Taupotreeman

Lovely mid winter morning. Weather was pants earlier this week but mother nature turned it on today. .

Beautiful scarlet Oak, kindly drilled and poisoned by one of the locals hence the removal. Still working out what the thought process is when you figure a dead tree overhanging your house is safer than a living one. Two unit job with the Taupo based arb unit and the Turangi based Parks and Reserves. Full road closure to make life easy. One side bombed out in lengths onto the road and the other side rigged down over the house, fence and car (that they couldn't be arsed to move) and underground services. Never really took much note how smoothly everything goes when you have a good man on the rope. I just get on with the job and never give it a second thought but today, in ugly weather, with decent sized chunks swinging around my head I realised just how much I wasn't worried because I had full confidence in my 2IC.

What happens when A, town planners don't do their research, B, the roads and footpath engineers give the OK to lay new concrete footpath because the old one has lifted, C, contractors don't give a monkeys.

Just had 7 and a half weeks in the U.S. Next holiday will be 2017 of hopefully the same duration depending on how much money I have.

I'd imagine this is brought in to order? Nice bit of kit.

Whereabouts in the Wairarapa Arran? Good wine country down there and a stunning part of the country.

Ahhhh sorry, my misunderstanding. Makes a lot more sense now an also explains a few things.

I just sucked it up and spent the money getting the encyclopaedia. Cost a fair whack more by the time I got it shipped to NZ. Great book with heaps of info and worth the money IMO.

Heaps of jobs going in NZ at the moment. Start on http://www.trademe.co.nz look under jobs for arborists. Last count there was at least 30 vacancies. Many employers will help with paperwork. I believe Asplundh still has a guy recruiting in the UK. Plenty of smaller outfits also looking for climbers.

They come out here with all kinds of motors. Cummins, Perkins, Cat, Kubota. The engine wasn't the issue, just seemed to be under engineered and the hydraulics weren't up to driving the rollers hard enough. Like I say though; wouldn't have anything else if it were my money.

I paid $149 NZ delivered so around 60-70 quid I think. Wasn't willing to fork out almost double on the Eco fan just yet. Did notice that the air at ceiling level was way hotter than where I lie down on my bean bag so hopefully it'll help. We also managed to boil the water in the cylinder today so hopefully with better air/heat circulation we might be able to turn the fire down a bit.

990xp 12" drum. The dealers, Hydralada, actually wanted to put them side by side to check when we made comment on it. Just made us appreciate ours that much more. Awesome machine.

We had a loner after ours was rolled in an accident. Same model, same spec but the chassis/frame was smaller, hydraulic pump was smaller and it wasn't as grunty. We were happy to get our old one back after the rebuild. Don't get me wrong; I love the Bandits and it would always be my first choice. Just the newer model didn't seem as good as our older one. Wonder if the was a change in manufacturing or what?

I'm really pleased about this but more so because the Pommes played cricket in a good spirit. I watched the way the recent series against NZ was played and it was nice to watch it for the cricket rather than having to see snarling, spitting Ozzies in the faces of other players. Nice to see the English carry that over along with the new style they play with. Nothing like putting the Ozzies in their place.

Well, I've just ordered a valiant stove top fan. Was thinking about a heat transfer system to run the heat at the ceiling through to the bedrooms. I still might but for short term, getting a fan to see if I can push the heat around the room rather than having it hang around above my head seems like a good option. Will let you know how it goes.

Apparently, when you've been coughing for a while, it becomes a habit. The wife had one similar. She ended up on a codeine suppressant to try and kick the coughing habit she'd formed. Worked in the end but took ages. There was also a bad virus kicking around NZ for a while last year with a long lasting cough after a cold.

Don't know much about what is happening in the UK, in fact don't know much about anything when it comes to farming of any kind but I will say that dairy farmers in NZ are in the same predicament. Milk solid pay outs are at $3.85 which is close on at an all time low. Farmers reckon if it drops below $3.75 it'll all be over for most dairy owners. One owner was talking about a $500,000 overdraft, just for the year, in order to keep afloat.

Supposed to be crown lifting street trees but got to this one and it had a deep and ugly rot hole right beneath and equally ugly union. Main stems weighted towards two houses so down it came. Three groundies, one in training so worked out well as the trainee got to experience some rope control using the portawrap.

Another one for the Kriegers. Seem to last way longer than other pants. Only one complaint; sawdust sticks to the inside really easily and sticks in to you. Comfy as though.

Bloody hell that's impressive work.

One reason I haven't changed over to mirrorless Mario. The bodies are a little small and fiddly although I'm taken with both the Fuji and the Sony. I know the whole idea is to be small and light but my wife's Olympus is just too small. Curious as to where you source your gear from? I visited Sammy's camera while in SF and picked up some gear but B&H is just excellent.

Mines still running 24/7. Nothing like getting home to a warm house and a full tank of scalding hot water (wet back). Open up the air and away she goes. Currently burning some nice old Eucalptus.

Fire break maybe?

I don't see many homeless around my home town but plenty when I'm in the U.S. San Francisco is particularly bad. I usually carry around a pocket full of change or small notes. I don't know if it makes any difference handing it out to those that are sleeping under carpet on a freezing cold night. I honestly don't care if it's spent on booze, food or whatever if it gives someone some respite from what they go through. And yeah, it makes me feel a little better rather than just walking past pretending they're not there. To be fair, I think many that I've seen have had their minds frazzled by various substances. Last guy I handed a five dollar note too didn't even seem to realise what it was. What I will say is that every one of them that gets a little something, be it food, a hot drink or money, to a tee, have better manners than most people I meet on a day to day basis. Please and thanks, God bless you etc. to see someone charge into the local subway for a hot soup with the loose change you have just given them can be a little humbling. In answer to the original question; you didn't steal the wine, merely reacted to the presumed plight of the guy with a kindly gesture.

Anyone complaining of her riches stop to think that there's plenty below us on the financial ladder looking up at us thinking exactly the same thing? Always figure there's someone, in fact plenty, that are worse off than me so I should be bloody thankful for what I have.