ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Where are you and where are you going?
ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@ertyu
It's good to have them back.

@jacob

Ha! Sorry to disappoint, but I went with classic silver.

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Have you ever been around someone and the experience is just pleasant through and through? It seems much less common to me anymore but it could just be my life. I'm talking about someone that uplifts your mood and general attitude.

Well I experienced that yesterday when I accepted a job from an Amish friend of mine who needed some help. We worked together on a house build for a friend last year and I guess I proved myself enough for him to consider me for a paying job. So yesterday we worked on a porch roof demo and rebuild which was pretty straight forward but what was remarkable is that halfway through the day he received the news that his mother was actively dying and that her time was very near. And he shared this with me and the other guy (young Amish fellow) at lunch without the slightest bit of discontentedness. And as he prayed before eating it became clear why. He believes she is going to her eternal resting place in Heaven and it isn't a reason to be upset, it's almost a reason to celebrate.

It's at times like those that I envy people like him. Unfortunately, I don't believe what he believes so I could never reap the benefits of his belief system but I admire how people like him can get through difficult times such as losing a close loved one. Even though I was working hard and he had received that news, it was a pleasant and rewarding day overall. I'm not used to that working with dudes in the trades, not at that level.

And he wants me back to finish the whole job at the pay rate I requested, which is nice. So I must have done something right too.


All right, the projects continue. The key to my success as far as avoiding burnout is that I switch jobs at the homestead frequently. Even if it's basically the same type of work I'll change locations to mix things up. This past week I created a hodge-podge gate in the fence so I could clear out the vegetation and fallen tree resting against a shared fence on the neighbors side. If I don't have access to the other side of all of these fences then I can't keep my place cleaned out and I've talked with all of my neighbors about my intentions and they love it. Less work for them.

So here is a schematic:

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Make sense? It's a great little low cost gate that absolutely works. The cattle don't even know it's a gate.

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I'm clearing about 12 feet or so which I'll maintain from now on to keep the jungle at bay away from the fences. It's amazing how much vegetation growth can occur in one neglected season and I will not be redoing all of this hard work because I let it regrow.

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theanimal
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by theanimal »

Very cool gate. You sure are having some fun with those brush fires. I get real paranoid up here about things going out of control since the whole environment is more or less a tinderbox. Once the snow hits, I have no problem burning big piles.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Western Red Cedar »

I was actually thinking the same thing about the brush fires. I helped my dad set up a management plan and strategy for their homestead (buffers of 30 ft., 50 ft. and 100 ft.) to mitigate potential impacts from wildfires. This required clearing a lot of underbrush (which also opened up some nice views and should facilitate better tree growth). We'll cut and pile brush in dryer weather but always try to burn while it is raining or after some of the early snow on the family homestead. The PNW is also a tinderbox in the dry months, which is probably different from your location ffj. Have you thought about waiting to burn when it is wet to limit risks from the fires getting out of control? Bonfires in the early winter are great!

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@theanimal, WRC

I found that design of the gate years ago in some farm hack book that I had read. For some reason that particular shortcut stuck with me all of these years and when I needed a gate it sprung to mind. The fence is old and in poor shape so I had no qualms about trying it out even though technically it's one of my neighbors fence. Eventually I will be replacing the fence anyway whether the neighbor helps out on cost or not, so again, I had no reservations about making this cheap gate. And it works just fine.

The reason I can be so cavalier about the brush fires in dry weather here is because I have natural fire breaks all around me. The worse that can happen is that a neighbors field can catch fire a bit before I put I out. The grass is short and therefore easy to smother with a flat shovel. In the fire service, we use a tool called a flapper which is highly effective and all it is is a heavy piece of flat rubber attached to handle. And you basically rub the fire out like you are mopping a floor. Now I have only had one fire get away from me which I detailed earlier but even then the fire only could have gone so far before I tackled it under control. It's just really bad optics when something like that happens but the fire can only burn if it has fuel.

