How'd it go today?

They come in varieties? I got my two from our tree guy's nursery. Unspecified aside from "dawn redwood".
 
Eastern hardwood forest; upland is my favorite ecosystem. Beech, oak, hickory, with a mountain laurel understory. For trees around the yard, oak is my favorite(as well as my favorite tree overall).

I've come to really appreciate black locust over the years. The spring flowers are nice, and the jagged, spindly structure is interesting if not classically beautiful.

I've also come to appreciate walnut. The leaf structure/color really pops at the woods edge, and the leaflets are generally interesting to look at. It was my father's favorite wood. I find the wood kind of meh. It's nice and everything, but a little too perfect. Not much variation.

My favorite native conifer is eastern red cedar. Kind of ungainly, undefined structure, though they can be amazingly straight in a crowded woods environment. The wood smells wonderful. One of my all time favorite scents.

Holly is a nice tree to have around, and robins love the berries in the spring. They look amazing when growing close in a wooded section.

For non natives, I really like the dawn redwood, and the similar looking bald cypress. The delicate feathery needles look great, and they have interesting boles.

Japanese cedar have a cool looking needle structure, and are thick and fluffy.

Japanese maple has an appealing low form with sprawling arms. My favorite maple leaf shape also.

I really like most trees. I'd take just about any tree over no tree at all, but mulberry, and white pine are a couple of my least favorites. Tulip poplar is meh. Not something I'd plant, or be excited about having on my property, but I wouldn't remove it either, unless it was to make room for an oak, or to get it away from a house.
 
I'll probably never see one in person but I like those Monterey Cypress. I used to gush like a school girl every time Deva would post pics from the Presidio.

As for how it goes today, we've been on 12's since Monday and the high is 34 Celsius today. The thought of Chinese buffet for father's day will get me through.
 
If he's gonna do mainly native trees, pawpaw and persimmon would be interesting choices. I planted two pawpaw, but one died. I need to pickup another. I've also been meaning to plant persimmon. but haven't gotten to it so far.
 
I survived working and then going to The Country Fest. Four nights of so called country music and terrible traffic issues. I’m wore out and I didn’t even go into the crowds. I just hung out in the corporate tents and made some new contacts.
The wife and I got a really late start this morning. We were supposed to leave early to go to the camping property and prep for 4th of July weekend and then pick the kids up early afternoon. Instead we just picked the kids up and are going to spend the afternoon down there with them. It’s good quality time either way
 
I dunno. I'll wait and see at this point. Might just be a case of getting old. My last round put me on antibiotics, and they made me photosensitive. I got almost immediate and permanent skin damage. I'd like to avoid going through that again. I wonder if they have ticks in Finland? Move some place where the weather's decent.
Just go to the jack in the box and get a cycle of doxie. Then stay out or covered up from the sun. Beats lyme any day of the week.
 
Found this knife a bunch of years ago at work...

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Well, I forgot I had it, and refound it under the bed last week. Got it sharpened up today, and it'll be a decent knife for /something/. Probably self defense is the best use case. Looking it up online, they make a blunt tip version that would be good for rescue. I could blunt the tip, but I don't see much need in that atm.

Otherwise, I pulled/cut some vines today, but didn't do much of anything.
 
Moved back into our home since the floors were finished yesterday. Then we over parents and saw lots of family while eating too much. I brought the tree gear. 6 kids under 10 yo ascended mrs with me on belay. My cousin and her husband who are my age went up as well. It’s great to share that, I think, with little ones. I had another rope next to theirs if they froze and couldn’t compress the VT.
 
And update. Diesel moved the chipper just fine. Then next day on Fathers day, it crapped out on a test run after I cleaned the fuel bowl. It had acted like a little blockage was going on. Cleaned it as best I could in the truck. Checked for blockage. Looks like it was some where else. I may have lost the fuel tank transfer solenoid again. Replaced it not long after I bought the truck in 2015. That crap in the tank might have buggered it.
 
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Five day recap, abbreviated style:

Friday: Trained friend of my son's for potential full time work. We took down a dead birch at my mother's house, then went over saws and knots. Also spent time at the commercial job we were starting the next day. All the trees were marked with paint, so removals were planned in groups/stages. Fairly straight-forward day, no real issues.

Saturday: Started the commercial job. 19 marked trees, plus a tack on I discovered leaning into the parking lot that had not been reported yet. As per my Dad's day post, this is what has me somewhat fuming inside about my son's mistake, due to him being walked through the day b4, and then completely brain-farting on the wrong tree, in the worst possible position of the property; a solo, 20+ ft. Blue Spruce all by itself near the entrance to the property, which anybody who noticed would say "Why did they cut that one? Looked perfectly fine other than the lean." Eighty percent were EAB declining or dead Ash trees, from 20 - 65 ft. tall. All crispy with hundreds of little branchlets that cracked into thousands of tiny pieces once dropped, making cleanup an absolute nightmare. Got 16 of them down (some climbing on 3 of them, and the Masdaam got a lot of work pulling some over), and we filled 150 ft. square parking lot 2x that day, I took 2 trailers of wood away, and the chip truck was filled (18 solid yards) when we left at 7:30 for the half hour ride home. Left the chipper, Dingo and 2/3 the parking lot full to start with the next day

Sunday: Kid and I drove emptied chip truck back to finish up most of the cleanup from day b4. See recent Dad's Day thread for details there.

