How'd it go today?

[sotc]

hanging christmas trees?
id remember that neighborhood paul, mine is that way. about 10 inches is a sandstone layer that every one who digs knows about and bids for! i tried to save money a few years ago by driving my own electric ground rods, i never beat on something so much in my life! the electrician later told me they usually rent a jack hammer and even at that its a pain

 

[Paul B]

re hanging christmas trees. I take december off from my biz, I return calls and do bids as I can then slate the work for January etc. I work at a retail garden center that sells christmas trees. The plants are taken out of the main greenhouses and we hang little ropes every 4 or 5 feet from the rafters, then we hang a tree by its tip so they fall open nicely, can be spun around to see all sides and people get to shop under cover.

Its a cool system, I have been doing it sonce '89, my first year in the biz. This place I go to now, I changed their hanging system two years ago and it works better now. They used to take the string the trees are bundled with, about a 1/8" poly twine, and tie the trees up, cut the strings to get them down, then use more string to hang the next tree by climbing the ladder and going back up to the rafter, for each tree!

Now we hang 1'4" nylon from the rafters and use a slippery half hitch to attach the tree. one yank and the hitch is undone, the new tree sits on a cinder block (or the top of the arch of your foot if you are good like me) then you can tie the hitch one handed. too simple. I will take a few pics today, maybe post them after work just for hits and giggles.

ps. as for selling the trees we also take a fresh cut off the base of the stem then shhove them through a baler. I carry my zubat to cut, the store provides a few 24 or 36" sweded saws (bow saws). Zubat kicks butt.

 

[sotc]

very cool, never seen that. have you thought about doing that your self every year?

 

[Old Monkey]

Do you dress up like an elf Paul?

 

[sawinredneck]

Hope all is going well Stumper!!!!

 

[Paul B]

OM, no, but a number of years back I did don a Santa suit, of course I required several pillows as ballast!

 

[Al Smith]

Rain ,drizzle,yuck.

I put on my gasman's hat today and repaired the gas bbq grill ,bad regulater. I even fixed the quartz igniter.I never throw anything away so it took longer to find the parts than repair the grill,typical of my modus operendi. Ha,maybe good enough to last a few more ice cream seasons.

 

[Paul B]

hovering around freezing, snowfall warning in effect for this afternoon and evening. Did the scheduled job, winter shrub pruning, perennial cutting back, removing a few dead shrubs and pruning to pear trees. 3 hours work, pub lunch and now home to do office work. tomorrows work is in the air depending on road conditions in the AM.

Last night we visited my parents for supper, here is a pic of our usual positions, me on the Palm phone texting or surfing, her smiling and beautiful (and 26 weeks pregnant now).


yes, to those who are curious it IS a CSA approved touque and I took my safety glasses off for the picture

 

[squisher]

But I see you only have one TIP!

 

[Paul B]

since the only sharp edged instrument I had on me was a pair of Felco #6, I figured one TIP was enough.

wont let me post any pics now. will try again later to see if it works. :what: yes, I cleared cache, history and rebooted and it still no workie. grrrr.

now it lets me post this but not the other pics!

 

[squisher]

I've never had a problem

 

[SkwerI]

AAHHHHHHHHH!!!
Jeez, Justin! You need to warn us before posting that picture! You're gonna hurt somebody with that mug!

 

[squisher]

Can't give up the element of suprise!

 

[MasterBlaster]

It's Garth Brooks!!!

 

[Frans]

I want one of those hats!

Come on Rotax, what's the hang up?

 

[Burnham]

I took on a little side job Sunday. Removal of a double stemmed Douglas fir and a dead big-leafed maple. A big pro arborist outfit from town bid $2k to do the job, with a spider lift, planning on piecing everything out of both trees to avoid hitting the fancy house. I climbed the Doug, topped and chunked both stems, and felled the maple from the ground...2 hours work, plus I was fed lunch and coffee. $300, easy money. I can't imagine what they were thinking with that bid. The LZ's were tight, but not as bad as all that.

I guess that makes me the lowlife hack .

 

[squisher]

2k include clean-up/removal? Ya lowlife hack!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Enjoy those Franklins!!!

 

[Burnham]

2k include clean-up/removal? Ya lowlife hack!

Home owner said not, he wanted to do that himself...but I didn't see the bid sheet, so who knows for sure.

It was a put 'em on the ground and drive away deal for me.

 

[SkwerI]

That's just great, you lowballing hack!

 

[squisher]

Ahh either way, worked out good for you!

 

[Burnham]

I think I'll try to find a nice piece of jewelry for my best friend/wife. A good way to spend a few unexpected bonus dollars at this time of year .

 

[squisher]

You can never go wrong with jewellery, atleast that's what I've found. All women have a little pirate in 'em, they love their treasure!

 

[Stumper]

Burnham is a ha..ack,
Burnham is a ha..ack.
nyah nayah na..an nayahh na.

 

[stehansen]

I took my wife to the doctor late in the morning and then I did a couple of bids and a report that my promised to some 87 year old lady for nothing. Traveling almost 2 hours to tomorrow's job so I am off to fill the truck with diesel. Good job Burnham; however, you could have nailed them for some more money.