I moved to North Carolina in December 1988. One of the new friends I made in the first year or two was Larry. Over the years Larry and his wife Toni have grown to be good friends. Our friendship hasn't been the only thing growing in 20 years.
The hedges in front of Larry's house had grown to the point they needed to be taken out. Larry and I have often helped each other out over the years, but my first thought when he called to borrow my come-a-long and chain was he was nuts. Those suckers were big, and taking them out was going to be something Mama always told me I was allergic too... Hard work. After some encouragement from Larry, a commitment we tackle only one and if it was too much he would have someone come take them out, I reluctantly loaded up the truck with my chain, wire rope, 15K lbs tow strap, and the come ah-long and headed over after work Wednesday.
Well I was right pulling one of the bushes out was hard work. Took a good 45 minutes of winch, huff-n-puff, rest, winch some more, reposition the come ah-long, crank some more -But it was possible, and we got that sucker out. So we decided to finish the job on Saturday.
Well Thursday turned out to be perfect fall day. Clear blue skies, cool, and no humidity. So I called and Larry he said sure come on over. Ever since finishing that first one I had been thinking ... There had to be a easier way. I came up with the idea to hook the chain to the frame of the truck and see if it would snatch the hedge out. Well it did. Having 2500lbs of batteries rolling at 3-4mph provides a serious tug, and each hedge would pop out after 3 or 4 tugs. The beauty of the electric motor is there is no wheel spin since the torque starts at 0 rpm - there is no 'rev up', or clutch slip needed. We did half yesterday and finished the rest today.
I think it looks nice. Now the holes they left behind, well that's another sea story.
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