Now the West Coast and parts of Alaska are another story. With the winds and the dryness and the huge fuel loads I understand completely why you wouldn't do what I do. And hats off to those firefighters who fight those fires. Extremely hard and dangerous work.



Speaking of projects, I have another in the pipeline which I am excited about:

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I'm going to build a proper bridge across my little creek. I've purchased four 6 X 6 treated beams that are 24 feet long. Now they are a little crooked but I can take care of that, but that's why I got such a good deal on them from the lumber yard. I paid less than half price for the lot of them which made it worth my while to proceed with the bridge. I own a four-wheeler that I need to be able to cross the creek with and with this bridge that is going to happen soon. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to buy a larger chainsaw as I have some large trees that need removing. Some have already fallen, and some need to be dropped.

Now once a tree gets to be a certain size, I start getting very cautious about dropping them. But one of my weird interests is watching dudes on YouTube cut trees and doing it right so I have a decent level of competence, at least the knowledge of what is supposed to happen and how to accomplish the correct cuts. The guy selling me the chainsaw apparently didn't know I watch so many videos ;) and questioned me on my abilities and he asked me how experienced I was because the saw I was buying was a mans saw that needed to be treated with respect. Well, he didn't say it exactly like that but that was the gist of the conversation. And he was right because this new saw is a beast with a 25 inch bar and the engine to run it.

I started out with a broken down hickory and it was short so no major issues other than the fact that the chainsaw is so heavy it is hard to keep it steady until it grabs fully into the wood. I used a running bowline to secure the rope.

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I felt good about that one so I graduated to the one that made me nervous. This cat is/was a dead ash tree that the emerald ash borers finally took out. It was a pretty tree until about a year ago but it was dead as dead can be this year.

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As I made my face cut I realized it was cutting way too easily and with a sinking feeling I understood it was hollow inside. That's bad.

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The problem with it being hollow inside is that a proper fall relies on hinge wood, a narrow band of wood right behind the face cut that guides the tree down to where you want it to drop. It literally acts like a hinge, and without that you can't control where the tree is going to fall. So what did I do? I cut it like a normal tree anticipating this massive tree just collapsing around me. I used another tree as a barrier and made light cuts in the back cut until I saw movement and then I ran away. Fortunately it dropped fairly close to where I wanted it to drop. But I didn't see it drop because I was running away in the other direction. :shock: And THAT is why these big trees make me nervous.

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And here is a classic example of EAB damage.

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ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

Upstream I mentioned going back to work and this week I worked 4 days for an ex-Amish buddy of mine.

I'm fucking tired. Either I am getting old or these guys work way too hard, haha. One thing I learned is that they don't believe in taking a break except for twenty minutes or so for lunch. And this is physical work. Either I need to get in better shape or find something else to do because feeling tired all week is no fun. :D But they are a great crew though and the work ( rebuilding a roof ) turned out well. And I did get to meet this good boy:

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And I saw this nearby to the work site. You have to stop for a fire truck and what is interesting to me is that it was restored at one point and now it's slowly returning to scrap metal.

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ertyu
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ertyu »

what will you do with the felled trees? firewood?

thanks for the pictures, great posts

ffj
Posts: 376
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@ertyu

Yep. Nothing will go to waste. I've given my neighbor so much firewood already that he doesn't want anymore and he burns a lot! So, I think I'll just start stockpiling the firewood on my land for future use by me or somebody else.

One of my future projects will be an outdoor fireplace so I'll need wood for that but another reason to stockpile is because my house is heated with electricity solely. There may come a day when having lots of firewood will be very handy due to inclement weather or other reasons.

My next issue though is that these trees I'm cutting are so large that the wood will need to be split and I really don't want to buy a splitter or do it by hand so I'm looking for a wood splitter to borrow. We'll see what happens.

Igotgoals
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Igotgoals »

I haven't checked in for a few months - what a nice surprise to see you back.
I always enjoyed your posts about your house building. Happy to see you and your wife are happy in your new home.
Looking forward to catching up with your posts.

