u/Trickfingerz

So me and my dad was doing a last minute tree job right at the end of the day, about an hour and a half before it was getting dark way up in nor cal in the summer of 2021, during the Dixie fire. We had already worked a pretty big tree job that took us all day so we was tired and ready to go home and eat but when my dad got the call from his buddy, spur the moment, he got pumped when he heard the deal and so it pumped me up then we proceeded to pop a you turn because we was actually heading to the casino to eat and then head home. We rush over there and we look at this massive dead pine tree that was prolly 70ft tall, a dead bare brittle pine tree in a big fenced in back yard between to houses. My dad who was 57 at this time, been a tree climber his whole life. Throws his climbing gear on, tells me to quickly dig out his spikes because the tree was sketchy as fuck and it was windy. Then he whips his climbing rope up as far as he could, think he got to the top in two or three throws. He cuts all the dead branches off as he moves quickly and efficiently because he's worried about it getting dark on us. Pretty sure there was 3 or 4 people from hia buddies neighborhood standing there watching my dad do his thing. I must mention, before he went up the tree, he rigged his bull rope up to the back of his truck and had it rigged to the back of his climbing gear. So once hes about maybe 15 below the top, I cant really remember exactly how far down from the top but he ties his bull rope to the tree. Repels down, and he starts cutting the trunk of this thing. He told everyone standing there, including his buddy, the tree is going to land right there between those two fences and two houses. His buddy, asked " you really think its gonna land there bro​?" My dad confidently and immediately says "yes, I promise, if im wrong you don't owe me a dime." As he cutting and we can hear the tree start to crack, my job was to keep tension on the rope and pull it down with the truck, everyone watching joined in also with holding the rope and using their weight to help guide the fall and when it came down, it landed right where my pops said it would. Luckily for us, we didn't have to haul anything off. No brush, nothing. But we was asked to help cut this monster of a dead pine into quarters for firewood. Dad has his chainsaw, I had mine, dad's buddy had his chainsaw and we chopped it up and then I took a rake and raked everything up nice into a big pile for them while dad smoked a cigarette and bullshitted with his buddy, by this time it was dark. Every big branch he cutt off, shattered when it hit the ground so that should tell u how dry and dead and brittle the tree was. So there was any brush. Just a big pile of fuel when we was done and alot of firewood that we only had to quarter up. When we all called it good and pulled out my dad's buddy paid him and then for us to pull around to the front of his house and my dad looked at me said "I bet your about to get something fuckin badass, I know I will because he gives them to me all the time." He comes out and hands my dad a brand new support shirt that the 81 was dropping that year, not one you buy online or on their website for that chapter, he hands me mine and says "I didnt have anymore of the shirts I gave your dad and just a couple different new ones but here's one of my old ones I used to wear a long time ago and figured you'd like this one instead." and its the shirt in the picture. I dont wear it much outside here on the east coast in the south but I do occasionally wear it. I wore it alot though in nor cal where my dad was from. I will never forget that. I never asked my dad or his buddy any questions about his knowledge of that chapter. He invited us to a rally a couple of months later but dad decided we'd go fishing at the last second instead of there. He was a little nervous for me I think. So we had a pretty good time fishing and wishing we was at the rally hanging with Hells Angels. Thanks for the read.