92 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
8 comments »
This makes me laugh almost as much as it makes me cry. There’s a guy in my neighborhood with a big black truck parked on the street, and a pair of blue TruckNutz hanging below, which I must pass and notice every night when I drive home from work. I do admit that the sheer obnoxiousness of it does at least make me smile.
But c’mon… beautiful wood burls? Is nothing sacred? I can only hope it’s injection-molded plastic wrapped in some kind of heat-shrink plastic print....
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122 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
7 comments »
In part 2 of this saga, I got a call from Camille who’s lawn was coated in freshly fallen, fungally rotten Jacaranda mimosifolia. Her call awoke me with a start this morning, and soon I was at her house, borrowing her electricity for my electric chainsaw, and cutting up what I could. One heat stroke, or heat exhaustion later, and I drove away with a truck full of limbs. I ran home for my second shower and change, then off to work, then ran home at lunch (nice living 1.5 miles away) to d...
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122 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
10 comments »
In yesterday's dramatic episode, Camille – the homeowner who’s Jacaranda mimosifolia street tree fell over due to fungal rot at the base – was very concerned about a whole host of things that might happen if she allowed me to cut up the tree and take a bunch with me. She was rather justified about some of it, perhaps much of it, but that didn’t help eager me, of course.
This morning, after waiting a whole day for the street crew to come by as promised, she’d h...
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155 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
7 comments »
To save my back the next time I luck into some huge logs, I found and purchased some Highland Ramparts brackets from Pep Boys, while there replacing my new truck’s dead battery. I’ve seen gardeners in the area loading and unloading rider lawnmowers and everything else with these things, so me and a log on a hand truck should be fine, despite my ample size.
I also picked up the required 2×8s, each 8’ long. Unfortunately, measuring my truck’s unfolded tailgate he...
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168 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
17 comments »
A bit over a week ago I found some logs outside a neighbor’s place down the street while on my way home from work on a Friday night. They were Ficus microcarpa (AKA Chinese banyan, AKA Indian Laurel, AKA curtain fig, AKA etc…). Almost a week later – a few days ago – I found another load of the same logs in the same spot on my way home for lunch. This morning while heading into work, I passed the same spot, and the biggest haul yet was sitting there. I was running a few...
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169 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
5 comments »
Remember that haul last week of fig logs? I used the new dolly to move them around back:
Here’s the load by the light of day:
Exactly one week later, running home on my lunch break, I found ANOTHER PILE of them in the same spot, from the same tree likely. Of course, I had to back up, pull over, and load those in, too :)
Pretty big!
This rooty section had wood chunks that didn’t match. I think they’re Douglas fir, from a fence or garden somethi...
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175 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
2 comments »
My bones haven’t finished knitting back together, and the gum tree chunks are still in the bed, but on the way back from a fast food run tonight, I saw a log pile on the grass in front of the sidewalk, right on my block! I backed up in front of the driveway there, and loaded one very large trunk piece, and a bunch of other large branch pieces in right on top of the eucalyptus. I have a feeling they were out all day, and people picked through the little stuff for firewood, leaving the la...
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205 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
12 comments »
Here it is. Certified preowned, but no dents or dings or anything.
It’s 5 years old, but the engine looks pretty new.
Obligatory guy and his new truck photo:
“Access Cab,” woo!
Let’s go find some dead trees!
Few more pics in the flickr set if you need them.
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206 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
12 comments »
No pics yet or anything, but after looking at an ‘06 Ranger at the Ford dealer with 42k on it, I kind of fell for an ‘05 Tacoma with about 85k on it at the Toyota dealer. A little older, a bit more used, but it just had a lot more I wanted. It’s a certified pre-owned with 3yr/3k bumper-to-bumper, and 7yr/100k drivetrain warranties, power everything, AM/FM/CD, access cab – 2-door, but has a small back, and little half-doors that make loading things/passengers back there...
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248 days ago
by Gary Fixler |
8 comments »
I was not expecting to ID this tree this way. At the end of my street is a tiny triangular park – by tiny, I mean maybe 0.2-0.3 acres – lined with what I’ve been guessing might be some kind of Eucalyptus. They’re tall, twisty, and have a peeling or splitting bark that reveals many multicolored blotches beneath.
Today I learned what they are while looking up a Chinese elm my friend told me fell in the wind storm this week. It was 70 years old, and 50’ tall. I w...
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