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@Igotgoals

Thank you for the welcome back. One of the benefits of having a journal is that it compels me to take more photos of my life which may seem insignificant at the time but I greatly appreciate as time passes. I forget details and the pictures remind me of little things that I just didn't remember. Anyway, comments such as yours motivate me to continue so thank you.




Now that the stonework and final grading are complete on the house, I am left with one final job and the house build will officially be over, which is building two porches out of wood. Both are relatively small, with the back deck 12 X 12 and the small porch 4 X 6, which is our main entry. There was no reason to make them bigger as we already have two covered porches which are nicely sized. Thursday I laid them out and dug the footers and poured the concrete before the rain and coldness arrived.

My lumber package which consisted of all the treated structural members came to $560 which was roughly what I had estimated. For the flooring we are going to be using composite deck boards which maintain their color and won't warp or split. We found what we wanted, which was a higher end product, and I expected to pay roughly double for the better stuff, which was fine. However, the lumber yard called and quoted us a price before they placed the order and I am happy they did, because even I was shocked with the expectation of higher prices.

Now remember I have two porches which will cover roughly 170 ft squared. These are small surface areas. The lumber yard quoted me a price of $4,300! For 170 square feet. The lumber guy said they charge $88 per board, which is insane. Soooo, we are going to have to figure something else out because I'll be damned if I pay such a ridiculous price. In the meantime I'll just work on the framework and get that buttoned up.



I worked again this week with my Amish buddy helping him do some finish work. He seemed genuinely impressed with my work which I suspect is because he just doesn't do this kind of detail. He's mainly a framing carpenter which doesn't require the precision of trim work and he seemed stumped on some details but it was no problem for me as I did it for a living for several years.

This guy is so personable that the only reason he had to do trim work is because his client basically wants him to do everything, even though he was initially hired to do the roof and metal siding. People love guys they can trust and this guy is the poster boy for trustworthiness and good work so nobody wants to let him go, even though he's doing some types of work that are new to him. It's interesting to watch the dynamics at play.


And finally I scored a win this past week with a new neighbor. He did some land clearing for my other neighbor and as he had to cross my land to get to where he was going I stopped him one day and chatted him up. And then I offered him a job clearing out the bottom land in my woods which was extremely uneven and filled with old tree stumps. He said sure, I'll start right now. And he did, which was wonderful. It took him a couple days but he made a world of difference, even as much as making it possible to drive my truck through the woods in a place one could barely walk before. I'm very pleased with the progress made.

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theanimal
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by theanimal »

Your woods are looking good. Any idea on dbh (diameter) on those trees? I get nervous with the trees are larger up here, which means like 10 in. Haha. But then again, Mrs. Animal is the chainsaw expert in our household.

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

They vary dramatically. The two above photos represent the worst of the woods are far as healthy and beneficial trees, and I am still continuing to thin them out as they serve no real purpose. In some places there really is nothing worth saving as it's all scrub. If I would have taken those photos back in 2020 in the exact same spots you would have seen about 5 feet before a wall of vines and scrub trees stopped you from viewing any further. I'm not exaggerating whatsoever.

But I also have some beautiful oaks and hickories and maple and walnut that are stand alone specimens. Some of these are quite large with some of the oaks and hickories 4 or 5 feet across and eighty feet or better tall. My woods are a perfect example of poor management over decades with the lucky trees escaping destructive human intervention and my goal is to have a healthy ecosystem once again where beneficial trees and plants will thrive and the entire land mass is walkable. I want my own personal park with beautiful things to look at as I sit and think deep thoughts. ;)

Here are few channels I watch for tree work as they all are really good at what they do:

https://www.youtube.com/user/AugustJames2006

https://www.youtube.com/c/EducatedClimber

https://www.youtube.com/c/Recoates

After you watch them drop tree after tree using good technique it helps to know what they are doing works. Just copy them, that's what I do. ;)

ffj
Posts: 376
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:57 pm

Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

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This is the unsexy part of dropping trees. All of that wood has to go somewhere once it is on the ground and it occurred to me that the most efficient way to carry all of that biomass is in an upright position. Lightbulb moment right? Haha. That all goes away once the chainsaw is fired up.

