, rubbing on a house, 'bout 5", 20ft or so. Took longer to get throw line in a suitable crotch than the ascent and work, SRT and a sharp hand saw made quick work to limb walk and pieced it down, HO takin' it easy..... out of DZ.
11210508_10155603433280492_212141195717058854_n.jpg
 
Ive been working solo for the majority of the last month. Mainly pruning mature tree, by chance. Some big properties. Surprising how long things take when you have to think, plan and do absolutely everything yourself. Lots of 12 hour days....but I get to keep all the money at the end of it. This is me for the foreseeable future, so long as I can generate the work. Probably the oddest thing that im still getting used to is not or hardly speaking to anyone the whole day. 'you collecting air-miles?' at the gas station is about the extent of it right now.
 
Are you doing all the cleanup too or maybe the landowner or his people are? If you are doing the cleanup, it sounds like a recipe for burnout and a waste of your talent, imho. If it works for you, more power to you.
 
Hauled fiddlers grinder north today with my new suburban. Longest drive with it since I bought it (5 hours of expressway) I'm really starting to like it. Then took the boys to the jewelery store for mother's day shopping. Now I finally get to be in park for a while. Looks like Monday will be the start of the pine trees.
 
Went out on a pruning job today. We got 8 out of 10 done by four this afternoon when my partners wife called with a bit of an emergency. Gonna finish it next week. So I went to remove a pair of sassafras trees that hang way over my brothers house. Those went good enough considering he has never ran ropes before and I was probably going a bit bigger than I should of ( little bit of rodeo action ). Every nieghbor must of been watching because they all came out wanting estimates. Most were ok with getting a card and calling to schedule an estimate. One was not. When I hit the ground he was right there trying to get me to do some work. I told him I had to chip before it got dark and I'd be back by another day. " it won't take but a few minutes and I'll give you $20 cash". He got awful upset when I told him I quit working for beer money a long time ago. Guess I won't get that one.
I also need to add that I used my HH all day and it rocks both srt and drt.
 
I had a boss who told me we weren't making any profit until Friday... his excuse for always working us late that day!
 
That's exactly why I'm doing it on Sat. Owning all my equipment outright will make for an easier transition to do my own thing. I almost feel like a contract climber/ bucket op at work because I almost always get the big uglies that no one else wants to do. I'm getting paid well but I don't see getting any relief from the ugly jobs.
 
Thats good. I it works out for you Tree Billy.

Due to the particular nature of my operation, the D8 is stuck. Really stuck. My one functioning farming tractor wont touch it. We are next to a road so we cant steal the neighbors D8R again.

Dad lined up a 525 HP Big Bud tractor to be hauled down to try and pull it out. The owner owes dad a couple grand, so they might make a trade. If the Bud does not do it, I will un hook my Challenger and we will put it on the front of the Bud. Would make for about 900 horsepower. We will be using chain and one inch cable. I will try to get some pics.
 
That sucks getting a d-8 stuck. Must be one hell of a mud hole. It's gonna be interesting getting it out Jim. Hope to see pics
 
cory said:
Are you doing all the cleanup too or maybe the landowner or his people are? If you are doing the cleanup, it sounds like a recipe for burnout and a waste of your talent, imho. If it works for you, more power to you.
Click to expand...

Im doing it all Cory. Full clean up. I never understood what burnout means. Ive heard people say it, but what does it mean ? I get injuries, and I get sick, I get cramp if I dont drink enough....that's normal. Everyones different I suppose. Manual labor, its all I know. I helped with a transplanting job once in downtown Sydney, Aus. Our company was hired to put some trees part way up the MLC center (a big white building). Road block and a crane was involved to get the trees almost to where they needed to be. The rest was a lot of fuckn about with spades, boards, rollers etc. We started at 11:30 pm friday, and worked right through until sunday morning. Saw the sun come up 3 times without sleep. I thought nothing of it at the time....just that I was getting paid. Ive spent so many years orchestrating and running other peoples jobs, enhancing their company reputations as a representative on a given day, still do. So, a bit of cleanup on my own jobs, not having to pretend to be an employee of someone else. Man its a breeze, of fresh air.
 
