I decided that it was time to cut a few branches and trees here at my suburban tick farm. When I lived in an apartment, I spent a lot of time each night deciding whether to go to a concert, a lecture, or a museum. I no longer have to spend time making those decisions because I go to Home Depot every night. I left Alex in the car and went in to find the store nearly empty of customers, leaving plenty of helpful clerks. I explained my problem to one and said that I wanted to buy a handsaw. “We only have one,” she said. “You probably want a chainsaw.” I admitted that I wasn’t man enough to operate a chainsaw. “We have electric ones,” she offered. I responded that there weren’t any power outlets on the trees that I intended to assault. “How about this rechargeable Ryobi?” It was only $60, but it didn’t come with the 18V battery or charger, so I ended up having to buy a $300 Ryobi starter kit with some other tools.
At checkout, I produced my “I am stupid enough to pay $400 per year” card. The cashier was instructed to call American Express for authorization, the first time that has ever happened to me with this platinum card that I have held for about 8 years.
From Home Depot, I proceeded to the adjacent Natick Mall. Eager developers relatively recently finished some condos that are attached to the Mall via an indoor walkway. There are huge “condos for sale” signs all over them. The Mall was nearly deserted. I went to Crate and Barrel in order to get a sample of a some flatware to see if it would meet female approval (she had already picked this out from their Web site). It had been so long since they’d sold flatware that they couldn’t figure out how to open the locked cabinet.
Stores were glossy, prices were high, and what few people were there milled about without buying anything. It was reminiscent of Buenos Aires after Argentina’s currency collapse.
[Chain saw update: The rechargeable chainsaw worked out quite well for cutting down a tree approximately three inches in diameter. It is quiet enough that you don’t have to wear earplugs.]
I’m curious — why have an Amex Platinum card? I have had a blue card for years and been delighted with it — and I always laugh when they send me offers for platinum cards with high fees and no apparent major benefits. Do you get something for your fees other than a different colour plastic?
Chris: My friend Michael told me to get one because of the companion airfare deal (buy one international ticket, get the 2nd for free) and the hotel suite upgrade deal. Whenever I’ve called them to find out if it makes sense to buy a business or first class ticket and get a second for free, (1) it takes about 15 minutes on hold to figure out that they don’t have much availability, and (2) the price is roughly double what you’d pay for business or first class on Expedia. Whenever I’ve gone to hotels and asked about getting an upgraded room in virtue of having an Amex Platinum card, the front desk clerks have looked bewildered.
Can I downgrade from Platinum to something fee-free without losing my accumulated Amex pseudo airline miles?
Phil,
Call up the Amex 800 no. and have them downgrade you to Amex Green Rewards card. You get to keep the points and continue earning them, besides the other great Amex benefits (free extended warranties, lost baggage insurance, insurance on rental cars…). The Amex Green card costs around $100/yr.
Like Chris, I see absolutely no benefit in their Gold/Platinum cards, as that free companion ticket is not really free after all!
I think I would have stuck with a 10 dollar bow saw which never needs a battery recharge and would not have sapped my manhood so readily. Once upon a time I started with a electric chainsaw at my own estate and was lucky enough to pawn it off for a rake. I have found the 16 inch replacement gas chain saw a fantastic buy. The small size makes me look larger and more mountain man yet has handled trees up to 20 inch in diameter with only a modest amount of squealing. The small engine is wussy enough to avoid usurping my authority and feels safe.
I like Ryobi and have worked a few of their drills into an early grave. The flashlight which surely came with the kit will be handy during nighttime sawyer forays.
Local malls in my area are similarly eerie and my FBO is empty. The folks who finished flight training at the same time with me have disappeared into the financial abyss which leaves me with no difficulty renting aircraft which used to be a problem.
If you ever decide you want to trim some branches without charging a battery, something like this will do the job quite well:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100040681
( Fiskars 15 In. D-Handle Pruning Saw )
Get used to it. Houses always have something going wrong with them. If you live in an apartment, if something goes wrong you call the landlord, who sends a full-time maintenance man (if he’s a big enough landlord) who probably makes $15/hour to fix it. If you’re a homeowner, you buy $300 worth of tools, fix it, and then call a professional, whose competence and honesty you have no way of evaluating, to fix it for real for about $60/hr.
It seems to me that there would be a big market for maintenance men to sell something like HMOs for home repairs – pay them $X per month and in exchange they fix whatever goes wrong for no additional charge, as if you had called your landlord. Like HMOs, who put limits on prices set by medical people, the maintenance contractor would make this a win-win for themselves and the customer by not letting repairmen charge outrageous fees.
Philip,
We are moving from Palo Alto up to the Donner Cabin for the duration. We had a spot of bad luck with our insurance provider, USAA, as it seems they are abandoning the California market. They will not insure a house for fire risk if it is within 1000 feet of “brush”,. I think they get to decide what “brush” is. Their very nice phone rep directed us to Lloyds of London. Ha that will be cheap! From my recollection most of MA is in “brush” or trees. Have you had any problem getting fire insurance for you new place?
I have been using the electric chainsaw to remove small trees around the cabin and the thing works well and even a computer geek should be able to handle one esp if they can fly fixed wing, helicopters and seaplanes.
