Taupotreeman

New Zealand was in mourning yesterday arvo and still is this morning. Lomu changed the game for ever and he'll be sadly missed.

Bought a lifeproof but the earphone jack is a PITA. It eventually broke. For the price, I expected better. Rubber seals are starting to fall apart but to be fair, as a tough case, it's pretty good. Not sure I'd buy another over an otterbox. Yet to try the griffin.

As per above. Have a look at the Sweathawg. Purpose designed to stop sweat getting in your eyes. Comfy and cool. Just make sure you get the short skull cap otherwise your ear muffs won't fit snug. You end up looking like the pope when you take your helmet off but I'm past caring. Washable too.

Invest in a sweathawg skull cap. I bought one each for my mate and I. Soaks up all the sweat and let's it evaporate through the top. Lots of positives in that you get no sweat in your eyes, helmet doesn't stink, your head stays cool in summer and warm in winter. They come in from the US and are well worth the money. As for the Protos; I have one after swearing I would never wear one. Comfy as although I find the hearing protection lacking a little compared to the petzl assembly. You definitely get the feeling of being well protected but they don't fit big heads that well and I still find them incredibly expensive for what they are.

Cheers Adam. I did wonder about the spiking. It's exactly what I'd be doing to be fair.

Seems this "wind firming" thing is quite a regular/usual occurrence Adam. What's the thought process/reasoning over leaving them or complete removal? Also, is it all done off spikes or spike Less? Nice video by the way.

That'd be one of those trees that'd keep me awake at nights a week or two in advance.

I employ subcontractors rather than full time employees. It means I can pick and choose the right man for the job but each of the two guys I use brings not only their climbing gear but their own rigging gear, saws and fuel. I also have my gear on site too. It may look like overkill but the guys prefer to use all their own gear which is fine by me. Can be a bit excessive at times tho.

Another day and yet another Dougie Fir removal, along with a Cedar. Little bit of ringing up left to do but otherwise, a very good day.

I'm not sure that Bandit made it. If it's the same video (I haven't watched this one) it was taken by one of the guys on a demo. The original post was taken down of Facebook but then but back up a few days later. Might be a completely different vid tho.

It was definitely a wake up call and I immediately changed the way we did things. Rope is either bundled and tied, up with the climber or the chipper is further away than the rope can reach and the groundy is always to check for ropes before feeding the chipper.

Confession time here. I've had a rope fed in to a chipper while still attached to me. The chipper was my old Asplundh Whisper chuck and duck. I was up a tree and my groundy was feeding brash into it. A serious of silly mistakes on my par really. Chipper too near the tree, rope not bundled up, hadn't discussed the job methodology with a new groundy. Pretty much everything I should have done I didn't. Anyway, I had a whole heap of cypress limbs lying across the rope, the groundy didn't see it, picked up the bundle of brash, rope and all, and threw it in the chipper. I felt my line go taught as the drum took up the slack and then as soon as there was tension on the line there was a big puff of yellow fibres and the blades cut the rope. There was no rope left around the drum but heaps of little chipped bits in the back of the truck. I'd be interested to see this experiment done again with a little bit of resistance on the rope to see what would happen.

Big Government is desperately, desperately flawed, and horribly horribly inefficient from an insiders perspective. I could quote specifics but feel that would be improper, and probably sackable. Being a shite, useless employee is fine, telling stories is not! Have also seen this, from the inside, and couldn't agree more. It never ceases to amaze me the how's, whys and wherefore's.

A V8 chuck and duck!

Pittosporum eugenoides here on the bottom end of Lake Taupo, NZ. That's a NZ native mistletoe.

The blades are around 11-12 inches but it'll suck through six inches without blinking and at a fair rate of knots. 8 inch logs it'll do too but I can throw a 20 foot long 6 inch chunk in and it's gone in a second or two. I'll try get a video for you. We were chucking full length Dougie fir branches in one after the other off the job and there's no waiting. In fact, you have a hard time keeping up. Like I say, it's pretty agricultural but it does the job. Turned up on a Treescape site with it one day here in NZ. The Treescape boys laughed at me. By the end of the day their 9" Bandit sat quietly on the drive while the boys took turns chucking stuff into the C&D trying to bog it down. Reckoned it was better than their Bandit for chipping Gum.

Walkers cheese and onion crisps and sandwich spread. Cold, sliced boiled potatoes and dijonaisse. Thin sliced roast beef and Colmans hot English. I've tried heaps of fancy stuff, including lobster, which I'm partial too but as I don't eat much bread, it's the simple things I like. Favourite of all is probably cheese with thinly sliced onion with salt and pepper but it depends on mood.

I'd probably want a 9 to be honest mate. I've gotten used to the speed this thing goes at so I reckon a 6 would be a little slow. Happy to be proved incorrect though.

I I've seen the same videos Ian and I'm not sure what's going on with those chuck and ducks but they look like they're on steroids. Mine's a whole lot more civilised although it does have a ford commercial 4.9l straight six engine. The worst I've had is a smack around the back of the head on a cold day. I've even been hooked on a branch and been able to pull the branch back out of the blades. I did some research and can't find any serious injuries or fatalities from the old chuck and ducks but heaps come up from the bigger, feed roller choppers. The chuck and ducks, are, at best, agricultural but they're cheap to maintain and buy. I'd love a nice 9 inch bandit or Carlton but just can't justify it at the moment. Still, the C&Ds aren't for everyone.

Oh, and I ditched any thoughts of dealing with the Union or HR. Well and truly over that and now it's all about me making the decisions etc.

Well, currently into my first week off doing my own thing. I have another 3 (1 annual leave and 2 weeks leave without pay). Applied for another, short term position within council to tie me over but trying to get my business up and running properly again. The short term position is only a six month fixed term contract in a completely different department but currently, eyes are definitely on going back full time. Website is being developed, new business cards are done, just bought a stump grinder so all I need is the work. I have the next three weeks pretty much fully booked. Also heard through the grapevine (after the management started being really REALLY nice) that they had been warned I was going to put a PG in. I don't know where they got this from but the tone of conversation has definitely been improved. So, I suppose, rather than back tracking, I'm just delaying the inevitable until I'm completely set up. It's been awesome this past week though, working back with my ex 2ic from council and my best mate as a 3 man team. Good being able to see the job right through from go to whoa. Sleeping better, and feeling positive. A bit more of a clear head not being in that council environment and able to concentrate on getting stuff set up and sorted. The councillor has helped put a little clarity in to things and advised that I take things a week at a time. She's more about teaching me to deal with what I actually know rather than what I think could happen (at council) and how to "swipe" negative thoughts away. To bring sub conscious thoughts to the front of my mind and then deal with those thoughts rather than have them gnawing away in the back of my mind. Also a few relaxation techniques, although I haven't tried these yet.

Yep, cheap, cheerful and bloody fast.

Removal of 3 Dougie Firs, Cypress and some scrubby rubbish.

I have a heap if anyone is interested?

Plenty colder. It's the wind that seems to get them but they grow all around the shores of Lake Taupo.