And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Tuesday, September 5, 2023
High Climber
I'm friends with a guy that used to do that. A wild job, for sure.
Back in the day, it was the best paying job in the woods. For good reason.
I get a kick out of the young guys that seek the thrill of extreme sports today. I'd love to see how they would handle hanging onto a 200' Doug fir as they cut the top 50' off of it as they prepared that tree to be a spar tree for a logging side in the 40's. Hanging onto the tree as it swung back and forth as the top headed towards Mother Earth. Heady times for an adrenaline junkie born a hundred years ago.
Had a friend that climbed cellphone towers. He said he was taught there's no reason to be scared, after 80' your probably not going to survive anyway. He said he climbed a 400' tower. Just NO !!
There was a story from years ago written by a job placement counselor. One of the lumberjacks that tops out the trees (there's a specific name, but it eludes me) came in looking for work. They were in high demand and were never without a job. Merely asking for a job placement was a huge red flag. When asked why he left his previous employer (the counselor was expecting something horrific must have happened) the man said that the cook started cutting the pies into eight pieces instead of six. The counselor made one call, verified how the pies were cut, and the fellow was off to his new employer.
That's a great story, and completely believable. Loggers are and were notoriously independent, to the point that descriptions of them included 'tramp logger' and 'gypsy logger'.
And the job title that you couldn't recall is the title of this post, 'High Climber'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spar_(tree)
Back in the day, it was the best paying job in the woods. For good reason.
ReplyDeleteI get a kick out of the young guys that seek the thrill of extreme sports today. I'd love to see how they would handle hanging onto a 200' Doug fir as they cut the top 50' off of it as they prepared that tree to be a spar tree for a logging side in the 40's. Hanging onto the tree as it swung back and forth as the top headed towards Mother Earth.
Heady times for an adrenaline junkie born a hundred years ago.
Had a friend that climbed cellphone towers. He said he was taught there's no reason to be scared, after 80' your probably not going to survive anyway. He said he climbed a 400' tower. Just NO !!
ReplyDeleteBill Harsey, of knifemaking fame, did this. As did most of his family.
ReplyDeleteI knew a guy who did this but learned to be a welder so he would live to see his kids grow up.
ReplyDeleteThere was a story from years ago written by a job placement counselor. One of the lumberjacks that tops out the trees (there's a specific name, but it eludes me) came in looking for work. They were in high demand and were never without a job. Merely asking for a job placement was a huge red flag. When asked why he left his previous employer (the counselor was expecting something horrific must have happened) the man said that the cook started cutting the pies into eight pieces instead of six. The counselor made one call, verified how the pies were cut, and the fellow was off to his new employer.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great story, and completely believable. Loggers are and were notoriously independent, to the point that descriptions of them included 'tramp logger' and 'gypsy logger'.
DeleteAnd the job title that you couldn't recall is the title of this post, 'High Climber'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spar_(tree)