Well thank you for the compliment! At least SOMEONE noticed 
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Got a log trailer? Or a convoy of em? Emerald Ash Borer is destroying em by the truck load here. By some estimates, all the old growth ash in the area will be gone in 7-10 years. Luckily the EAB doesnāt affect saplings, so there will be regrowth, but it will take 40-60 years. I had 6 Ashs taken down last summer here after a storm, and my mama-luka big ash is badly blonding from EAB and will have to come down in 2-3 yrs. Sheās got a 5-6ā diameter trunk 
Ash is also called āThe Firewood of Kingsā because when it was horse drawn carriages, you werenāt allowed to burn ash in England, it was reserved for the king, because you can cut it and burn it immediately, no seasoning or curing needed. At least thats the story I was told, but I know you donāt need to season it. Not as good a heat producer as maple or oak, but a good burner stillā¦
You think that guy was doing a happy dance? I KNOW he was! He bought us lunch and said thank you 100 times. Not only did he get about 3 full cords, since he only owned a 16" bar, we chunked up all the big stuff to 18" pieces for him. In my area, he just got $600 worth of firewood for the cost of two pizzas! (and we got a lot less work hauling it outta there!)
Win / Win for sure!
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I worked for a landscape company for 17 years and cut firewood every Winter and any slow days during that time.
That job will separate the wheat from the chaff. 4 sure!
I loved my work. Now my South end pretty much stays in the seat of some piece of equipment.
Getting old isnāt for the weak either. LOL
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Ya knowā¦ that made me chuckleā¦ Working in the koi pond industry for 10 years made me realize that the equipment operator isnāt always the best place to be. Especially in the hot days, or when its freezing, cause youāre stuck there, OPERATING the equipment, instead of moving and keeping warm (or being stuck in a warm cab on a hot day, I dont care how many windows they have its always hot in the mini excavators or skidsteers)
Working there, newbies always wanted to run equipment, hey, its like a giant Tonka toy, I understand they think its cool cause its neat and new. But I learned the best crews to work with had most guys knowing how to run all the machines on site, but nobody rushing to get in and sit. Other than setting 2 ton boulders with an excavator, I trusted most of the crew on any machine. Setting rocks took some finesse in the sticks thoughā¦ And an accident can crush a guyā¦
Getting old certainly isnāt for the weak, you got that right! I feel it more and moreā¦
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I learned to drive on dads old 9N Ford tractor at 6 years old. Running equipment was old hat by the time I got a job off the home place.
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Man, the challenges I faced with the avg 18-24 yr old employeeā¦ Run equipment? Barely start a lawnmower!!
One guy in particular, we videoād him and sent to the boss. He didnāt last long. He was supposed to be working with 3 other guys, shoveling gravel into 5 buckets (its an easy way to move the gravel around while building a pond). Well, 3 other guys are shovelling, and this idiot was twirling his shovel in the air as if its a baton, and heās baton twirler! I kid you not! a FULL 15 minutes we were dieing laughing watching himā¦
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Iāve run Bobcat skidsteers and a TCM wheel loader and they have always been the best seat in the house. Moving snow in a nice heated machine is second best to a plow truck but plenty comfy. The one Bobcat even had AC.
I went to an interview once and the guy asked me if I would mind getting on the mower and pulling it out of the trailer because he had interviewed guys with āyears of experienceā who couldnāt start the mower. Whatās funny is I hopped on and started it and saw hope on his face, then I asked if there was a parking brake on it and saw that hope leave in an instant. He said āzero turn riders donāt have brakesā. I was like āBobcats, Dixie Choppers, Toroās, and Skags doā and you would think I told him his loved one was going to live for how his eyes lit up. That man must have seen some pretty interesting applicants before me 
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yes the Emerald Ash Borer has been wiping out the ash in the Adirondacks. In Dolgeville, NY where they made baseball bats for the Majors it was already affecting their industry when Rawlings bought them out and then the factory got destroyed by a fire a couple of years ago. I would stop there on my trout fishing days and get a load of slabs for the camp for fires, I also made raised beds with that slab wood, its all no more.
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Itās the younger generation. We, as older folks, fucked up raising our next generation.
Case in point.
I go to the Burger King and a pretty young lady asks what Iād like. I said ā do you still have Cinna- minis?ā
She said yes. I said ok Iāll take a half dozen of those. She got this perplexed look on her face like WTF? She went and got the manager. The manager said " Sorry sir, we canāt sell them like that. We can sell them as a dozen or individuals." I shit you not. I had to ask for 6 instead of a half dozen. Again, WTF?
ā¦and these people actually breed. Fuggināincredible.
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Through the years I have no idea how many never came back from their first lunch break. A few never even contacted us for their half day paycheck.
