At Home In The Woods

[Coyote machine]

Coyote,
Good question. If I need to remove the stump, it's faster to drop the tree with attached stump with the backhoe than to use the chainsaw first. Pushing the tree over while it is still attached to the stump uses the weight of the tree to pull the stump and remaining roots out of the ground. Digging a stump out of the ground by itself requires a lot more digging and is time consuming, especially if there are roots directly below the stump. Also, taking the tree down with the backhoe gives you a lot of control over the direction the tree falls.

The cable was attached to the trunk about 15 feet high. It was only a safety for just in case the tree wanted to fall backwards instead of forward while I was digging on the backside of the tree. It probably wasn't necessary. Most people wouldn't use it under most conditions. However, I was just being extra cautious because I have very little experience taking down trees with a backhoe (or with a chainsaw).

If I had dropped the tree with my chainsaw, I probably would have hooked up the cable anyway, again because of my lack of experience. I have never dropped a tree as large as that maple with a chainsaw. I'm more comfortable trying the bigger trees with the backhoe than the chainsaw. Eventually, I may work my way to dropping a tree that large with my chainsaw. If I don't mind leaving the stump in the ground, dropping the tree with the chainsaw would be faster than using the backhoe.

Obed

Obed, I get what you were trying to do, however I believe your lack of experience with chainsaws and 'bigger' trees in combination with using your tractor hoe actually puts you in greater danger than using proven tree felling techniques. The dig out the stump, have it rip out when the tree falls works in theory but the possibility of the tree going wrong when pushing on it makes anyone who does tree work, or has done tree work for a living cringe. The possibility of the tree top / tree 'barber-chairing' is always a possibility, which could drop the tree on the tractor operator, with no time to prepare or escape serious injury/death, is a not uncommon force to be avoided at all costs.

FWIW, I am enrolling in a multiple stage forestry course, which covers ALL aspects of tree felling, chain saw use and maintenance, and much more, at the higher level stages. It's called: "Game of Logging", and may be available in your area. I found out about it coincidentally on TBN and signed up for the 1st two sessions after reading about it. Though I have years of experience working with trees, saws, etc., one can always hone one's skills and learn new or different ways of doing tree work to improve safety and knowledge. Most prior participants say the techniques they learned are now the only ones they use to fell trees; even highly experienced guys say the same; so that was a good enough endorsement for me to sign-up.
I suggest checking it out on the web, and in person if available in your area.

Stung by a Wasp
Yesterday evening, I got stung by a wasp while trying to attach the scraper blade to the 3PH. Wasps had build a nest inside the implement and I got stung on the back of my right hand through the glove I was wearing. I'm surprised it took the wasps as long as long as it did to nail me. I had moved the blade around on the ground for quite a bit before I got stung. Normally I will immediately put ice on a bee sting to reduce the effects of the poison. However, I had a lot to do before the impending rain arrived so I didn't use the ice.

View attachment 382959

I got some wasp spray and sprayed inside the hollow part of the implement. I then swatted wasps with a broom and sprayed in the air to kill about 3 of them. Finally, I attached the blade to the 3PH while one remaining mad wasp that I couldn't kill flew around.

I put my gloves back on and continued my work. By the time I went to bed, my hand had started swelling. When I awoke this morning, the hand was more swollen. Today by about 5 PM, my hand was looking pretty bad so I wend to a walk-in clinic. They prescribed 7 days of steroids. The nurse practitioner told me for signs to look for that might indicate an ER visit would be needed.

Normally, I don't react this badly to a bee sting. Yesterday evening, while working, sometimes my right hand felt like something was stinging my again but I ignored it and kept working. I am now wondering if the stinger was still in the glove and I was getting multiple ongoing stings from the stinger. It's just a hypothesis. In addition, I bled some where the wasp stung my hand. I suspect the stinger and poison penetrated a vein.

Have you ever tried spray on Benadryl, or the liquid for treating bee stings? I try to use it right after the sting to neutralize the effects of the poison, and alleviate pain/swelling.

CM. (Note, my text in blue above.)

 

[Obed]

I took steroids and Benadryl for one day and the swelling and temperature in my hand went way down. I stopped taking the steroids after the first day. The clinic prescribed 7 days of steroids. However, once it was apparent that I was past the danger stage, I stopped taking them. I'm not terribly fond of ingesting foreign substances into my system.