But that is a lot of firewood that will keep somebody warm or cook many a meal. I also destroyed part of that crappy fence when I dropped it hence the temporary wood panels. I'll be replacing this entire section of fence soon with new posts and fencing. The owners of the fence have no clue any of this is happening but I feel no obligation to tell them because they have clearly not cared previous to my meddling. I have fixed this section of fence many times over the past two years to keep their cattle in and I have never seen them check any of it. But I'll be fixing it for the final time with the new material probably this month or soon thereafter.

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I've completed the structural part of my deck(s) and now all I have to do is apply the actual decking, which has posed a bit of a problem because all of the material we like is very expensive. So, my wife and I continue to try to find the best compromise which is is delaying my plans to have this done by Thanksgiving. The build has been fairly straightforward with the only wrinkle being that it is cold as hell here for this time of year. It is really hard to use these tools with thick gloves on, and I find myself just taking them off and freezing until I have to go and warm them up. It really slows your progress down.

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My YouTube channel continues to be a source of entertainment. I recently built this to show the possibilities of creating a high directional without having a prefab one on site. My original intention has always been to share some of this knowledge I have accumulated over many years because it does no good to keep it to myself. I have to keep reminding myself of this because:

YouTube giveth and Youtube taketh away. Meaning, if your videos are showcased on peoples homepage ( called an Impression ) and assuming your content is halfway decent, then your views and subscriptions go up nicely. It's a very pleasant feeling that a fair amount of people like what you are doing, but as soon as Youtube stops making your videos available for views, then everything plummets, except for the views of the subscribers because they know you exist. If people don't know you exist, then you can't get views. It leaves you with the impression that YouTube is in total control of whether you are successful or not, which is not totally true of course, but their hand is heavily weighted on whether you are relevant or not. And that is demotivating.

I'm probably just not good enough, which is a realistic statement in a sea of millions of other contributors. But I've gained several hundred subscribers and tens of thousands of views in a few months so that has been a blessing, with some really nice encouragement from several of the subscribers. So we'll see where this goes. And once again a disclaimer: I am not trying to shuffle any of you over to there. Unless you like rope. This is just what is happening in that part of my life at the moment and I thought I would share some of the frustration.

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Slevin
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Slevin »

ffj wrote:
Fri Nov 18, 2022 10:06 am
I'm probably just not good enough, which is a realistic statement in a sea of millions of other contributors. But I've gained several hundred subscribers and tens of thousands of views in a few months so that has been a blessing, with some really nice encouragement from several of the subscribers. So we'll see where this goes. And once again a disclaimer: I am not trying to shuffle any of you over to there. Unless you like rope. This is just what is happening in that part of my life at the moment and I thought I would share some of the frustration.
I think you’re misunderstanding YouTube and then getting upset at “lack of success” when your views and subs seem good for a small channel about ropes. I haven’t seen your channel, but from what I can gather here, you are trying to be useful on YouTube and teach people things, and especially rope skills. And those videos don’t get tons and tons of views. Yeah. Totally. Most of the actually real life useful videos I watch on technical skills and how to do things have only hundreds or thousands of views. And thank god for them; I’ve learned more skills / how to fix broken things from YouTube videos with barely any views than from basically anywhere else.

The people with thousands and millions of views on YouTube are trying to be popular on the platform, and make money off of it. So they cater to large audience segments, I.e. people who play Minecraft or people who play Pokémon, etc. Then they build compelling narratives, and spend 10 hours+ on editing each thumbnail and title, because they are essentially the main “sales” point for people to watch the video. Then they spend 100+ hours editing each video to try to keep the videos high energy and full of action, because any slowdown will draw away viewers (obviously there are exceptions to this with video essays, etc).