You can, normally, tell within three or four hours if you had a hand or not.
We even made bets sometime on whether theyād last the day.
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We had great machines, Bobcats mostly, B335 mini ex, S330, T750 skid steers, MT52 (love those mini track steers!)ā¦ Well maintained. But when you remove the front window on a skid, the AC and heat donāt mean too much (and they had it, AC worked better when you used it). And we had to remove the window because its all communication with the operator, so thereās a LOT of talking back and forth and a window kills that. Plus, a window in front is impossible to open unless the arms are down, and there were times were we wouldnāt be able to fully lower the arms for a while, but needed the guy in the cab to be able to get out.
Technically, heās right, hydro drive doesnāt. But they do have parking brakes, and as you know its usually a big fat push button like thing. But Iām serious when I say Iāve seen 21 yr olds who couldnāt start a lawnmower. Think I want them starting a demo saw or running equipment they can do damage with? I guarantee that guy interviewing you saw lots of kids not have a clue what they were looking at, much less how to start it, or operate itā¦
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Really, this says it all. 
The problem in this story isnāt any of the people involved, except possibly you for going to a corporate restaurant and expecting anything other than corporate bs. I assume that āa dozenā is actually an item on their menu which they can report to corporate as having been sold as a dozen with a corresponding discount, and otherwise they have to sell them individually simply because thereās no option for entering a quantity of a half dozen into the computer. In a corporation, this actually kind of makes senseā¦ sadly.
West Virginia area lost a lot of Ash trees to Wood Borers years ago. I donāt know if they ever reestablished the species.
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Iām calling B.S.
That young lady was an idiot as was her boss. It doesnāt matter where they work. If they worked as an engineer for Boeing, theyād still be idiots.
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Iām with you on the B.S. call, I just donāt know if itās necessarily their fault. Do you think theyāre allowed to tell you how stupid they think the system is? Even if they see the stupidity of it, theyāre corporate employees and need to act as such. Whatever intelligence they have, they simply arenāt using because theyāre unmotivated. Now, of course, the fact that theyāre working at Burger King might mean theyāre idiots in the first place, but even an idiot should be able to explain to a customer that they canāt technically sell him a half dozen because itās not a quantity on their menu and a dozen (probably) contains 13, but of course they can sell him 6 if he wants to buy them individually. Heās just not going to get any discount for quantity. The problem is, they get paid exactly the same amount and ignored exactly the same amount by their bosses regardless of whether they do a good job and explain clearly what theyāre saying, or the bare minimum possible amount of work.
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Hey! I wonāt shoulder that blame. My DOGS know more than that generation, and I have no kids, so I did my part and raised my pups right!
Donāt go to the McDonalds in my town. NEVER get the order right. I get my stuff plain. Simpleā¦ McChicken PLAINā¦ Nope. always has crap on it, so much so I wont leave without checking, and 9/10 times its gotta be redone. They will get fries and a drink right usuallyā¦ As for 6 vs a half dozen, next time ask for a bakers dozen and REALLY blow their minds. LOL. Common sense and logic is being bred out of the next generation by participation trophies, no child left behind, and helicopter / bubble wrap parentsā¦
We had a regular pool going. I wonāt say all are bad, my last helper I had there was a 19yr old kid, and he was smart, worked his ass off, and pulled his weight. He was a rarity for sureā¦
I have to agree with @BigMike55 here. Just cause you canāt press one button to get a half dozen in the cart, or set a quantity easily, well, if you asked me for a half dozen of anything I would get you 6. The phrase āSix of one, half dozen of the otherā must not mean much these days (like when you are asked if you would prefer pizza or sandwiches for lunch, and you respond āahh six of one, half dozen of the otherā pretty much means you donāt care, that its an even split, and that either one or the other is fineā¦)
Sigh, nobody has pride in their work anymore. The just dont give a fuckā¦ And if thats now, imagine their work ethic in 10-15 yrs. I canāt imagine it getting betterā¦ Nor do I see them gaining any sort of common sense or simple logic / reasoning ability.
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I still think that it canāt be blamed on Burger King, that these two people are idiots. They were idiots to begin with. Burger King simply had the misfortune of hiring them.
If we are playing the blame game, I blame the older generation for not teaching their children basic knowledge and skills to become an intelligent, productive part of society. I actually wrote a paper in college, about the dumbing down of America. Now, there is a rabbit hole to go down.
Again, Burger King. Corporate America compounded with low ambition and even average intelligence does not work out well. Maybe they are idiots, because all the non-idiots were filtered out by the monotony of the work. And whoās going to take pride in a job at Burger King?
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So I noticed a state employee operating a big remote control lawnmower on a big hill at State Offices in Albany, NY, maybe thats the future for the video game generation
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