 

[Larro Darro]

I'm not terribly fond of ingesting foreign substances into my system.

Do you mean like wasp venom?

Larro

 

[Obed]

Do you mean like wasp venom?

Larro

Good point!
Obed

 

[Obed]

The task I had to do on Monday evening when I got into the wasp nest was to finish smoothing out the ground where the shed would go. That's why I was attaching the scraper blade to the tractor when I got stung.

 

[CurlyDave]

Garden Shed

The rental house has a 10' x 15' metal shed on the lot. We are going to move that shed to our house near the garden. There was a 55 ft tall maple tree at the spot where the shed is going to be located so I had to take it down. I was a little nervous about taking down this large of a tree with my little backhoe.

Putting on the backhoe.

View attachment 382703 View attachment 382702

Here's where the shed will go.

View attachment 382701

Moving some rocks out of the way.

View attachment 382704

I would not move that shed from the rental. If you want one at your house, buy another one.

I speak from experience, I once bought a rental house with a shed. Cleaned out the house, and the shed and rented it. With two months the tenant had filled the shed with enough "stuff" that he could no longer even think about moving somewhere else. The "stuff" that would have cost maybe $250 at a garage sale, was like putting a ball and chain around his foot. There just aren't many rental houses with lots of storage available.

The first tenant never really moved out, he died in the driveway after 12 years of renting it. His wife got his kids to move the stuff out of the shed before she moved out. The next tenant had the same "excess stuff" problem. He stayed 8 years with no thought of moving out, again because of the stuff he had. I sold the house when I moved to OR. There was a substantial profit on the house and I paid the tenant $2500 to move out on my schedule instead of his. He moved out right on time with no problem.

Anyway, that shed is your best friend if you are looking for long-term tenants.

 

[clemsonfor]

yep pushing a tree removes the stump easier.

 

[brin]

I would not move that shed from the rental. If you want one at your house, buy another one.

I speak from experience, I once bought a rental house with a shed. Cleaned out the house, and the shed and rented it. With two months the tenant had filled the shed with enough "stuff" that he could no longer even think about moving somewhere else. The "stuff" that would have cost maybe $250 at a garage sale, was like putting a ball and chain around his foot. There just aren't many rental houses with lots of storage available.

The first tenant never really moved out, he died in the driveway after 12 years of renting it. His wife got his kids to move the stuff out of the shed before she moved out. The next tenant had the same "excess stuff" problem. He stayed 8 years with no thought of moving out, again because of the stuff he had. I sold the house when I moved to OR. There was a substantial profit on the house and I paid the tenant $2500 to move out on my schedule instead of his. He moved out right on time with no problem.

Anyway, that shed is your best friend if you are looking for long-term tenants.

Just goes to show....I had the exact opposite experience...One of my rental houses had a 30X48 storage building....Every tenant I had loved the storage and when they left in the night usually...they left me with at least a roll off or two worth of their garbage...Other tenant houses I had with no storage...never presented that parting cost of removing the tenants junk.....The storage building might be an asset renting the house but be prepared to empty the junk when the tenant leaves.....usually in the middle of the night....:2cents:

 

[clemsonfor]

there is nothing like watching and hearing a 20+" tree that you dropped hit the ground! Love having to use the MS650 with the 25" bar to drop trees!!

 

[clemsonfor]

call a donation place and let them pick up the "junk" then just toss the rest, saves the cost.

 

[Obed]

Interesting comments regarding the shed that I hadn't though much about. I suppose there are two sides to every coin. The rental house has a carport with attached workshop that renters can use for storing junk. So I guess I can have my cake and eat it too.

Obed

 

[Obed]

Shed Delivery

My wife laid down some boards on the ground to mark where the shed should go. The shed mover has obviously done this a few times. The trailer has 8 wheels. Inside the normal dual axle wheels, there are 4 more wheels oriented 90 degrees from the normal for wheels. This second set of wheels can be lowered so that the normal 4 wheels get lifted off the ground. The trailer operator then operates a control that moves the trailer left or right to position the trailer exactly to the desired location.

