I'm about to do something dangerous

[Evo]

Generally, yes. Doesn't count when the target is older than me, though.

Uhm

Wait a minute.

 

[Danger]

Uhm

Wait a minute.

Although, I hasten to add, looks far, far younger...

I'm not getting out of this that easily, am I?

 

[Moonbear]

While hammering and picking at an 1-ft deep x 8-ft long formation of stone in the backyard, it occurred to me that you should use a tree pruning saw. It has a curved blade and 10-12ft pole section. Tree crews use them, and I have one for branches several inches thick up to 12 ft off the ground. One does not have to use a ladder and one can stay back from the tree and danger.

They also make ones like brewnog suggested, that are attached to rope on either side. You toss one end of the rope up and over the branch, then stand nice and far away while sawing with the rope. You can use it to free the main trunk without having to get on a ladder stand up too close, then the rest is all the easy ground work. You really should do this project while child of Evo is home so she can call the ambulance if you fall off the ladder.

Then again, I shouldn't talk. As I was cleaning gutters and repairing some siding yesterday, the only way to get at it was to climb across the roof over my deck...some metal contraption supported at the 4 corners. I got up onto the roof and started to walk toward the side of the house I needed to work on, and realized the roof is not really all that sturdy for walking on. Does this stop me and convince me to call in a professional? Nope. I have some beautiful bruises on my legs from crawling across the roof trying to spread my weight out as much as possible. But my neighbor was having a party in the backyard, so I figured if I fell through, someone would notice and call an ambulance. Other than bruises my roof and I are both intact. But it only would have been an 8 ft drop if I did fall, so I wasn't too worried. I've fallen off a higher roof than that before and didn't have any injuries other than a few scratches from the rhododendrons I fell into.

 

[JamesU]

About the higher roof, why were you on it in the first place

 

[hypatia]

Today I did something really stupid. I tried to pour my own cement...from a cement company that sells it mixed in a trailer you tow behind your car. It was too much weight for my car and even tho I was doing only 15 mph, I couldn't stop and ended up flipping the trailer and dumping 4 sq yards of wet cement across the road.
So I call my motley crew of 3, and we shovel it all up, while it starts to rain, then pour. Which was the only good thing, the rain kept the cement from setting up.
So we get it back to my place where it dumps all over my driveway. So we shovel it into buckets and fill in the rat wall. I take the trailer back ..its damaged, 2,700.00 dollars was my cost for the day.
Talk about sore, moving 3500 pounds of cement twice, there is not a inch on my body that doesn't hurt.
But, I am alive to tell the tale. Tho I haven't stopped shaking yet.

 

[zoobyshoe]

A truly trying day. You'll feel better tomorrow, though. And, yes, I've done stuff like that.

 

[hypatia]

At one point I was just standing there soaked to the bone, screaming at the cars with a shovel in my hands..untill my son pointed out that the little kids would forever call me "that crazy lady with the shovel"...

 

[Moonbear]

About the higher roof, why were you on it in the first place

Cleaning gutters and helping trim tree branches that were hanging over it. A tree branch took me with it when I tried shoving it away from the house as it got cut so it wouldn't hit the house. I never complained about being made to do somersaults in gym class again (I was a teenager when I did that stunt). It all happened too fast for me to know what was going on. One moment I was standing on the roof holding a tree branch and the next I was on the ground in the middle of rhododendron bushes. But, my sister and next-door neighbor were playing in the yard across the street and had a clear view of the whole thing. They told me I did a perfect somersault, grabbed the gutter, and landed feet first in the bushes. For being the dorky kid who hated gym class (I was always the one picked last), apparently I could be pretty athletic when falling from a roof. If you're going to fall off a roof, I highly recommend doing it with style. (Oh, and it wasn't a LOT higher, just another couple feet, standard first floor roof...but it doesn't sound as impressive if I tell you that right away.)

 

[Evo]

Today I did something really stupid. I tried to pour my own cement...from a cement company that sells it mixed in a trailer you tow behind your car. It was too much weight for my car and even tho I was doing only 15 mph, I couldn't stop and ended up flipping the trailer and dumping 4 sq yards of wet cement across the road.
So I call my motley crew of 3, and we shovel it all up, while it starts to rain, then pour. Which was the only good thing, the rain kept the cement from setting up.
So we get it back to my place where it dumps all over my driveway. So we shovel it into buckets and fill in the rat wall. I take the trailer back ..its damaged, 2,700.00 dollars was my cost for the day.
Talk about sore, moving 3500 pounds of cement twice, there is not a inch on my body that doesn't hurt.
But, I am alive to tell the tale. Tho I haven't stopped shaking yet.

You poor thing! What a horrible day! Ok, that makes my worst day seem like a picnic!

(Pours a pitcher of green apple martinis into hypatia's computer)

Hmmm...

(pours a second pitcher of green apple martinis into hypatia's computer and hopes hypatia drinks )

 

[JamesU]

You did an unintentional somersault?

