jomoco

Hey Bish Bash! Can you please post a close up shot of the fuel caps on that handsome chainsaw? One of my pet peeves is the stupidity of modern chainsaw manufacturers that can't design fuel caps sleek enough to be wiped perfectly clean in the field with a rag. No, they must have lots of little nooks n crevices for sclurge to hide in, until refueled and it dives into your tank! Such a simple easy thing, but noooooo.... Jomoco

I'm sick of hanging from stinkin saddles that crowd my manhood, and cut off the blood flow to my legs! I wanna stand up dang it! Like a man!

How well I remember getting into my first big hardwood tree prune. Making a beeline for the optimum tie in point, tying in, making my way down, then wondering which branches to prune off, which branches to leave? So of course I just copied what the top dog pruners did, cut every branch off except a few well spaced sets of three, usually the innermost healthy branches, reduction pruning, commercial buzz jobs. No chin scratching or wondering what the end result looks like, or how vigorously that tree will react to such hard pruning in terms of sucker growth. Chainsaw pruning, production pruning, both climbers and bucket flyers, city street tree contracts, county road clearance contracts, military housing community contracts, buzz em all with a chainsaw. Bucket trucks have improved, gotten taller, remote narrow access manlifts have improved as well, more versatile, better reach. But none of them, whether articulating or telescoping, are capable of pruning a truly large spreading decurrent tree, without multiple repositioning and setup of their lifts. Now I have been fortunate enough to spend many years performing tree removals for a large tree company with their own in house crane, removing many thousands of trees with crane assistance. Essentially spoiling me rotten floating around, getting where I wanted in the trees by pointing to whichever spot or crotch I desired. It was inevitable that I'd take advantage of my crane availability to prune a few trees as well, despite the bloody 150 lb crane ball n hook! Leading me to imagine hanging from a swiveling hook assembly without a friggin ball, maybe even a T bar with two points of attachment? So a crane truck, built specifically to hoist personnel only, with a long reach jib, would be capable of pruning even the largest hardwood trees from one single position. Reach over houses etc. it would never see loads exceeding 1000 Lbs. Then of course these advantages being insufficient to satisfy a spoiled rotten climber like me, I decide hanging from a wire rope sucks too! Conducts electricity, weighs too much, and can't power my tools etc, wah wah wah. Nope I want a synthetic compound hose assembly, that swivels, and delivers everything a spoiled rotten brat could dream up. Compressed air, cold air, hot air, filtered and oxygen enriched breathing air! I wanted it all, and I wanted it then, twenty years ago. Who'll succeed where I failed, the Germans, Swiss, Japanese, English. I'm fairly certain it won't be America leading the way. Forty years from now? Climbers won't need to leave home to perform their jobs in the trees. They'll just get into harness in a control room across the hall, and log on in real time! Ideally a tree pruning anthropoidal robot need not weigh much over 100 lbs, particularly if powered by an overhead umbilical. Jomoco

One Eyed Jacks was even better IMO. Get up! You tub of guts! Jomoco

His brothers were all ace mob hit men, fit as fiddles! But like me, poor Beaky was more or less a has been hit man, content to bring home baby bumble bees to stir into the family pot. Jomoco

Funny how so much of an arborist's income is the result of poor landscape design and planting, in urban areas particularly, and residences generally. They want a lush n green look ASAP, to heck with long term maintenance consequences. And here I'm plumply perched like Beacky the Buzzard, uh yep, uh yep, uh huh! Jomoco

Wraptor's are a bulky one way elevator up, blowing two stroke fumes all the way up for your smoking enjoyment. Then they must be lowered back to the ground carefully like a wee expensive child, coddled n protected. Like I intimated, buttons, toggle switches, overhead umbilical crane trucks, remotely controlled by the operator hanging from it. It won't be long. Yeah? Yeah! Have access? No problemo! Jomoco

