In early November Maine (along with some of the rest of northern New England) got hit by a big snowstorm that caused a lot of branches and trees to come down.
Afterwards while driving around at work I noticed a number of trees in the parks in the city had large branches that had come down from the storm, so I called up the Parks and Rec Director and asked if I could help the Parks and myself by cutting up the larger branches for firewood and hauling the branches to the street to be picked up. He agreed.
So last week I went to a park on Main Street and started cutting . . . this is right next to the Homeless Shelter and across the street from the police station. I thought for sure folks would start reporting me or asking questions about a guy with a chainsaw on Main Street so I did something that I thought I would never do . . . I bought camouflage . . . specifically safety orange chainsaw chaps and then borrowed a bright orange hard hat from work.
I've been meaning to get some chaps for awhile now . . . guy at work had an "incident" and a good friend of mine tore into his jeans last summer. I've always been pretty safe and have been working around chainsaws since I was a teen . . . but as the FD's Safety Guy I figure it only makes sense to use commonsense practices and safety gear when possible . . . buying this camouflage was just the ticket to push me over the edge and pony up the money.
In any case . . . it worked. Saw a police officer drive by and he never gave me a second glance as I was loading up my truck. Had one homeless guy stop to offer to help for money . . . I declined. Had another fella stop to ask if I was with the City . . . thought about that one for a bit and then said "Why yes I am!" since while I think he was thinking "Public Works" I figure technically I am with the City . . . in the Fire Department. He then went on to describe an electrical or phone line that was down . . . to which I told him I was going to be off duty soon and he should contact Public Works to report the problem.
In any case, ended up with a little less than a cord of wood before the snow hit . . .
Afterwards while driving around at work I noticed a number of trees in the parks in the city had large branches that had come down from the storm, so I called up the Parks and Rec Director and asked if I could help the Parks and myself by cutting up the larger branches for firewood and hauling the branches to the street to be picked up. He agreed.
So last week I went to a park on Main Street and started cutting . . . this is right next to the Homeless Shelter and across the street from the police station. I thought for sure folks would start reporting me or asking questions about a guy with a chainsaw on Main Street so I did something that I thought I would never do . . . I bought camouflage . . . specifically safety orange chainsaw chaps and then borrowed a bright orange hard hat from work.
I've been meaning to get some chaps for awhile now . . . guy at work had an "incident" and a good friend of mine tore into his jeans last summer. I've always been pretty safe and have been working around chainsaws since I was a teen . . . but as the FD's Safety Guy I figure it only makes sense to use commonsense practices and safety gear when possible . . . buying this camouflage was just the ticket to push me over the edge and pony up the money.
In any case . . . it worked. Saw a police officer drive by and he never gave me a second glance as I was loading up my truck. Had one homeless guy stop to offer to help for money . . . I declined. Had another fella stop to ask if I was with the City . . . thought about that one for a bit and then said "Why yes I am!" since while I think he was thinking "Public Works" I figure technically I am with the City . . . in the Fire Department. He then went on to describe an electrical or phone line that was down . . . to which I told him I was going to be off duty soon and he should contact Public Works to report the problem.
In any case, ended up with a little less than a cord of wood before the snow hit . . .