 

[hypatia]

I'm putting my head right under the monitor...not going to miss a drop. Thank you, I needed that.

 

[JamesU]

Just make sure it's not cement

 

[zoobyshoe]

At one point I was just standing there soaked to the bone, screaming at the cars with a shovel in my hands..untill my son pointed out that the little kids would forever call me "that crazy lady with the shovel"...

Hehehehehe...on another forum somewhere on the other side of the net is somone posting a description of "the crazy cement lady with the shovel" they saw while out driving today.

My muffler came off once in slow, but heavy traffic. I had no idea what had just happened, but the sudden noise made me check all the mirrors, and I looked back just in time to see a truck flatten my poor muffler to a pancake. People started to honk at me, and so on. There was nowhere to pull over to walk back and retrieve it, though, without stopping everyone behind me, so I had to go about a mile further, the engine now sounding as loud as a helecopter. It's just so great when stuff like that happens to you on a public roadway with plenty of traffic to stare at you.

 

[Danger]

They also make ones like brewnog suggested, that are attached to rope on either side. You toss one end of the rope up and over the branch, then stand nice and far away while sawing with the rope.

Doesn't anybody cut their trees with explosives any more?

I was cleaning gutters and repairing some siding yesterday, the only way to get at it was to climb across the roof over my deck... ...I've fallen off a higher roof than that before and didn't have any injuries other than a few scratches from the rhododendrons I fell into.

I've always known that you have screwy dietary habits, but now your hobbies are starting to worry me too.

At one point I was just standing there soaked to the bone, screaming at the cars with a shovel in my hands..untill my son pointed out that the little kids would forever call me "that crazy lady with the shovel"...

They don't already?

You did an unintentional somersault?

That's the best kind.

Take another look at her avatar. She always lands on her feet. (Well, there are exceptions, but you're too young to hear about them.)

 

[Moonbear]

You did an unintentional somersault?

It sure wasn't intentional. I didn't have time to think, just reacted. I wouldn't have known I did a somersault if nobody told me.

Hypatia, that sounds awful! What a mess! At least now I know tow-your-own-cement is not an option to even consider (I'd never even heard of such a thing before). For small jobs, I mix it myself, and for larger jobs, well, I've avoided those so far.

 

[JamesU]

At least it wasn't on the 101 highway in Phoenix (I know it wasn't because you'd have been shot)

Once my dad was driving in downtown Phoenix. He had a brand new countertop in the back.(we fix up houses and sell them) He couldn't close the gate all the way, the countertop was too big, so he restrained it with rope. All the sudden, he hears a crashing noise, he looks back. Half of his countertop had fallen and been flattened.

We had to put the old counterop back in, which was an ugly blue, and sell the house. We still have the other half of the countertop. Now, the lady who moved into the house says the oven doesn't work, and we're trying to relace it.(The people at Lowe's Hardware weren't really helping either.

EDIT: this is to zoobyshoe's post

 

[JamesU]

WHOA! When I posted my last post, the entire background went white!

 

[Danger]

WHOA! When I posted my last post, the entire background went white!

One of those freak Arizona blizzards?

 

[Moonbear]

Take another look at her avatar. She always lands on her feet. (Well, there are exceptions, but you're too young to hear about them.)

Yep, always land on my feet. Though, I'm starting to worry I might have used up most of my 9 lives already.

 

[Evo]

I use sakrete, but I've only done small jobs.

I am terrified of heights. The ONLY time I have ever been on a roof was when I lived in Chicago and I had been out at a nightclub and got home around midnight. I had a babysitter for my girls. I would come in through the garage and always left the inside door from the garage into the house unlocked. For some strange reason, the babysitter had gone into the garage and had locked the door when she came back in.

I got home, drove the babysitter home and then pulled back into the garage with the girls (the babysitter was not the type to put them to bed, and they didn't mind ) When we tried to go inside, we were locked out. I didn't have my house keys with me because I didn't think I'd need them.

All the downstairs windows were locked. I remembered that the upstairs hall bathroom window was unlocked. I got the ladder out of the garage, leaned it against the house, climbed up, shimmied across the roof toward the hall window and crawled up over a very steep gable, forced the window open and plummeted into the bathroom. All this in total darkness.

My girls have to this day considered me to be wonder woman for getting us into the house.

 

[Danger]

I'm starting to worry I might have used up most of my 9 lives already.

Not to worry. There's still plenty of Whiskas and Purina.

My girls have to this day considered me to be wonder woman for getting us into the house.

Given the frequency with which you get locked out, maybe you really should come and live with me. Maybe your house is still haunted, but now all the spook does is close doors.