So make a distinction about what your goals are for your platform. If you want to be a good educational creator telling people about knots, yeah, you might be relegated to a pretty small audience, but that knowledge will almost definitely be useful to others somewhere down the line, and helping 100 people out with actual issues is still a really amazing reach. If you want to be popular on YouTube, yeah maybe start a blog about something super trendy like a cute off-grid homestead you are starting from scratch using your own two hands and be good looking and make all your thumbnails heavily edited to look amazing with clickbait titles.

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@Slevin

Your comments at the end remind me of the old saying " If you can't be good-looking, you should at least be handy". :lol: That's always been my motto.

You are right though; I need to readjust my expectations and just have fun with it. Maybe I can be the guy that solves others problems, at least as far as rope. My editing involves pushing the record button and then off again for the most part. And we have already covered the good-looking part. So I guess that leaves becoming an educational creator with a small audience which isn't so bad.

ertyu
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ertyu »

think of it this way, the very popular channels are entertainers whereas you're an educator

if you're a good educator (as you appear to be), you'll get a following of people who want to learn the particular skill you teach (as you seem to have). i wouldn't assess myself by entertainer metrics unless your goal is to be an entertainer. success looks differently for different people

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

What does a high directional do? For rescue or tree work?

ffj
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by ffj »

@ertyu

All good points.

My frustration comes from the fact that when YouTube stops recommending your videos through impressions, you virtually become non-existent. Nobody even has the opportunity to reject you, haha. And when YouTube actually does recommend your video (at least in my case) the numbers are respectable as far as CTR (click thru rate) and audience retention (how long someone watches), and likes and positive comments. I'm not concerned about becoming popular or big, but clearly money is being left on the table when opportunities aren't realized. In other words, the situation isn't optimized.

More than likely it's an issue of scalability and competition. There are literally millions of slightly above average people like me vying for the same attention. But I need a metric, and view and subscription rates are good at letting you know whether you are even remotely close to achieving any sort of competency. Otherwise you are just farting into the wind hoping something sticks. When the platform takes away your feedback you become a bit disoriented as to what is even relevant.

I'll just have fun with it until it is no longer is worth it.


@Gilberto

A AHD (artificial high directional) mainly gets your rope systems off of the ground. This is extremely important when you are working near precipices either in the natural world or manmade such as buildings or other structures. Otherwise the friction created, as well as the added danger of damaging your rope through movement over rough or sharp surfaces will make your operation much harder and dangerous.

Here is one in operation that we created for my training in Australia, which was used for a cross-haul across the valley below.

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And here is a couple of photos I took for a class I taught on another brand, The Terradaptor. The above photo is an Arizona Vortex and these two brands are by far the most popular. The first is in Bi-pod mode:

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And the second is the much easier Tri-pod mode:

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These AHD's cost thousands of dollars and they are mainly for rescue work. An arborist wouldn't have a need for them as their work is different. What is neat about them is that they can be used in many configurations and in many situations including confined space rescue and elevator rescue. The one I built from wood is a down and dirty method if you didn't have access to a very expensive manufactured one, which many small fire departments and rescue teams can't afford. Also, they are somewhat heavy, so to expect a rescue team to haul the manufactured ones over miles of rough terrain is somewhat unrealistic. Better to use the material on hand.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: ffj's Early Retirement (round 2)

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

Thanks for the explanation. Interesting, fun stuff.

A decade ago I knew a fair amount about he Google search worked. At the time googles algo would test newly posted content by offering it to searchers to see if the clicked / sent signals that it was a good match. This meant that you might get some initial traction with new content and then it would drop off as google got the data it wanted and decided your content was not worth continuing to show. YouTube may be doing the same thing.

In the long run you may find that these videos eventually get traction in search if your channel gets bigger or more successful because Google over time has.more and more preferred to return content from larger older sites as they are considered more trustworthy. YouTube may work the same way. All this is speculation and based on ancient info though so take with s grain of salt.

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