Spent today sawing limbs off a tree. The thing had grown too large and the owner wants it cut all the way down to the trunk. That way it grows back shorter and denser, but will always need a little more maintenance.
It was beautiful weather for hard outdoors labor. Cold yet clear and dry. I hardly used the chainsaw at all, both for noise and personal safety. Most of it was done with a twelve foot polesaw and a little limbsaw. By hand.
My arms and shoulders are sore like after a good hard workout. I’m tired in the mind aa well, as cutting such long and heavy limbs is dangerous and takes all attention and care you can muster to do right and safely.
On the picture one last limb is left. I managed to get a rope around it about half way up using the polesaw as a hand extension. Then I sawed it for about two cm each side. Had the boys pull on it… Gently as I sawed it further. As I felt it getting weak, I ordered the boys off to the side, to safety and brutely pulled the thing down. It landed exactly right to my great relief, as there was a lot of energy in that landing!
Speaking of weather, never in my more than 20 years of being in the mountains have i ever seen such a weird overcast with 2 distinct layers at such low altitude. It was a weird sight.
Stunning! I have only seen aurora once and that was while flying near Iceland…it’s not quite the same with all the cockpit lights and reflections on the windshield.
Coming back with a patient and family member from Shetland to Aberdeen in the B200. There was a spectacular display of Northern Lights behind us. Naturaly we diverted 40 degrees left then right to allow the crew and pax a good view. Added at least ten minutes to sector time. MY FO, the fleet captain was so annoyed he did not have his camera. The patient was delighted.
A couple years before he passed, my old man and me went on a trip to Iceland. After a couple of days we were done with the city and went off on a bus north.
As the day waned, we got off the bus to go find a place to sleep. We ended up with a farmer in a valley. He gracefully opened up his tourist shed (it was off season) and we stayed there for some days. My avatar is a selfie from that trip.
He had a hot spring, which emptied in a big tub. I fondly remember sitting naked in that tub, gazing at the northern lights and all the stars in the universe while my breath came out in clouds.
Yeah…I got to see them in Northern Michigan once. There was a period of a few days where the aurora was visible as far south as Chicago a few years back. I remember standing at Sawyer Field in the pitch black watching the aurora stream overhead. It was really quiet…but I swear I could hear a background…something…to the atmosphere. It was beautiful and weird. And freezing cold haha…