 

[Artman]

Evo, this scares the heck out of me too. I had to cut down some trees recently. A friend and I used a chainsaw on a tree about twenty feet from my house. We planned it carefully, put a rope around the tree over a high branch, my friend started our cuts, I was holding the rope (rope was just in case), the tree started to creak and began to drop backward toward the house. The trunk pinched down of the saw and shut it down. I ran and got my garden tracktor, attached it to the rope and pulled it over in the right direction. We were lucky. The tree looked like it should have fallen properly, we cut it correctly, but the overall shape of the tree put it's center of gravity too far back toward the house. If we hadn't put the rope on first it would have hit the house.

1. Use ropes (The come-along or winch that BT suggested is a great idea).
2. Look at the entire shape of the branch.
3. Acess the fall path as best you can.
4. Plan your own escape routes and open them.
5. Don't work on this alone (at least get someone to watch you.)
6. consider what will happen when the branch hits the ground. (will it hit and roll, hit and spin to the wrong direction, hit and spring, etc?)

Please be careful.

 

[JamesU]

Is it that difficult to call a professional?

 

[cronxeh]

Dirty old man...

When I read this 15 seconds ago I was sipping some coffee, which is now all over my shirt and in my nose

Thanks

 

[Moonbear]

Evo, this scares the heck out of me too. I had to cut down some trees recently. A friend and I used a chainsaw on a tree about twenty feet from my house. We planned it carefully, put a rope around the tree over a high branch, my friend started our cuts, I was holding the rope (rope was just in case), the tree started to creak and began to drop backward toward the house. The trunk pinched down of the saw and shut it down. I ran and got my garden tracktor, attached it to the rope and pulled it over in the right direction. We were lucky. The tree looked like it should have fallen properly, we cut it correctly, but the overall shape of the tree put it's center of gravity too far back toward the house. If we hadn't put the rope on first it would have hit the house.

1. Use ropes (The come-along or winch that BT suggested is a great idea).
2. Look at the entire shape of the branch.
3. Acess the fall path as best you can.
4. Plan your own escape routes and open them.
5. Don't work on this alone (at least get someone to watch you.)
6. consider what will happen when the branch hits the ground. (will it hit and roll, hit and spin to the wrong direction, hit and spring, etc?)

Please be careful.

Yes, some safety lines on the branch itself are an excellent idea. That way, even if it suddenly snaps free and starts heading the wrong way, it can't fall too far and cause injury or damage something you don't want damaged. Or, if you don't have something taller nearby to rig up the ropes to hold the branch up, then at least have them pulling it away from where you will be so it can't rebound back at you on a bounce. If you use a come-along, you won't want to pull it too tight or you risk snapping the branch and having it come flying at you while you're still tightening the winch. Just use it to pull up the slack in the rope and maybe provide light tension (you don't need to create a catapult for your tree branch). Keep BOTH ends of the branch in mind when deciding which way it's going to go. Depending on the overall shape of the branch and configuration of your ropes, if you have it rigged up so the top gets pulled away from you, the part that's currently touching the ground could swing around and knock you right off your feet.

 

[Moonbear]

When I read this 15 seconds ago I was sipping some coffee, which is now all over my shirt and in my nose

Thanks

Uh oh! You've been hanging around Evo too long!

 

[Artman]

Uh oh! You've been hanging around Evo too long!

<SNORT!>
___

Get on the Snortmobile and ride!

Evo, please keep us informed on the tree branch saga.

 

[Evo]

The tree itself if fine, it was just a large top branch that broke, which I am trying to remove, so there is no danger of the tree itself falling. Since it fell over, the branch is now pointing down toward the ground, so there is no way to throw anything over a branch to cut it as it would just slide down the branch, everything is upside down. Know what I mean? If it were upright, it would be easier to cut. It's about 14' long and LOTS of smaller branches. It's like an upside down fan.

Thanks for your concern, I am actually very cautious.

 

[Craps]

Tell me when you finish them all off

 

[Evo]

Yes, some safety lines on the branch itself are an excellent idea. That way, even if it suddenly snaps free and starts heading the wrong way, it can't fall too far and cause injury or damage something you don't want damaged. Or, if you don't have something taller nearby to rig up the ropes to hold the branch up, then at least have them pulling it away from where you will be so it can't rebound back at you on a bounce. If you use a come-along, you won't want to pull it too tight or you risk snapping the branch and having it come flying at you while you're still tightening the winch. Just use it to pull up the slack in the rope and maybe provide light tension (you don't need to create a catapult for your tree branch). Keep BOTH ends of the branch in mind when deciding which way it's going to go. Depending on the overall shape of the branch and configuration of your ropes, if you have it rigged up so the top gets pulled away from you, the part that's currently touching the ground could swing around and knock you right off your feet.

What I've done is start cutting it up from the ground going up towards the break, this way I'm not dealing with a huge Evo killing branch of DOOM. Now it's down to a few main branches. Hmmm, maybe I'll sketch it and post what it looks like so you guys can help me figure out how to remove the top section. Unless either my older daughter returns my digital camera, or I find the cord for my new one so I can take a picture of it.