Catching Up

Well, it's been awhile now and that stinking crankshaft post is still at the top of the blog. I really need to put some kid pics up or something, but....we'll just have to catch up on my narcissistic endeavors for a bit instead.

First, for those fans of the firetruck, it's finally moved on. Andrew sold it on Ebay for a small profit to a broker in Tennessee who has a buyer lined up for it at a huge profit. I don't think that Andrew was excited about this, but his marriage depended on it. However, the broker didn't want to pay for the nice diesel Onan generator on top of it. The tractor wouldn't reach that high, so we had to rig out of a tree and use the pickup to hoist it free of the fire engine. This was late Thursday night in the dark (but of course :)) Gotta love being a wanna-be redneck.


When I got into my truck to hoist that thing, I noticed a spiderweb looking windshield. Dang it all. Looks like an old, rotten section of branch fell out of the oak trees above my truck and hit right at the top edge. That was it. Same thing happened to the horse lady's car last year. Both times you couldn't find the offending projectile, just rotten shrapnel.

Since I can't think of a better place to park, it was time to take revenge in the trees. Saturday Jason and I each went up a tree and started deadwooding them. Actually a great climb while Erin and Katy went to the Rascal Flatts concert. Both Jason and I get more comfortable each time. I don't think he's ever gone quite as high as this time, and I have never been at the extreme tips of the canopy before where the branches are 3 inches or less that I'm tied to. Things move a lot at that point. He came down first since his tree had less to cut out and grabbed the camera. Here I am almost to the top.


I also cut a couple lower live branches off to neaten things up a bit. Well that and inflict a little payback on the tree... A jump cut is where you get the branch to 'jump' off the tree, avoiding the hinge effect and letting it fall horizontal to the ground. Never tried it without a chainsaw before this effort.

We climbed a little more for fun, trying out some new techniques. When I came back in, the girls had made themselves dinner and some substantial desserts:

Finally, I have to mention that the wiring is roughed in and the ceiling drywalled in the bathroom. Check out my crew....