Good for you, Reg.

Not talking is interesting.

I've been working solo a lot. I like not having to discuss work plans. The Wraptor is very useful. I was knocking apart a 40" fir, leaving a habitat snag at 50'. Up once to limb and top. Wraptor back with 361, lowering out the Wraptor on my climb line tail, on a speed line that I tied off on the ground, away from the tree. Saved 100' of climbing with a medium sized saw, with a sore shoulder.

Wraptor is a body preserver.

Yesterday, I shot a 90' TIP, Wraptor ed up, only once, and worked the whole tree with out having to go back up. That's a real help to my sore shoulder.
 
Reg, if the money is right and the task is manageable then it sounds like it is working well for you. In tree work, imo, 2 working together can normally do more than 2x what 1 can do working the same amount of time, 3 can do more than 3x what 1 can do. The extra productivity pays for the extra worker(s) and makes extra profit.

I came from from a background of logging alone here in the NE and that had a pretty good efficiency to it just because of the specific nature of the work- you run a saw, you run a skidder, thats it. You don't have to manually wrestle brush or clean stuff up. When I started into tree work I strongly wished it was efficiently doable alone so I could avoid opening the can of worms that is employees, but for me anyway it isn't, mostly because of the aerial/roperunning nature of much of the work. Sure anything is possible, but on a day in day out basis, too hard to do alone, for me anyway.

If doing it alone works for you, that rocks8). What is simple for one may be difficult for another, its what keeps the world going 'round.
 
I work with just the two of us...being able for the most part to leave our debris for others to pick up and take away is a real blessing.

I have worked alone as well, and the relief of coming down from the tree nad having someone else do most or all of the stacking/cleanup is a relief!

But hey, all power to you Reg, keeping all the money is a definite bonus :)
 
Been back in the UK for a few days sorting out some stuff.
Been a Election here, against the predictions of the polls the Conservative party won a working majority.
Watching the left wingers/socialists wringing their hands in disbelief has made for an enjoyable weekend.
 
RegC said:
.... I never understood what burnout means. Ive heard people say it, but what does it mean ?...
Click to expand...

Reg, burnout has nothing to do with hard work or efficiency. It is the depression that can set in when you realize that you are trading your precious time in this life for dollars, doing something that gives you no joy and is leaving you so exhausted that you can't enjoy the things you love.
Just a straight forward explanation, not saying that working alone will cause this. In fact, I was glad when you mentioned you were striking out on your own, for all the reasons you mentioned above. You deserve the full rewards of your efforts not just their dollar value.
 
I've been toying with having a day labor temp service on occasion. Just a dragger, mini/ grapple pile builder to supplement a regular trained groundie. An extra body to keep me from doing low skill work that wears out my body.

No Workers Comp, payroll, etc, just an invoice. No need to keep them busy all the time. If they're a dud, you get 4 hours to send them back without charge at one I tried.
 
SouthSoundTree- said:
I've been toying with having a day labor temp service on occasion. Just a dragger, mini/ grapple pile builder to supplement a regular trained groundie. An extra body to keep me from doing low skill work that wears out my body.

No Workers Comp, payroll, etc, just an invoice. No need to keep them busy all the time. If they're a dud, you get 4 hours to send them back without charge at one I tried.
Click to expand...
I'll be interested to see some new labor saving solo rigging techniques devised from situational necessity, as with Reg's video with hitching like to a stationary line.

With a fixed bottom anchor, on a solo speed line job, a climber can just throw limbs into the line at a crotch, saving slings. Natural crouch speed line. This has worked when lower, heavier fir limbs on slings , slid to the ground first, weigh down and help keep tension on the line, allowing NCSLing, with less effective horizontal travel. A low stretch line is more valuable when you can't clear the line until you break from climbing.
 
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