I struggle with the idea of taking the physical fitness aspect out of the proper tree pruning equation, or at least minimizing it drastically. The future of mechanizing this biz beyond recognition won't take much longer IMO. Whether you weigh 150 or 350 lbs won't matter, the umbilical crane trucks will enable any harvey homeowner to rent one and prune their own trees exactly how they like em! Hell even granny'll be up there, floatin like a butterfly n stingin like a bee! Jomoco

I coulda been a contender... I coulda been a somebody... But life's rough on the water front. Jomoco

Perhaps a bit of mechanical advantage can trump the fit blokes Eggs? Man v machine in a race to pick coconuts - BBC News But there again? Jomoco

Does the hooskow they drag you to have sharp steel rotating blades? Jomoco

I love Tolkien's take on trees and humans being unable to coexist together because human's are far too hasty in everything they meddle in, particularly trees! The cycle here in SoCal is whack it to within reach of a bucket truck, and repeat as necessary! The top notch tree companies have resorted to hundred foot bucket trucks of course! There may be a few outfits with climbers doing class one spikeless pruning of hundred foot plus big trees, but they are scarce, and getting scarcer as time rolls along. There's a trade off at work driving this. The scarcity of climbers physically fit enough to footlock n properly prune huge trees daily, and the abundance of climbers who'll hurt themselves trying, and end up on workmens comp attempting such feats. That's why tree service owners, even highly credentialed certified owners, tend to look the other way when climbers on their crews slap the gaffs on to "safely" prune those big trees. Jomoco

Well, as one gets older, they must learn to cheat, take mechanical advantages, to atone for their piteous shortcomings. I'm gettin mighty partial to push buttons n toggle switches meself. Jomoco

What? Agree with me, a scurvy yank!

It's a lot like a cop, unable to scale a six foot brick wall. Jomoco

I think the ability to do a muscle up with your saddle on's a better barometer of your fitness to climb meself. Jomoco

Even the Jungle Boy's not fit enough to keep up with this minimalist tree climber! Jomoco

My one in a million dream dog only lived seven years before pancreatic cancer killed him. Purebred German Shepard bought for home protection after my firstborn's arrival, but preferred guarding my tooltruck under an umbrella.

Kipling's Jungle Boy eh? Just one well sharpened tooth! Jomoco

Have you ever wondered where the saying Mad Dogs n Englishman originated? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dogs_and_Englishmen_(song) I've had to put down a purebred Akita in it's prime for nipping a playmate of my son, a toddler. My fault for letting an outdoor territorial dog into the house, while visitors were in the house too. Condolences on losing your friend in such a manner mate. Jomoco

In my experience bandanas make very effective tourniquets and blood staunching temporary bandages while aloft. Plenty quick charlie! Jomoco

I do subscribe to the minimalist doctrine when it comes to climbing saddle accoutrements though! My climbing medkit consists of two very lightweight cotton bandanas, and a cell phone. On my saddle, a lanyard, 3 speed line loops n biners daisy chained, and one possibly two climb lines. I used to bust up at the field day seminars watching the east coast climbers loaded down with 20 lbs worth of extraneous stuff, show us west coast boys how it's done! Even in my prime, I was still one of those wimps who clipped his trimsaw to the tail of his climb line before foot locking up a big prune job. Here's to minimalist Spartan climbers everywhere! Jomoco

It's funny how over the decades in this biz your kit keeps expanding and getting bigger to the point you need a bigger truck, or have to start towing a trailer. Binoculars, pneumatic throw bag guns, bee suits, etc etc. Nicest rig I ever saw belonged to Ken Johnson, an arborist outta the Bay Area of San Fran, big army lookin Chevy 4X4 with everything, winches, lockdown toolboxes, overhead racks with long tubes to lockdown pole saws, the woiks! I find it uncomfortable and slightly unnerving to put very much distance between me n my tooltruck. Old codger's disease no doubt. Jomoco

Would yu believe I've aff a million miles on me bleedin ambulance in this biz Eggs? Dang thang's older than me firstborn daughter! Jomoco

Well, you certainly appear rather nonchalant and a tad too minimalistic, on the preparedness end of the mental fitness scale, for hazardous duty professions.