How'd it go today?

[SeanKroll]

I'm chilling while Dahlia gets a viola lesson, the first in many months.

Quick meet up with my GF after this.
Glazed her a vase at Painted Plate, 2 weeks ago ago when I went with Dahlia. It's a glaze it yourself pottery joint.

This and some coffee mugs about the extent of my art of late...

Flowers from my yard.

 

[BeerGeek]

Dealt with real estate, insurance, medical and bills this morning, then went in the afternoon with kid and other summer help to go fall three, crispy, dead ~40' Green Ash in a backyard. Being 94 degrees and 85% humidity made it all the more entertaining. Had to Maasdam all of them, as the leans were all wrong on them (over a Bamboo field right next to neighbor's fence). Chipped every last bit of them. We all melted by the time we pulled back into the yard.

 

[lxskllr]

Nasty day for treework. I don't envy you.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

A customer wanted to get rid of all the trees, edge and shrubs in his backyard, excepted one tree (the nearrest of the house, go figure !). The two landscapers asked me for a cherry and 4 mapples, as they didn't feel confident to fell them themselves by their heights and their leans. Far from monsters though. It turned out that with the help of Maasdam puller, a 6' hight stump and a diagonal aim, they all could fit in the backyard. Sweet, only ground work. How convenient for a hot day. Good impression on the landscapers too.

 

[stikine]

Finished up here in Ketchikan today. I will take a morning flight back to Wrangell in the morning.

This place is absolutely crazy with tourism these days and it rules the economy of what was once a major timber town. The cruise ships just keep getting bigger and bigger. There were 4 tied up downtown and 2 tied up in the new Ward Cove terminal just north of town.

Here are a few random tourist photos. Creek Street is the historical red light district now converted to shops.

 

[lxskllr]

How do you feel about the change? Bittersweet? My first place I moved going out on my own was a down and out "city" that had a certain charm to it. Since then, money's moved in, the shoreline's been developed, and everything's "better", but stuff got lost in the transition.

 

[BeerGeek]

Austin, is that eerily reminding you of what NJ was and to a point, still is?

 

[stikine]

It's just people transitioning I guess. I'm glad I don't live in Ketchikan. At least in Wrangell we have a manageable amount of tourism and a lot of it is independent travellers which I think is a bit more authentic.

Right now I can hear the audience cheering from a "logging show" from my hotel room that is put on for the tourists... chopping events, sawing events, and pole climbing. Canada vs. USA logger actors, kinda cheesy. Sad thing is that the cruise lines now own the tourist shops, restaurants and other waterfront businesses. Only the smaller scale stuff is locally owned

 

[stikine]

The Cape Fox Lodge where I'm staying is owned by one of the native cooperations. They commissioned some native carvers to carve these small totems in front of the lobby entrance. Western Red Cedar

 

[pigwot]

Just back from installing two tree swings and a hanging chair for a neighbor’s kids. Now off to install a new carb on the sawmill before it rains (if it does!)

 

[SeanKroll]

Henna.

Mine: Drink More Water ( cup with straw symbol)
Glitter for authenticity 😆

Hers: retracing one done by an artist

 

[flushcut]

Eucalyptus ink I hope.

 

[Nutball]

Anyone have an Akimbo I could try? I'm thinking of trying to climb again. The neighbor has what looks like an easy to climb red oak, the kind with a ball shaped canopy made up of a thousand branches. It's only like 30-50ft to where there's no more trunk. No targets too close that couldn't be avoided by steering the branches away or cutting them out farther. $400 is just a lot to drop right now when I could wait until a sale. Not sure if I'd prefer a rope wrench instead, which looks safer having a friction hitch, but also isn't as simple. I imagine a friction hitch could be used below the Akimbo when starting out until it is dialed in.

I just ordered an Echo pole saw, which I've been meaning to for a while, but saw you can get a 4ft extension, which should make it longer than any other telescoping pole saw. That might let me knock out a some of the branches from the ground.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I do not recommrnd the extension. Damn thing is heavy enough with out. Anything past 12 feet, climb for it.

 

[Treeaddict]

Start of the annual family vacation. We’re at Ocean City MD with extended family- 18 of us all together. I’d prefer mountains and/or woods as my first choice but there’s a few why reasons that’s not happening. I still enjoy the beach though. Boogie boards/body surfing, digging deep holes in the sand, digging for sand crabs/sand fleas, shell and rock collecting. All done with and for the kids of course 😉. There’s a ton of Sycamores/ London Planes purposefully planted around here. Unless they’re a dwarf (and I mean dwarf) species I don’t know about, they’re way too close together and in way too tight of a space.

 

[Treeaddict]

Nutball, an akimbo is not meant to be used with any other type of friction hitch. Are you going with srt?

 

[lxskllr]

Ocean City's great. We went every year when I was a kid, but I haven't been in awhile. Sycamore seems like a wildly inappropriate choice for a drive/parking area in an urban setting. Cool trees, but very messy.

 

[Treeaddict]

Another poor choice

 

[cory]

Just back from installing two ...... Now off to install ....)

Slow day

 

[lxskllr]

They're getting trolled by their planner. The guy sold them as Balkan crape myrtles, and he drives by every day and giggles :^D

 

[Jonny]

These little beauties are Link (boy) and Zelda (girl), picked them up last night from my girlfriend’s aunt. Guess she feeds the local strays and one decided to have her litter on her patio. They’re adjusting really quickly I think, they’re quite cuddly and affectionate. Tonight we’ll introduce them to the dogs, I’m sure they’ll all be cool. Got some shopping done for them and appointments made for vaccinations in August and spaying and neutering in September. Her aunt is getting that mama cat spayed too. Way too many strays in Niagara Falls.

 

[SeanKroll]

You can make a rope- wrench knockoff inexpensively. You would need bulk hitch cord, a pulley and biner.

No place or need for Hitch cord with an Akimbo.

 

[BeerGeek]

My longest cat was a Zelda. All black with a white belly and a small white spot on her nose. Enjoy those two, Jonny!

 

[Nutball]

You can make a rope- wrench knockoff inexpensively. You would need bulk hitch cord, a pulley and biner.

No place or need for Hitch cord with an Akimbo.

Sounds like a good idea. Looks really easy to make.

 

[SeanKroll]

My first "wrench" was a hammer handle.

Now, slic-pins make them mid-line attachable.