This past Thursday, Katy and I rigged down a 30"+ diameter Boxelder (Acer negundo) tree. It was located in Milwaukee on a hill, over (and partially grown in to) a house, over a fence and over a retaining wall. There was interference with power lines and tel-com lines and suffice it to say, there were some obstacles. I worked with WE Energies to get the power line down. They got the line down by about 9:15am. We started rigging it out and into the driveway down from the retaining wall by about 9:30am. By 1pm, we had the power back up, most of the large lower scaffold branches rigged off and into the driveway, and Katy and I were eating lunch. I went back up after lunch and worked the top and the reaching branches over the house and neighbor's house down into to the drive. We used the GRCS to lift the branches up and away from the house and wires a number of times. I love that piece of equipment!
We had the brush arranged with the stubs facing the alley in a large manageable pile. We had the wood arranged on the other side of the driveway. It was not hard to do, but it did require some planning to keep the driveway from becoming a huge mess and very difficult to clean up. Once we had the brush totally rigged out, we started on the wood. I used the big saw to cut large chunks off and pushed them into the driveway. We did no damage to any of our obstacles and had a great time doing it. The client was happy and the company that we used to clean up the mess was happy too. It was a great day and Katy got some great pictures. I hope you enjoyed them.