 

[Larro Darro]

Your shed looks good. It is always a pleasure to watch a pro at work. They make it seem effortless.

Larro

 

[Coyote machine]

Why on earth would you not put the shed on level ground?:confused2:
It seems there is space to place it, or you could have filled the area with drainage stone or similar?
Three blocks on the down side seems un-necessary, and possibly risky when/if you end up with high winds, storms, etc. JMHO.

 

[PhysAssist]

Interesting comments regarding the shed that I hadn't though much about. I suppose there are two sides to every coin. The rental house has a carport with attached workshop that renters can use for storing junk. So I guess I can have my cake and eat it too.

Obed

Speaking of 2 sides to a coin, your earlier comment about putting foreign substances in your body made me cringe.

Steroids like prednisone are indeed artificial, but they are. (have to be in order to work) designed to be very very close in structure and function to the natural steroids made and released by your adrenal glands (they're not just for adrenaline any more) and by stopping the treatment prematurely, you actually added to your risk of both treatment failure and side effects/complications...

While it looks like you have been lucky this time, and dodged the bullets, next time, you may not be so fortunate.

The duration of treatment is chosen because of the type and severity of the process you are being treated for, so pretty commonly when patients stop their treatment early the condition rebounds and the smoldering inflammatory process blooms back even more fiercely, and sometimes in places where it is worse than the original.

Secondarily, the steroids are given in such a way (a 5 or 7 or 14-day burst) as to try to avoid inhibiting your body's (adrenal gland's) production and release of the natural analogue called cortisol, and either stopping it early (especially after just one dose) or playing with the dosing greatly increases the risk that you suppress your natural steroid hormone production and (kind of ironically, I think) could end up having to depend on taking that "foreign substance" daily for the rest of your life to replace it (kind of like thyroid hormone for folks who are hypothyroid, or insulin for diabetics.)

Like I said, looks like you luckily dodged those bullets, this time... And I'm glad for you.

Just saying,,,,,,

Thomas

 

[clemsonfor]

Yep did not know the science behind it but know that steroids have tapered doses to start high and then wean them off.

Steroids are one of the last things i would be worried about. There one of the few things that they prescribe to pregnant women, well there lots of things that they can take but they are very safe when used correctly to treat the inflamation pain or whatever.

 

[clemsonfor]

Yep did not know the science behind it but know that steroids have tapered doses to start high and then wean them off.

Steroids are one of the last things i would be worried about. There one of the few things that they prescribe to pregnant women, well there lots of things that they can take but they are very safe when used correctly to treat the inflamation pain or whatever.

 

[PhysAssist]

Yep did not know the science behind it but know that steroids have tapered doses to start high and then wean them off.

Steroids are one of the last things i would be worried about. There one of the few things that they prescribe to pregnant women, well there lots of things that they can take but they are very safe when used correctly to treat the inflamation pain or whatever.

Too right you are!

BTW, I also recommend Zyrtec (generic is cetirizine) instead of benadryl for any kind of skin rash or itchy condition. It's a lot longer lasting and more effective than the old standby, and much less sedating. If you can take benadryl, you can take zyrtec, and unless you have serious liver or kidney issues, it's safe at up to twice the recommended dosage (10 mg/day).

 

[Obed]

Yep did not know the science behind it but know that steroids have tapered doses to start high and then wean them off.

My wife asked me if the nurse practitioner said anything about weaning me off the steroids. The NP did not. She prescribed 21 pills, 3 pills/day for 7 days. Therefore my wife recommended that I take the pills until my hand got better then stop taking them. So I took 3 pills the first 24 hours and stopped when it appeared that I was past the worst of it. After working for a major pharmaceutical manufacturer for 4 years, I'm much more skeptical about the information the drug companies pass on to the medical practitioners.

Obed

 

[clemsonfor]

back on the tree cutting thing. i watched the latest episode of Moutain men off my DVR from sunday. The guy in montana that supposedly heats his home and shed with wood was cutting a leaning tree. he made his back cut first put a wedge in then cut the felling notch to fell the tree...somehow not binding his saw bar up?? This is a guy that supposedly knows what he is doing and heats with wood? thats a good way to get a tree to fall on you and or your saw destroyed???