Silly rich people

[Beirut]

Nice !

Though $200 seems a bit on the cheap side for a decent espresso machine...

It wasn't one of the electric ones, though I wish it was. It was a stove top model like this. We paid $120 for ours and it makes 2 cups at a time. The one I found, which looks brand new, makes four cups.



The Stranger,

No work - no candy.


I wasn't kidding about the house going up fifty feet away. Where the shovel is, is where the house was. Where the dirt is, is where it's going.


Boy am I glad the week is over. Time to eat, drink, and sleep. Looting takes a lot out of a man. And stupid me cracked my big piece of granite in two this morning while getting it out of the truck. Gah!

[lars573]

And stupid me cracked my big piece of granite in two this morning while getting it out of the truck. Gah!

and lots of it.

Also my brother (who worked as a surveyor for 2 years) was wondering why it would take a week to clear out a dozen or so storm felled trees?

[Beirut]

[IMG]Also my brother (who worked as a surveyor for 2 years) was wondering why it would take a week to clear out a dozen or so storm felled trees?

I wish it was as easy as it sounds. It's not a dozen trees, it's a dozen sections of trees. Cutting a tree down is usually very quick. Cleaning it up... ahhh, therein lies the rub. You have to cut it down, then take the branches off, then make piles with the branches and drag the branches to the chipper and chip them either into the truck or into the woods, then cut the trunk in sections that can be carried, then you have to carry the wood to the truck, then you have to pass the rake and pick up the shnut (our word for rakings). Then you have to drive five miles back the yard once the truck is full, dump, then drive five miles back to the job, set up the truck and chipper in the next work area and do it all over again.

The trees that are in the woods on the property within sight of the house have to be dragged out of the bush. Cutting a forty-foot balsam is nothing. Cutting down a dead dry prickly forty-foot balsam that is half down, stuck in other trees is a mess. Then you have to clean up the mess. It isn't fun. Even the stuff that can stay in the bush has to be cut down, unstuck, branched, the trunk cut up, and everything moved into neat piles that you can't see.

Also, half the trees have to be climbed and some of the sections taken down with ropes. The big spruce in the first pic took the climber a half an hour just to get unstuck out of the maples it was in. There was serious tension with all the weight, the maples were bent over about 30 degrees. You have to get into the mess up there and cut it out without the whole thing snapping shut on you and taking your arm off. Also, you have to save the maples because Mr. & Mrs. Customer love their trees and get really mad if you wreck any. (Or the flowers which are inevitably under or near the tree in question. You want to piss off Mrs. Rich Customer - drop a big piece of wood right into her hostas. Goes over real well.)

This is the clean version of the mess by the shed. Compare it to the pic in my first post. It took some time, believe me.


You also have to maintain your tools. Hit a nail in the tree or a rock under a log and you get fifteen minutes of down time at the truck sharpening your chain, drinking coffee. Mmmm....

[SwordsMaster]

I think I like your job, Beirut. You need a hand for next season? I can imagine it gets trickier in winter though. Hence your ultra-caloric baking experiments. It all makes sense.

[FactionHeir]

I suppose that explains why Beirut is a "Tree Killer".
Nice looting. Happens often?

[Beirut]

Nice looting. Happens often?

First time.

I think I like your job, Beirut. You need a hand for next season? I can imagine it gets trickier in winter though. Hence your ultra-caloric baking experiments. It all makes sense.

Any time, brother. I'll pay for the plane ticket. Very hard to find good help. There are only two or three guys in town who can/will handle work like this and everyone wants them. When we get someone who will give us even two days a week, we treat them like gold in order to keep them. That's why 99% of our jobs it's just me and my partner. We've had lots of people quit after one or two days.

Winter is pretty quiet, mostly emergency jobs and some log home building. Biggest problem in the winter is keeping your hands warm, especially the climbers. Very hard to find gloves that stay warm, dry, and have a good tactile feel for hanging on in the tree. The stretchy wool ones with rubber palms and fingers are best, but far from perfect.

Lots of flightsims and cleaning the house in the winter. Good time to get fat.

[SwordsMaster]

First time.



Any time, brother. I'll pay for the plane ticket. Very hard to find good help. There are only two or three guys in town who can/will handle work like this and everyone wants them. When we get someone who will give us even two days a week, we treat them like gold in order to keep them. That's why 99% of our jobs it's just me and my partner. We've had lots of people quit after one or two days.

Winter is pretty quiet, mostly emergency jobs and some log home building. Biggest problem in the winter is keeping your hands warm, especially the climbers. Very hard to find gloves that stay warm, dry, and have a good tactile feel for hanging on in the tree. The stretchy wool ones with rubber palms and fingers are best, but far from perfect.

Lots of flightsims and cleaning the house in the winter. Good time to get fat.

Hehe, I might still take you up on that, so be careful. Since academia finally releases me at the end of the month I'll be jobless and in debt by the end of summer...

Cutting trees in Canada might be better than programming in the UK...

[lars573]

I wish it was as easy as it sounds. It's not a dozen trees, it's a dozen sections of trees. Cutting a tree down is usually very quick. Cleaning it up... ahhh, therein lies the rub. You have to cut it down, then take the branches off, then make piles with the branches and drag the branches to the chipper and chip them either into the truck or into the woods, then cut the trunk in sections that can be carried, then you have to carry the wood to the truck, then you have to pass the rake and pick up the shnut (our word for rakings). Then you have to drive five miles back the yard once the truck is full, dump, then drive five miles back to the job, set up the truck and chipper in the next work area and do it all over again.

See this is what I though. My brother had the advantage that he only had to remove enough trees and undergrowth to get LOS for the survey gear. Plus they could just leave their junk there for the guy like you to deal with.

The trees that are in the woods on the property within sight of the house have to be dragged out of the bush. Cutting a forty-foot balsam is nothing. Cutting down a dead dry prickly forty-foot balsam that is half down, stuck in other trees is a mess. Then you have to clean up the mess. It isn't fun. Even the stuff that can stay in the bush has to be cut down, unstuck, branched, the trunk cut up, and everything moved into neat piles that you can't see.

Most trees in new developments around HRM are new growth. Not many more than 6 metres tall.

You also have to maintain your tools. Hit a nail in the tree or a rock under a log and you get fifteen minutes of down time at the truck sharpening your chain, drinking coffee. Mmmm....

That reminds of one of my little bro's adventure in tree killing. When the chainsaw kicked and cut-up his hand. Not serious, chainsaw glove took most of it. But my mom (being my mom) acted like his hand had been mutilated beyond repair. She tends to overact.

[CountArach]

Beirut, your job is awesome.

*Starts singing the Lumberjack song*