A man's got to know his limitations

[Jess from VA]

I've spent the last year getting more active with outdoor work, walking about 2 miles daily and really changed my diet (Mediterranean, as little sugar and carbs as possible).  A bit of a health scare led me to doctors who thought I might have lung and prostate cancer, but I didn't.  Dropped about 20lbs and 3 inches off the belly; have more energy, have a better positive attitude (and a lot of baggy pants).       

Hitting 70 in March, I've endeavored to do nothing stupid to injure myself and interfere with my walking and working program.  Measure twice, cut once.  Think about every project (before jumping in) to work smarter and not harder.  And there are things you should just not do anymore.

I just paid over $6K to get my huge oaks hacked back (esp over the house).  The last week I've been out dead-wooding and trimming large VA red cedars, leyland cypress and a white pine that they didn't do.  Working on ladders (tied in) and using hand tools (no power), pruning pole, bow saw, loppers. 

But I have this 50+ foot red cedar that really needs the top cut off and the only way to get up there is to climb the tree.  I've been walking around looking at the limbs suitable for weight bearing, the best route up the tree, where to tie the ladder.  And I kept telling myself... you have no business climbing up that tree, leave it alone.

So this morning there I was 30-35 feet up with my saw.  I wanted to cut higher than that (both for looks and a smaller trunk cut), but I was as high as I could safely climb with strong limb footing.  So I reached up and cut over my head to get as high as I could.  Cedar is tough and it was hard going with a lot of rest breaks, and a lot of sawdust right in my eyes.  Fortunately, though a pretty straight tree, I picked the right place to cut so the saw was not pinched, and I got a gravity assist, and off she dropped (about the top 15 feet).  Climbed down and cut it up.  No injuries, except even with heavy denim, I got battle scars on both arms.  Bugs don't like cedar, and neither do my eyes.

I lived.  But like Forrest says... stupid is as stupid does.

Riding motorcycles is safer, and funner.   

I believe I'll give myself a day off and ride tomorrow. 

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

Well, you're here to tell the tale, so there's that.

Sounds like one of my countless decisions that should be classified as poor, but I somehow came out the other side unscathed. I have many recollections of being smack dab in the middle of something and thinking how easily it could turn to $hit. Win some, lose some, I guess.

I'm likely to be doing a similar job as soon as I'm out of the air cast. I have a tree out back that's going to require a similar lopping, and I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it when I can F it up myself. So, if all of a sudden I don't show up here anymore, my tree job didn't go as well as yours Jess.

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

BTW, your 80 something year old Vietnamese neighbor probably won't take no for an answer after that display of manliness. So, eat your Wheaties and be ready. 

[Jess from VA]

I have a tree out back that's going to require a similar lopping

Take your time and plan the work.  I planned my route up the tree on pretty good foothold limbs (though those things can just snap off for a big surprise).  My old beater aluminum 16" step is not a tier one ladder and I don't use it at full extension, and get it level and tie in at the top.  Wear good gear and gloves (I should have worn some kind of goggles (my eyeglasses didn't cut it).  To have hands for climbing, I tied my saw to a short loop rope and hung it over my back with the blade covered (you can tie tools to a rope and rope to belt, and pull them up when you are in place, but if it gets stuck, you have to climb down and up again.  The first rule of any safe climbing is to only move one arm or leg at a time, keeping the other three for holding you in place.  (You probably know all this)

I climbed high structural steel in steel mills for ten summers, before OSHA, and never wore any kind of harness once (though the steel never snaps off).  And as a teen I once climbed up the face of the Coopers Rock WV overlook (around the side and up), and when it got vertical I changed my mind, but going down is much harder than up.  So up I went, looking down at the canopies of tall trees below me and the Cheat River.  And decades ago.





I haven't seen my Vietnamese neighbor for a while now. 

[Rams]

BTW, your 80 something year old Vietnamese neighbor probably won't take no for an answer after that display of manliness. So, eat your Wheaties and be ready. 

I haven't seen my Vietnamese neighbor for a while now. 

Just cause you haven't seen her doesn't mean she isn't watching you.   

Rams   

[f6john]

She has probably taken your queue  and is brushing up on her kegel exercises!

[cookiedough]

I am impressed, near 70 and still climbing 30+ ft up and trimming trees.  NO way would I have considered cutting down or even prunning the taller say 30 ft up burr oak tree limbs.  Most I did was 15 ft up on an ext. ladder and 10 ft pole saw about 15 years ago to trim some dead stuff up as far as I could reach.  Climbing tree limbs at any age is dangerous.

I now know my limits and even climbing up onto my roof in November to clean the eastrophes is getting a tad risky which was not some 3 years ago.

[Chrisj CMA]

Well done Jess. If you were married, she wouldn’t have let you. My wife gives me lots of grief just over going up on the roof. Glad you weren’t hurt. That there is about the most dangerous yard work there is. It does remind me. I have a new chain for the chainsaw I’ve been meaning to put on and keep putting off. You want a good sharp chain so if something goes horribly wrong death will be quicker and less painful.

[Jess from VA]

One golden rule about chainsaws.... if you hit the dirt with it running, it won't cut hot butter.

Also, sharpening a chainsaw chain yourself takes talent; my talent is buying a new chain (and not cutting dirt).

I'm on my roof about twice a week (under 5 100yo oaks).  It's an easy roof with a gentle slope (three level split house with opposing roofs, so I can just walk from the one story side to two story side).  My final trimming today was tall Nellie Stevens holly trees and Red Tip Photinia.  I pruned them with my pole pruner on the roof; some standing, some sitting with my legs over the edge.  Using a long pruning pole at full extension is an upper body workout.  After the cutting (and cleanup), I blew off all the pollen, then used Miracle Grow hose end liquid fertilizer, standing on the roof.  Every single green growing thing perks right up with that stuff.  Big rain all day tomorrow.

  

[Moonshot_1]

yeah I'm outta shape and need to lose some pounds and get some stamina back.

But if I do I know I'll feel great again and I'll kill myself climbing roofs and trees.

So doing nothing seems to be hitting a balance.

[Rams]

As an admitted Acrophobic, I salute anyone who can get on a roof or climb trees for such work.   I do it (if I absolutely have to) but, it scares the crap out of me.    

Didn't suggest it makes sense with my history but, it's a fact.

Rams