Drella

Needs more mauve.

Now that is one ugly asssss lighter--- and stitches too...

Nice.

Between a wife and a prostitute? Better to have a prostitue, because either way you look at it, you're going to pay.

^^Gotta love those Scottish born- Baltimore school of arts graduates! I love "Fear of Music" and his collaboration with Eno- "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts."

Doing a larger Pin Oak pruning with some tri-plex house drops along the back of the tree and the other, straight through but closer to the tips of the lowest branches, well away from the drop zone. Everything went as planned. Nothing too large hitting either line and my climbing line was plenty clear the whole time spent pruning. Just as I've finished up, I stopped at the lowest branch, saftied in and pulled out my tie in, so I could re-tie as to have enough line to make it the rest of the way down. I had my pole saw hanging above me on a branch while I finished off making the final tie in. As I was just about ready to come down, I grabbed my polesaw, put the butt-end through my lanyard- "so I wouldn't have to hold it on the 60' descent." I slid the poll, down through the lanyard's loop and it was about mid way down when the blade nicked the 220 line. There was a giant "BOOM!" and a flash of blue and white. It nearly scared the crap out of me cause it happened just behind my head by about 4'... After I yelled out a few four and five letter words, I composed myself and continued down. When I landed, I checked out the damage on the blade. About 5 teeth were completely blown off or melted. Yet another one of my close-calls. BTW: Though it seems like a lot of near misses, remember I've climbed well over 1,000 trees a year, for over 10 years. Not a bad track record afterall.....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36HG72P-RBI&feature=related]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36HG72P-RBI&feature=related[/ame]

Corrective prune and lightly shaped tropical plum tree- completed this morning before noon... _____________________________________________

That's too funny dude! Sort of like the black bar over the eyes to protect someones identity...

I was doing a Blue Spruce removal and had two groundmen pulling the brush as I would cut, then advance a few steps, cut, advance, cut.... As my feet were approx' 12 foot or so from the ground, I had just hung my saw and was ready to go higher. As I looked down before I made more cuts, one of the groundsmen reached for a limb,, then immediately dropped the branch and jerked his arm back behind himself. What had happened is there was a hornet nest built throughout three or so limbs and when I cut one, it ripped the nest open. Before I knew what happened to Ronnie, the whole area was engulfed in a cloud of pissed off bees! They were swarming around in circles trying to find who to kill! Just then, I decided to pull my saftey off and jump from the tree! As I unhooked the snap, I just pulled my spurs and "tried" to fall. My safety was an old-school prusik type that was looped on one end where you could adjust it. The loop had snagged on a stub I left and it swung me upside down quicker than anything! Now I'm hung up with the right side of my safety and I'm trying to sink a spur in the tree with my left leg- to get upright again so I can resume jumping. "This all took place within the blink of an eye-- I move pretty fast when I'm about to get stung half a million times!" I finally got a foot hold, flipped the safety off the stub and dropped straight down. I had landed on my feet, then did a backwards -tuck and roll type manuevour then back to my feet and I ran like hell. All this without landing on my chainsaw or getting one sting! The acrobatic move was all by chance, I'm not nearly that nimble.......

Wait until I take a photo of what I found just around the corner from where I worked today. I was going to take a snapshot but the homeowner was out front, watering his landscape. Someone did a real number on what was, a beautiful Laurel Oak. Give me a few days and I'll have it.........

Photo #4 is awesome!

Here's some butchery of the un-natural kind. These "were" beautiful Live Oaks that fanned out over the parking area. Every time I drove by, I wished I had the opportunity to corrective prune them. They had such an awesome shape to work with, I could've made them look like something out of a Dr. Suess book. Instead, the property owner hired some clowns to do the work...

I always hated doing the Colorado Blues the most. They're itchy as hell and you always seem to get the small dead twiggy crap down the back of your neck, into your shirt and it stops right between your lower back and your saddle!

Just a simple remove branches to limb up over a house. The tree is a Jacaranda, mighty soft wood but heavy. Real easy to cut,, but if you're not careful and don't undercut, you'll peel past the collar and down the trunkwood.. Before: _____________________________________________ After:

Not anymore, lost a lot of my photo's when my PC crashed. I still have the drive but haven't gotten around to pulling the files.. You'd be lucky to find one much older than 150 years.. But they sure do get massive in that amount of time! I love climbing the giant Red Oaks. They're easy to get around in and sometimes pruning a dead branch off is as easy as pulling it with the hook of your pole saw.

Very nice photos.. We've done a few like these in the past and the practice was to break out the 3/4 work rope, secure it at least 2/3 up and off to any other main lead that may need secured. And to have added insurance, rope it off at any other point of possible failure. It was also a good idea to have two central tie ins whilst removing. Luckily, we never had any lead fail while removing them--- luckily...

Exactly^^^ and Tony Sorensen is spot on with his comment- "Full leaf and Mid-dormancy."

Has anyone purchased the ART Cocoon or Petzl Swivels? I'm wondering at what application can either of these be utilized daily to justify buying them. Can the swivel be used for climbing systems or is it just useless fodder/// Same with the cocoon, I can't figure for the life of me how this can be used..... So if anyone has either, let me know how you've used them and if they're a worthy investment....

Yeah,, I taught him all my best moves....

So that's what gets all over your hands when climbing...

Giant American Elms- "especially when they cover four different yards." Huge Pin Oaks- "because they usually take all day to prune just one and the wood is tough as rocks." Colossal Honey Locust- "the ones with the massive ball of spikes every few feet, wood also hard to cut." Monstrous Sugar Maples- "with no central lead." Enormous Freeman/Silver Maples- "with multiple leaning leads with no central tie in."

Trey Gunn band. watch the pig lose her shirt....... [ame= ] [/ame]

Massive downhilling eh? I can't imagine myself being man enough for either of those two bikes... You bet it is! And check this out.. The frame was given to me after completing an all day Oak pruning. The clients home is a friend and sales rep for Giant. And group-o was given to me as payment for catering a Tour de' France bicycle shopp party. The parts are a combination of Dura-Ace and Ultegra 10. The last edition was the ITM Mag/Carbon stem,, that too was a trade off for some work. I love bartering! Hey Leyburn Lad,, judging from your saddle height, I'd say you're upwards of 6'5"....

Spiders on drugs... [ame= ] [/ame]