Congrats on your new lifestyle.
Your report on shopping sounds worrying for the MA area. Things here in Palo Alto are still going well as far as retail is concerned. Home Depot is busy in East PA. The housing market is still hot. We sold our place for $1000 per sq ft. Yikes! Layoffs in the Valley have only just started. My contact with Sequoia Capital confirmed the reports about what they told their companies. “Cut and Cut Hard” “Treat Each Dollar As If It Is Your Last”
Best To You and Yours
Egads. I am now happy I decided to shred those card offers. Thank you. 🙂
I don’t know how your pseudo-miles work, but on my AMEX Blue Cash card they get converted to money and reset to zero once a year. If the same thing happens with your psedo-miles, perhaps that is an opportune time to switch…
You sure can Phil. You don’t d/g exactly though. You would open another Amex account (I have Blue too), make sure that is linked to your membership rewards account and then close the platinum prior to the annual fee beating.
I would recommend trying to rent things like chainsaws. I am sure that you could find a place nearby that rents tools and equipment, and you will probably only need to use it every other year at most.
Shimon: That pruning saw does look like the right thing.
Peter: I’ve already used my chainsaw a second time, so I’m getting a good return on my $60 investment. Plus I’ve shown it to six people so far and all have been awed by the idea of a battery-powered chainsaw.
Phil,
Our local Home Depot actually allows dogs in the store! (that might be a carryover from the local hardware store they bought out, and one employee told me it might be ending).
As for renting vs. buying, I rented a saw for a day when we replaced our back fence. I ended up having to go back to the rental shop for an extra half day the next weekend to trim back some large branches. In my case, I probably would have come out ahead buying instead of renting.
I have used a folding 15″ Sven saw, which I bought at REI (great customer service and guaranteed product satisfaction), but also available elsewhere, for years and find it suitable for cutting trees up to about 6″ in diameter — I think you would find it easy to cut a 3′ trunk, even hardwood, with a Sven saw. Sven also has a similar 21″ blade saw. Sven saws are relatively inexpensive, hold up to hard use, and may have advantages in terms of carbon footprint, etc. in comparison even to electric saws.
By the way if you have a lawn to mow, check out Neuton electric mowers, made in Vermont (www.neutonpower.com). I have used one for the past year and love it. Much quieter than gasoline mowers, much lower operating cost, and MUCH MUCH less carbon footprint.
Terry: How big a yard could you reasonably mow with the Neuton? I think the one here is about the size of 10 tennis courts.
I have used a traditional mower (gas powered, not-self-propelled, Honda) and an electric one (Black and Decker). Both were tested on a lawn about a 6-7 tennis courts. The electric one had very little power and I ended up retracing my steps a few times to get the same cut Honda provided. That is why I am concerned about the Neutron model.
Regarding the Saw, I have used Swensaw successfully on trees about 2′-3′. They are cheap, sort of fun to use and eco-friendly :).
Rgds.
Phil,
Neuton electric mowers currently come in two models, the CE 5.2 and the CE 6.2.
Neuton says that the CE 5.2 will “mow for up to one hour on a single charge” and is ideal for yards of up to 1/4 acre.
If your yard is about the size of 6-7 tennis courts, that would amount to about 1/2 acre. So one might infer that it could be mowed be a CE 5.2 on two charges of its battery, or by using two batteries.
You can get spare batteries for each, and it is very easy and quick to remove a battery and insert a new one. By using multiple batteries there is virtually no limit to the yard size that could be mowed, though I don’t think most people would want to take the time to walk a non-self propelled mower though yards much bigger than what you can cover in an hour.
The CE 6.2 has a larger cutting width of 19″ vs. only 14″ for the CE 5.2. The CE 6.2 also uses a larger 360 watt-hour battery vs. the 240 watt-hour battery for the CE 5.2
I have the CE 5.2, which will easily mow my ~2,000 square foot yard (a bit smaller than one full sized tennis court) on one charge and usually seems to take me about 20 minutes. Neuton claims the CE 5.2 is ” perfect for lawns up to ¼ acre on a single charge.” Recharging the battery takes about 12 hours and should cost about 10 cents. Extra batteries are available at a cost of about $80 each.
With a Neuton, there is zero emissions, much reduced noise pollution, no tune-ups , no oil or gas required and instant start with the push of a button. Netuon has been offering a 6 month risk free trial.
You can go to the Neuton web site (www.neutonpower.com) to get additional specifications, prices, and also request a free DVD and product catalog.
Phil, looking forward to informed discourse as to the relative rate of injuries
due to the R-22, R-44, an electric chainsaw, all versus a gas powered
chain saw. Many of us with our own tick farms go a few years doing the
Norm Abrams thing before realizing that we do in fact still want to attend
concerts, go out to dinner, shows, and so on, and thus enter into a reasonable
arrangement with a subcontractor that will handle all the outdoor homeownership
responsibilities. Think of it in aviation terms – you surely could go back to school
to learn how to properly run a wrench, do an apprenticeship, and finally be
fully certified and licensed as an aviation mechanic. No more inspection $$,
you can do your own overhauls — but I bet you wouldn’t have much time
left over for flying 🙂