Cool slideshow of crane job

Crane Removal

A view of the house without trees (note deck and Matt standing on deck! The trees would have been near/at the deck.).


A view of Burlington, Vermont from 140 feet!


A picture of me 140 up above Burlington. Bruce the crane operator dragged Beth and me up after the work was finished.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 was crane removal day. Two pine trees were right next to a house in Burlington. One of the trees actually grew through a specially made hole in the deck. Since it would have taken Heritage 2 days to remove the trees, we subcontracted DJ's, a local tree company that does a lot of crane work.

Doing a crane removal follows several steps, some of which you can see in the pictures:
1) The crane sets itself up, extends the boom, and lowers the "pick" (i think this is what it is called; it is the 180 pound ball that holds the cable) to the ground.
2) Matt, the climber and cutter, puts his climbing rope through the pick and is lifted up to near the top of the tree. He carries with him any number of slings that he thinks necessary to attach to the tree.



3) Matt places the sling(s) around trunk/limbs, and attaches the slings onto the pick.
4) Matt is lowered down to a suitable point on the tree where he cuts the tree. He has to understand pretty well where to cut, since he doesn't want the tree to flip over.
5) Matt makes the cut, slowly and evenly, through the trunk. The sawing actually takes quite a bit of time, since he does not want to pinch his saw, and he wants to make sure the piece won't move suddenly.



6) When the cutting is done and the tree is free, Matt 'zips' off of the tree with his rope. When he hits the ground, he immediately pulls his rope out, and gets out of the way.
7) Bruce, the crane operator, then moves the 4,000 pound piece of tree onto the driveway, where we are standing by to limb it. As we limb the tree, we pull the butt end toward the chipper, ensuring that the tree will at some point lay flat on the ground. In one picture you can see me doing this with a big 440 Stihl (super heavy, when you have to lift is over your head!).





8) When all the limbs have been removed, the log is laid on the ground and pushed aside. A guy with a log loader comes by and picks up the logs.
TOTAL TIME for 2 75 foot+ pine trees, from start to finish: 2 hours. TWO HOURS! Like I said above, it would have take Heritage 2 DAYS to do this work. Bravo to DJ's and Matt (My only advice to Matt: wear a hard hat and ear and eye protection, dude!).

Heritage Tree Care Early Days

(Ramadi and one of our chicks, kicking it.)

Well, after going out with Limbwalker Tree Service for three years, I decided to break up. For me, it was an easy decision; the company just didn't work the way I wanted it to. Mechanical issues, human resource issues, working conditions: all of these led me to jump ship and end the relationship. And I can't believe how good I feel about that decision. I feel AWESOME!

Since coming on board the exquisitely run Heritage Tree Care, I have been climbing trees left and right. I feel that my skills are a total and real asset to the company. Beth and Patrick are real humans, fun, loving, kind, sympathetic, and treat all of us (Jim, Paul, me) like members of the family (Beth says that she sometimes cooks breakfast for Paul, who lives off the grid and might not have the capabilities to crank sweet breakfasts in the woods). So there. Limbwalker, goodbye, and Heritage hello.

Here is my first movie of Heritage work. Notice the beautifully sounding diesel truck that is automatic! Not gas and not standard! Wow!

The End of Limbwalker and John

Yes, indeed, folks, I have decided to leave Limbwalker Tree Service for greener, leafier pastures. I will be going to work with (note the term WITH) Heritage Tree Care, owned and operated by Beth Fuehrer and Patrick Grant (hubbie and wife team). They rule, and since I rule, they want me to help all of us rule a lot more. So, so long Limbies and hello Heritage!

It's Finally Warm

Thus was Lambert sitting in the glorious sun in Ripton, as I monkeyed around in a 100+ foot white pine.

It was 80 degrees F yesterday. Two weeks ago, there was 5 feet of snow behind my garage. I rode my motorcycle in a t-shirt yesterday, and did not freeze to death.

This is California weather. And we are loving it. It makes us nervous, though. For example, the NOAA issued a fire warning for today. Meaning, it is so hot and dry that there could be fires around Vermont. And two weeks ago it was snowing.

Tree work has been cool lately. Here are a couple of links to videos that I took of recent stuff.


Movie One has me climbing around in a mammoth white pine in Ripton, Vermont. We pruned it and took out dead wood. I ascended the tree using ascenders, the first time I have done such a thing. It got me up the tree fast and tirelessly.


Movie Two, Movie Three, Movie Four, and Movie Five show Mike Lambert taking down a set of poplars in a place called Southwind in Burlington. We normally shear hedges and prune shrubs in this condo complex, but for this job we actually did tree work, which was a massive, unbelievable relief.


And for one of the first jobs we did of the season, here is a shot of Mike Sabatino taking down what I think is a hickory in North Hero, Vermont. The dude rules. There was snow and ice on the ground during this job. We slipped on the ice. The truck and chipper were miles away because we couldn't bring them down the driveway.

But today (April 23, my brother's birthday), it is supposed to be like a million degrees again. We are off to another condo complex that looks like a cross between Disneyland and a hospital. Fun stuff.

The Upcoming 2008 Season with Limbwalker

Sir/Madam:

Thus begins the new tree season for Limbwalker Tree Service. March 17, 2008, and we shall rule the tree world once more. I, John, will begin work tomorrow, March 10, as Mike and I survey ice storm damage from the weekend of March 8-9. Hopefully the one-inch thick ice was not too devastating. Photos to follow, minions.

It's been a long time

Well, it's been a long time since I have written in the blog. Jennifer and I got married. We are about to buy a house. All my friends came out to visit and we partied. It is summer and I do stuff every day after work. And it is 90 degrees during the day.

As far as the tree world goes: Jordan, the guy who was featured in several previous blog entries, has flown the coop. He turned out to be sort of a jerk, a know-it-all, and he did some really crazy, stupid tree work. And one day, poof, he stopped coming to work. He wanted Mike (the boss) to fire him, soz that he could get unemployment. Too bad, and good riddance.

So now we have Aram, ground worker extraordinaire, and Mike Sabatino, an "intern" from Paul Smith tree college who now works for us full time. The poor bastard has to drive 1.5 hours north almost every day to come up to Burlington. He rules, works hard and deals with our jokes.

I have no new picts for now. Too bad. However, I have the camera with me to record the incredible exploits of the greatest tree workers on earth.