Back when I started trimming I fought every limb from the bucket. I would muscle through stuff that was clearly out of reach, trying to get that perfect cut. Then about three years ago a guy named Pete up in Portland showed me how to rig a throw line. He had me set a rope in the canopy on the first toss. Now I just send the rope up, tie a running bowline, and pull the branch down from the ground with a pulley. Saves me at least 20 minutes per tree and my shoulders don't scream at me the next day. Has anyone else ditched the bucket for a throw line on smaller jobs or am I just lazy?
Wait, Pete in Portland? I was born and raised in Southeast Portland, worked tree jobs off Powell for five years. You don't mean Pete Morrison do you? Short guy, always wore a faded Carhartt vest, had a Border Collie named Bean that followed him everywhere? That man could put a throw line into a 80 foot Doug fir from 40 feet away blindfolded. I watched him one time set three lines in under two minutes while drinking coffee. If that's your Pete, you got trained by a legend.
Three lines in under two minutes while drinking coffee"... yeah that sounds exactly right. Man I'm sorry for your loss too, sounds like the whole tree world lost someone special.