How'd it go today?

I bought a battery polesaw for using out of the bucket, it's a fixed length about 6'. The 2.5 amp battery will last just over half a day, the 5 amp pretty much all day
Sooo much easier than wrestling a stihl petrol. Light, no fumes, no pull cords, easier reaching with it.
 
I bought a battery polesaw for using out of the bucket, it's a fixed length about 6'. The 2.5 amp battery will last just over half a day, the 5 amp pretty much all day
Sooo much easier than wrestling a stihl petrol. Light, no fumes, no pull cords, easier reaching with it.

As much as I hate using polesaws. They are invaluable in certain jobs and the Stihl Battery powered one is the best I have used.
 
Gary. Why was that sketchy one caught with two ropes?

Looked like the butt would hit the ground, top hung in the adjacent tree, clearing the climber much better.

I say Distance Equally Safety (not exactly), and Let The Ground Do The Work.
 
Good point. it might have been doable like that. I wasn't sure I could make the limb sweep the way it needed to without rigging it like that so I took the longer 2 rope method.

I am sure some of my rigging would be unnecessary by an "all the time" climber. But as a part-timer in the trees I tend to get creative to make up for lack of experience. It takes longer but gets me by.
 
Today I found the limits of what my loader will pick up. I grabbed a 8' long, 24" diameter log and the ass end of my loader came up off the ground. I was able to coax it into place but it was wild dancing on 2 wheels with a couple thousand pounds of log in my grip.

I had a similar scenario occur with my Dngo over the summer on that silver maple I got to demo the garage on. The stump piece was about 4' high, and the Dingo had to be used to push it off the stump. About 54" at the base, so got it on it's side and cut in half. Brush monkey took the first piece and forward tipped the Dingo in the street making the turn to load in the dump trailer. I was able to finagle the lift arms down & back to stabilize, kept it low and then slowly raise and nudged into the trailer. The bottom piece was so big that we both rode it out to the street, and still tipped it again in a little dip at the end of the driveway. Finagle again and went through the tailgate with that piece, and ended up taking those 2 pieces to the dump site that goes by weight. 2160 lbs. for the 2 pieces, so I figure the big one had to be close to 1200.
 
I got lucky last year during Covidiocy and scored a Husky 525PT5S gas pole pruner. 13'4" reach, and while slightly awkward, easier to handle than the Stihl equivalent (which no dealer had at the time). Was a leftover from 2018, so scored it for $579 (MSRP $649). As others stated, invaluable for many residential/street clearing jobs.
 
I’d like the Stihl Kombi or Echo PAS systems for no other reason than they’ll fit in my pickup bed without hanging out the back a foot or two.
I’d probably get an articulating hedge trimmer attachment too. Maybe leaf blower attachment if my BG-86 ever dies.
 
Another great day with the crane. We even were able to get Cameron a chance to cut. He was thankful but said it didn’t really count since I slung it up and it was the butt log.
I was also asked if I would consider running a crew again full time. Honestly I thought I was for the last few months anyhow. I get to keep my truck and got a pay raise out of it. New BC1800 is supposed to be here in December. Choice of crew members ( guys I’ve been working with anyway), choice of chip truck, and choice of mini skid. Stuck with the elevator again.
 
Dropped about 12 dead oaks along a fence line and burned them in 5 hours. Most had to be pulled off the fence. HO already did the easy ones. Some preliminary power pole saw work to balance more in my favor or get rid of some limb locked stuff. Climbed a blue oak for 1 patch of mistletoe and crown raised and dead wooded a CA horse Chestnut aka Buckeye. I'm whooped
 
Had a scavenger hunt finding hazard trees in greenbelt areas in an HOA for a bid. Maybe 20 trees in 10 places.
In the rain.


I found lots more hazard trees, too, beyond the 36 identified in a Consulting Arborist's report.

Lots of future work.

Little cleanup.




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Tried to find women's insulated work boots, but struck out. My Usual boots need to be transferred from the adjacent town, and will be in Tuesday.

Boot prices have gone up.

Gotta bid accordingly.
 

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Today I found the limits of what my loader will pick up. I grabbed a 8' long, 24" diameter log and the ass end of my loader came up off the ground. I was able to coax it into place but it was wild dancing on 2 wheels with a couple thousand pounds of log in my grip.
2 days ago I was trying to get a big Elm limb on shore that our know it all climber dropped in the lake instead of rigging it like he said he would. It was too heavy for the mini to lift, so I had the new guy (only other person nearby) to stand on the back with me. It still wasn't quite enough, but I know how to work the machine to move oversized loads. He was on the edge of chickening out and jumping off :D since dragging something so heavy involves tipping the machine up then down again to get some momentum to pull harder. The mini skid really is scary to run until you become familiar enough with it that it becomes an extension of your body like a chainsaw. You think every little move will roll it over.
 
Only a few will actually roll it...but you better sense those coming, eh?
You carefully test it's limits and get a feel for what you can and can't do with it. My biggest concern is it tipping sideways. I haven't come close as far as I know, but I have a good idea of how steep of ground I want to drive it on. Tipping forward or back is extremely easy if you don't know it's limits, but those limits can be extended a significant amount with good driving skills such as: accelerating or decelerating as needed to prevent tipping. You can really smooth out a bumpy ride across a yard while carrying a load if you vary your speed and load height to counter tipping forces.
 
Yesterday, I was outside cutting some brush around 4:30 and got a call from my mother. She said she fell the day before and wanted to go to the hospital to get checked out. Thought she broke stuff. Went to her house, and the parts didn't look broken to me, but going to a pro is sensible. She wanted to call 911 for an ambulance ride cause she wouldn't let me lift her. Didn't seem quite right to me, but I wasn't sure who to call otherwise. Getting the wrong thing can get you good and frigged by insurance. Anyway, went to the hospital, and 8 hours later we got out.

My mother's a whiner, and at times acted like a 2yr old in there. Gets on my nerves. That's why I don't stop by her house as much as I used to. For some reason, she expects to always feel awesome, and she makes you acutely aware of every little pain and discomfort she's feeling. Over, and over, and over... Welcome to my world. I call that a day that ends in "y"(I should probably switch to Old English. Maybe that would help...). Anyway, she's mostly fine. They found something on the CAT scan that looked a little weird, and she needs to get to her primary about it. It was a long day.

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Home today. I had already taken off cause they were calling for rain all day(what it's doing). I didn't get to sleep til ~1:30 last night, and slept in til almost 8:00, so it all worked out about as well as could be expected. Oh, and dinner last night was a turkey bowl from wawa at 11:30. Pretty good. I like those things.
 
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I love wawa. It's the best convenience store by a mile. Pretty decent food, and open 24hr. Stores are always clean too. Once a 7-11 has been open a week, it feels like a trip to the hood when you go in :^D
 
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