How'd it go today?

Not really, Burnham.
They railroaded me on my last test. Flunked me on my first for not having CE marked gear and on my second for telling them off.
I sent in a written complaint to the ETW ( Think the governing agent is called ESA)and was told they had gone over what happened with the international supervisor who was present and come to the conclusion , that the proceedings hadn't been satisfactory.
If I wanted to test in Denmark again, I could ask that neither examinator be present, and that wish would be followed.

That is the same as telling me, I was right.

The Germans asked us to show up a day before the examination, so we could work out whatever differences in gear and so on, there might be.

Turned out that static accent lines have been outlawed in Europe.
Like the guy said, everybody uses them, we just can't allow it for the test.

Bummer for the two guys who brought 120 meters of it and nothing else.

In Denmark they would have flunked us for that, The Germans told us they had some bungee cord we could borrow ( Their word BTW)

After doing a gear check the day before ( unlike the Danes, who did it on the day and kicked us home for using non-CE marked gear) they helped us get our stuff up to expected standard.
Then they asked us to climb, " Just so we don't have an embarassing moment tomorrow and have to send you home without a certificate)
I was asked to remove a tip of a looong oak branch, over a structure.
It was about 10% from the end of my ability, with my climb line being at a 10 degree angle from my TIP, but I pulled it off.
Then Richard was set a task like it.

I was thinking: " Man, the climbing test is crazy hard, here"
Talked to the instructor afterwards and he said,: "Test is nowhere near as hard, I don't know you guys, so I figured, just toss you in real deep water and see if you can swim"
When we came back to the group of climbers, everybody were saying: " How the hell did you fail the climbing test twice, what you just did was crazy"

So I told them.
Found out later that the story had been told to the international supervisor on the day of the exam, so I think the Dane who flunked me is going to feel some international heat under his feet.

The comment Richard and I got when we'd done the climbing and groundsman test working as a team was, that it was obvious we'd been doing this work for a long time, and we both had a good feeling for safety, communication and a fine work flow, so flunking us showed that the Danish examinators were simply not good enough.

Man, I loved that one.
Might even have it embroidered and hang it over my bed:D
 
That's an excellent result Stig. It sounds like the German program is much further along than the danish. Congrats on your certification.

So no SRT in Europe? Is that what it comes down to? Are the European version of OSHA inspectors out there busting guys for rocking Rope Runners?

Cheers
 
Haha! Pork. The reason that Stig is not happy!

My buddy showed up today. Drove from Norfolk VA in 34 hours non stop.

He just passed his E-7 test and is now being reassigned for his Chief Petty Officer tour. Putting together a new prototype submarine for training. Just got off the USSN Helena after 5 years.

Silly bugger bought me a rifle too. I guess the wife was in on it. An older Model 700 Remington classic in .221 FireBall. Found it at a gunshop down there. Hard to find.

Me might shoot some clays tomorrow. Only see him a couple times a year, always sad to see him go!
 
The chickens were about out of feed, so today I roasted up about 200 pounds of soybeans and then mixed them with corn, barley, oats, and wheat to make a 22% protein feed mix. Everything went through the roller mill and was bagged up. We processed a full ton of feed today. Here's a picture of us roasting the soybeans over a bed of hot coals. Roasting is important, as it makes the soybeans edible for the chickens. Raw soybeans can cause digestive problems in chickens, resulting in death. Joel

Roasting Soybeans for chicken feed.jpg
 
Our apprentice picked up a young Austrian who was hitchiking around Europe and Scandinavia and let him stay over for a few nights.
Called me yesterday and said the guy is stone broke, so could we put him to work.
So we have a 22 year old traveller helping us out for a week.
Nice kid.
Reminds me a good deal of myself at the same age, for obvious reasons.
 
Not really, Burnham.
They railroaded me on my last test. Flunked me on my first for not having CE marked gear and on my second for telling them off.
I sent in a written complaint to the ETW ( Think the governing agent is called ESA)and was told they had gone over what happened with the international supervisor who was present and come to the conclusion , that the proceedings hadn't been satisfactory.
If I wanted to test in Denmark again, I could ask that neither examinator be present, and that wish would be followed.

That is the same as telling me, I was right.

The Germans asked us to show up a day before the examination, so we could work out whatever differences in gear and so on, there might be.

Turned out that static accent lines have been outlawed in Europe.
Like the guy said, everybody uses them, we just can't allow it for the test.

Bummer for the two guys who brought 120 meters of it and nothing else.

In Denmark they would have flunked us for that, The Germans told us they had some bungee cord we could borrow ( Their word BTW)

After doing a gear check the day before ( unlike the Danes, who did it on the day and kicked us home for using non-CE marked gear) they helped us get our stuff up to expected standard.
Then they asked us to climb, " Just so we don't have an embarassing moment tomorrow and have to send you home without a certificate)
I was asked to remove a tip of a looong oak branch, over a structure.
It was about 10% from the end of my ability, with my climb line being at a 10 degree angle from my TIP, but I pulled it off.
Then Richard was set a task like it.

I was thinking: " Man, the climbing test is crazy hard, here"
Talked to the instructor afterwards and he said,: "Test is nowhere near as hard, I don't know you guys, so I figured, just toss you in real deep water and see if you can swim"
When we came back to the group of climbers, everybody were saying: " How the hell did you fail the climbing test twice, what you just did was crazy"

So I told them.
Found out later that the story had been told to the international supervisor on the day of the exam, so I think the Dane who flunked me is going to feel some international heat under his feet.

The comment Richard and I got when we'd done the climbing and groundsman test working as a team was, that it was obvious we'd been doing this work for a long time, and we both had a good feeling for safety, communication and a fine work flow, so flunking us showed that the Danish examinators were simply not good enough.

Man, I loved that one.
Might even have it embroidered and hang it over my bed:D

Actually, Stig...this tale makes my "well done" even more pertinent, imo. Good for you.
 
Good going and great story Stig. Love when things go down like that. Who's the fool now, right?
Logging/tree work camp this week. Rob made a nice breakfast. We rolled in yesterday and set up camp.
Mostly doing mistletoe removal on surviving trees.pretty much no live pines left.
Morning fodder.
 

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A black oak burl.....
Groves of black oaks are what we are working on. Hazard dead and mistletoe removal.
You can see the dead has increased since last year. I bet this area will be 100% mortality
 

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image.jpg image.jpg
2 of the 3 locust removals. Only got 2 of them done. Had a small coy pond under the one. It was a bit tight, not Benn tight, but tight enough. There was only 3 of us and with a 200 foot drag I told them just to pile it up outside of the drop zone. After the first two trees there wasn't any room left to work. They filled the backyard plus the nieghbors back yard. We got the nieghbors yard cleaned up tonight. It was 90+ degrees F and the humidity was nasty so I called it at five. Supposed to be nice tomorrow so we'll finish it tomorrow.
Just realized I wasn't in the work pics thread. Finished off the night by watering down the lawn. I put a pesticide down last night that is supposed to be watered in. I checked the radar and there were storms coming. Less than ten miles out. Wouldn't you know it, they fell apart and went right around us.:X:X
 
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