TRIMMING TREES A LOFTY ENDEAVOR

Joe Don Randol works as a security guard when not perched high in trees, trimming branches with a chain saw. (Photo by Jim Obert)

"Every tree has its own personality, and not any two trees are alike," said Joe Don Randol, who has intimate knowledge of trees -- he spends a lot of time in them, trimming branches.

Randol, a tree trimmer, is also a security guard. When he isn't operating the security gate at M & W Packaging on Highway 177 north of Cape Girardeau, he can often be spotted high in a tree, clinging to its trunk, immersed in branches and clutching a chain saw.

He didn't wake up one day and say to himself: "Hey, I think I'll go into the tree trimming business." It just happened.

"I was trimming my own tree about 15 years ago and a neighbor saw me and asked me to trim his tree," recalled Randol, who lives south of Jackson. "Then other neighbors asked me to trim theirs. And one thing kind of led to another."

As a youth growing up on a farm, Randol, 53, spent plenty of time shinnying up trees. He liked the view from above and the way trees swayed in a brisk breeze. He still does. But he also has a certain fear of heights.

"When you stop having some amount of fear, I think that's when you're going to get hurt ... fear kind of keeps you in line," he said.

When Randol started trimming trees for profit his equipment was rather primitive. His shoes had no spikes, he used a bow saw, and his safety belt was home-made:

"I braided myself a safety belt," he said, chuckling at the memory. "I went to a horse trader west of Jackson and got some D-rings from a saddle and with twine braided me a wide belt.

"I was raised on a farm so I knew to attach it around me with a saddle knot. I used that thing for years. And in the Navy I learned how to make different knots."

Some years ago Randol learned a tree service company was going out of business. He went to the sale and bought a "regular" safety belt, and a pair of "climbers" -- sturdy work boots studded with spikes.

"Before I got the climbers I'd sometimes take a fishing pole and cast a rope over the first limb and pull myself up," Randol said.

Although Randol's tree-trimming equipment is more modern, it's still simple: a Poulan 14-inch chain saw, safety belt and rope, climbers, hard hat, two-wheel trailer and a pickup truck.

Of the hard hat, Randol says it's the only kind of hat "you can keep on your head in a tree. Any other kind the limbs catch it and flip it off. With a hard hat the limbs will slide around it. And it saves you a lot of bumps on the head."

Randol trims trees to improve appearance and to prevent dead or dying limbs from falling on structures and causing damage.

It's not unusual for him to work 25 to 30 feet off the ground. The highest he's been in a tree is about 100 feet. That was in an ancient oak at the Baptist Church in Oak Ridge.

Randol has never been seriously injured on the job, but once an errant branch knocked him off his perch -- he dangled 30 feet off the ground, his safety rope kept him from a sudden descent. His leg was bruised.

"At one time I worked by myself," he said. "Now I always make sure someone else is there. Like I tell my wife, if you climb trees long enough you're going to fall. So you need that safety line."

Randol says a good tree trimmer can drop a limb just about where he wants it to land, but if it lands on its end it could "catapult in any direction, even jump 15 feet in the air." He says some limbs are springier than others. Often he'll use rope to tie a limb so after it's cut it can be lowered to the ground.

The best time to trim trees, says Randol, is in the fall or winter, but a softwood tree can be trimmed most any time.

The length of time it takes to give a tree a trim varies. He recently cut limbs in four elms in Jackson, and spent about an hour-and-a-half in each tree.

Weather plays a factor in trimming trees -- rain and strong winds hamper success and jeopardize safety.

Randol was in a tree last Saturday. But after an hour of fighting strong winds, he gave up the task, opting to return another time.

This weekend he's trimming a tree for his sister-in-law in St. Louis. He says there's plenty of requests for his services, but due to time constraints, he often turns down jobs.

His advice for people who want to trim their own trees is to beware of ladders. He says limbs can fall against the ladder and knock it from under one's feet.

"If you trim a tree safely, it's safer than driving to work," he said.