- #1
- 8,063
- 1,438
I don't recall having a thread about the hardest or worst jobs ever done.
Tsu and I have been clearing about thirty trees on a hill. Today we had what was I believe our ninth burn pile, with each pile blazing perhaps ten to fifteen pick-up loads worth of brush, branches, and logs. As the day progresses, the fires get so hot that one can hardly get within ten feet without getting burned.
Things were cooking along pretty well until the 18" chainsaw failed. Since then I have been using a 30" saw that easily weighs twice as much as the small one. That was the tipping point. Between the heavy saw, the branches that don't moved when pulled, the heavy logs, the steep hill, the blazing hot fire, the constant pokes, cuts, trips, and slides, and the sheer mass of twenty years worth of growth, this definitely qualifies as one of the hardest jobs that I've had to do in a very long time. We're having a blast, and Tsu can't get enough of burn piles, but cripes, what a butt-kicker!
Beyond that, while in HS and living in N. Calif where the summer temps can reach as much as 125 degrees, I ran a jack hammer in rock one summer, and set mobile homes the next. Those were the two worst jobs ever, by far. Working conditions can't get much worse. If you layed a tool down in the sun and forgot about it, within ten minutes it was hot enough to give you a nice second degree burn [blisters]. We had to stop and drink water every fifteen minutes or so to keep from dehydrating. And the boss was a thoughtless type who nearly got me killed a couple of times. Once, a mobile home fell off the jacks while I was under it and I barely got out in time. That was my last day.
Tsu and I have been clearing about thirty trees on a hill. Today we had what was I believe our ninth burn pile, with each pile blazing perhaps ten to fifteen pick-up loads worth of brush, branches, and logs. As the day progresses, the fires get so hot that one can hardly get within ten feet without getting burned.
Things were cooking along pretty well until the 18" chainsaw failed. Since then I have been using a 30" saw that easily weighs twice as much as the small one. That was the tipping point. Between the heavy saw, the branches that don't moved when pulled, the heavy logs, the steep hill, the blazing hot fire, the constant pokes, cuts, trips, and slides, and the sheer mass of twenty years worth of growth, this definitely qualifies as one of the hardest jobs that I've had to do in a very long time. We're having a blast, and Tsu can't get enough of burn piles, but cripes, what a butt-kicker!
Beyond that, while in HS and living in N. Calif where the summer temps can reach as much as 125 degrees, I ran a jack hammer in rock one summer, and set mobile homes the next. Those were the two worst jobs ever, by far. Working conditions can't get much worse. If you layed a tool down in the sun and forgot about it, within ten minutes it was hot enough to give you a nice second degree burn [blisters]. We had to stop and drink water every fifteen minutes or so to keep from dehydrating. And the boss was a thoughtless type who nearly got me killed a couple of times. Once, a mobile home fell off the jacks while I was under it and I barely got out in time. That was my last day.