Monday: Started out by kid and I dumping last of wood, heading to company to reclaim Dingo, do some final cleanup on the trees kid took down away from the parking lot area, and some nuisance branchlet cleanup from drop area at back of parking lot (area that's mostly unused). Then on the way back, looked at job to start in the afternoon. Discovered no working lights on the dump trailer, and discovered the light/brake cable had rubbed against the e-brake pin housing and was partially slashed. The trailer was long overdue for maintenance and some repairs, so kid followed in pickup to dealer (as it had no directionals or brake lights, and the truck ones were blocked by it, so he tailed me to provide cover), and got it to dealer an hour before closing. Realized may not be able to move Dingo for a few days, so looked around, and lo and behold, they had a trailer that would handle what I wanted for the Dingo and attachments on the property!. I had been looking for one since I got it (as the dump trailer option works, but is a pain to get up and down, and I can be screwed with having to go retrieve it when I leave a job with a full trailer of wood). The other dealers all said they would have to order it, couldn't guarantee delivery, and all said prices were not guaranteed due to steel price fluctuations (results of Covidiocy/supply chain/general biz environment being fubar'd). The trailer was only $400 more than it's original price 2 years ago, and will only have to take a small 2yr. loan to pay off balance. Basically works out to about $160 a month when all said and done (about 1 hr of stump grinding). Got home and dealt with insurance stupidity from my accident last year, and got to bed nice and early for once.

Today: Dealt with shuttling daughter off to camp, helping a friend move a table up 3 flights of stairs (single Mom with 3 kids and none big enough to help), then did maintenance until 1:30, and headed off to real estate inspection for new home. All went well there (knew it needed a roof, no other major issues), and was lucky enough to meet executor of estate sale while there, who agreed to leave behind everything I wanted. A win-win, and then back home for various paperwork and updates here.
 
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Boss had percs, so I worked on the farm cutting/splitting wood. Used my new Stihl chain, and it cut like a dream. Til I rocked it... I was cutting blind, and there must have been something on the other side of the log. I touched it up, but it cuts like shit. Just good enough to not worry about it for the time being. I didn't want to fully correct it, then hit something else, so I'm leaving it, and hopefully it'll slowly get back into shape.

Looked at some stuff that needs to be done around the farm, but I don't know what his priorities are(problem is he's clueless), and it would be nice to have some help. Traffic control if nothing else. One of the projects is a beaver killed willow, and the stuff overhanging/leaning towards the drive should be taken care of while it can still be climbed(maybe?), and before it falls on some people walking their horses by. Need someone to make sure the road's clear before cutting, and maybe pull the stuff away with the skidloader so the road isn't closed too long. There's some other stuff too where it would be better having a spotter. There's some heavyish pulls I could probably do with the truck, but a skidloader would be better insurance.
 
Looked at tomorrows job and let the boss know what I needed to get it done in one day. Then headed to help the crew on a couple uprooted and hung up trees. First one was no big deal. Second one took a bit of rigging but easily doable. Things were going a tad to slow for my liking and at 3:30 I took over the bucket and climbing. Down and packed up by four. Came home to a quiet house and decided that I should deal with some firewood. So I stacked what was split ( filled another tote) and ran the splitter till about 9:30. Now I’m finishing off some cheddar wurst and getting cleaned up. Busy, hot, and great day😎
 
Cool. I'll keep you in mind. One problem is getting a firm plan laid out. He needs to recognize the importance of the work, and also realize stuff can get damaged, and he needs to be on hand, and willing to fix it. Mostly just fences. It's not a huge deal, but there's a non zero chance of damage, and the fences hold horses, so they need to be right. It can't be put off til whenever. He puts off everything til whenever, and it always bites him in the ass. He's old enough he should have figured it out by now. His window of cheap treework could close. I don't trust willow anyway, and it doesn't get better with age and dryness.

Then there's the oaks... If my truck doesn't have enough ass to pull, it could be pretty bad. Those have fences, run-in sheds, and horses in the way. I already decided I'm not climbing them. There's nothing to tie in to, and the trees are in bad shape.
 
Brush in the road is a good traffic stopper, too.

Pics?

Do you have a smart phone, John?





Side question, what happened with your 2511t oiler?
Fwiw, about $10 on eBay.
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