Riding, Didn’t expect to be back there

So the last day of my three day weekend started out with another ride, this time on my Meepo skateboard.  The video was more of a vlog than just a riding video.  I had a fun time as usual on the Meepo.  I talked about on the ride the biggest disadvantage to the electric skateboard, the need for smooth, flat terrain.  With that in mind I talked about a possible future idea of swapping out the Meepo for an AT (all terrain) board in the future.  The AT style boards have larger, rubber tires, a wider stance and more ground clearance, allowing for more flexibility in riding options.  Even normal debris found on a road or even sidewalk expansion joints can be problematic for a standard E-board like the Meepo.

While I was out I grabbed stuff to change the oil in Cindy’s Ioniq.  As I was getting the car up on the ramps I saw my neighbor was out in his front yard, trying to cut palm fronds with his pole saw.  I told him he was going to really struggle doing it that way based on my experience.  He joked and said that since Cindy and I trimmed all of our trees his wife was giving him a hard time about how overgrown their trees were.  His two cabbage palms in the front have not been trimmed in years.  I assured him that a ladder and a sawzall is the way to go.  He said with his knees climbing a ladder is pretty tough but he would give it a shot.  I told him if he can’t manage it I would do it quickly for him.

So he got his ladder out but when I glanced over just before removing the drain plug I saw he was back to the pole saw.  I went to the garage and grabbed my leather gloves and DeWalt sawzall.  He said he just couldn’t do the ladder, he also had concerns with him exceeding the safety limits of the ladder since he weighs well over it’s rated capacity.  I told him I would knock it out for him, thinking hey, it’s only two trees, should be a piece of cake.

Wow was I wrong.  Because the trees have not been maintained it was a cross thatch rat nest that was extremely difficult to work through.  The first tree was bad, the second tree was even worse because it was about five feet taller.  The ladder my neighbor had was too short so I wound up having to go pull my 20 footer out of the shed.  In total I bet I spent damn close to an hour working on just two trees.  I emerged from the canopy with a fresh set of cuts and scrapes that were all coated in tree organic matter and insects.  Of course my neighbor was very grateful for my help.  There was absolutely no way he was going to get anywhere with his pole saw.

So I returned to work on Cindy’s car much dirtier and sweatier than before.  I completed the task just as Cindy got home from teaching class.  I felt like I had put in my work quota for the day.  The rest of Monday was more chill.  As the sun set Cindy, Elsa and I hung around the new RV spot.  I had my Mten3 out there which I rode backwards and forwards on the grass surprisingly easily.  Once the sun went down I got to finally play my first extended WoW session of the three day weekend.  It was a very labor filled three days but it feels good to have the most hated household chore I have to do behind me for the next year.