Historic Camp Cookware

When my Dad turned 50 in 1968 my two youngest siblings would say to whomever would listen: "My Dad is an antique."  Now that I am a dozen years past 50, I am glad my kids did not say that about me.  My spouse turned 50 over a year before me, and if they had used it on her it would have been, well, old by the time it got to me.  This phrase came back to me today with something my wife discovered.  On her Facebook page was a post by the Wisconsin State Historical Society that showed a display of camp cookware--the same type of camp cookware set that her family used when she camped as a child.  Not only that, when we started camping the set was passed down to us, and it is, with a few missing pieces, the set we still use when we camp today.  Part of the adventure of camping is the food. While our camp accommodations changed from tent to camper last year, we still cook pretty much the same as we did 26 years ago, and in some respects probably similar to the way her mom cooked on their family camping trips.  That is outdoors using the fire, or the camp stove.

Mirro Aluminum Camp Cookware Set
Wisconsin State Historical Society

This late 1960's vintage camp cookware set obviously dates sufficiently back in time to be an antique, after all it is now part of the collection at the Wisconsin State Historical Society.  I guess that makes my wife (and me), who is older than the cook set, also an antique.  While we try to do many of our evening meals on the camp fire, we still use the cookware set a great deal. The plates are used for pretty much every meal, but oatmeal, and lunch when we have sandwiches.  We heat water for tea and oatmeal in the coffee pot, cook eggs and bacon in the fry pan.  With the two of us, the large fry pan is now often used to hold items we have already cooked over the fire, on a grill or in foil packets.  The provided coffee cup handles have broken over time, and one pot cover is missing, but other than those items, the set is in tact.  Who would have thought this set would make history? 

Part of WI Historical Society Facebook Post on Mirro Aluminum Camp Cookware
For a second I thought the two in the photo were Jerry and Shirley Goff

Funny, until my wife mentioned the Wisconsin State Historical Society post it never before occurred to me that the set was specifically made for camping. I thought it was a nice set of pots and pans repurposed for camping with plastic plates and cups being added. It is quite a handy set, and fairly lightweight. The set occupies just under a quarter of our kitchen box, which too was a hand-me down from her parents. With just the two of us, the cabinet food box can handle most all of our non-perishable food needs for a near four or five day long camping trip.  When you think about the then young baby boomer children and the parents going camping back in the day (1960's and 70's), it was probably a good seller.  One person commented that every boy scout troop used the same cookware, and it could well stand their use.  I think the stuff we used when I was a boy scout was probably older than this set.  My troop (64) was small and did not have the resources of troop 43. Maybe we used the 43 hand me downs when they got the Mirro set. Selling a cookware set like that made sense to meet a demographic demand.  Today the rage is not only cookware that can nest, like this set, but have some items that can also collapse. Light weight and less space is a good thing when car camping, and even better when backpacking.  

Our Camp Cookware Set, July 2020

When we camped with the kids, the cookware set received a great deal of use as we made many meals with that cook set. Many more eggs were made for a large morning breakfast, testing Land Girl's (ie, the Wife) ability to scramble the eggs within the fry pan. She would cook pancakes in the fry pan too, and we would often eat in stages based on when the pancakes were done.  It is not like a griddle on which one can do several pancakes and all could eat at once. My wife would cook pasta in the large pot on our Coleman stove, it took a while to get the water heated. I am not sure if in between her almost death producing stunts camping as a young girl, my wife would help her mom do the cooking or not. Let me just say that when our oldest down fell down 18 foot falls in Marinette County (which had my wife's heart racing when it took what seemed like five minutes for him to surface) he was probably imitating my wife who fell head first as a toddler in the baby pool, and about a decade later fell in the water at the Dells of the Eau Claire in Marathon County.  

Wife's Comment on WI Historical Society Facebook Page

This is the same woman who scuba dived at a younger age.  When we were at Council Grounds this year, I suggested that we should canoe the Wisconsin River in segments.  Her response: "I am a Land Girl, not a Water Girl." She assisted a great deal with younger cousins and siblings when she camped with her family. I guess having a person who was prone to near disaster in water adventures was not a deterrent to baby sitting. 

Land Girl using cook stove and vintage Mirro Cookware
Sept 2019

Part of camping is you never know what will occur.  There have been times we had issues with our Coleman Stove, but we trudged through. Coleman stoves are more a staple of camping than the Mirro Aluminum cookware, and are just as iconic for campers as the campfire. We still use a 25 year old white gas Coleman Stove.  The newer ones, we are told, are made overseas and their durability, functioning, and reliability are not as good as the older models, such as we have, when they were made in the USA. Their design is lighter and more modern looking.  We bought a second, older Coleman Stove at a garage sale to have as a backup which our son now uses.  Newer is not always better.  So, perhaps with the cookware.

Cooking on Coleman Stove, using our Food box
Sept 2019

History is comprised of more than just large or iconic events, or buildings.  It is made up of the every day decisions and items that  we all make.  For example, the 1930 US census asked the question of whether or not the household had a radio.  The radio, is probably in decline due to the internet, but for a few generations it was a major source of information.  The Mirro Aluminum camp set may not have been on any ones radar about its importance, but to Manitowoc, and the many campers that used or use it, it helps cook the camp food, but more important camp memories.  Although camp memories with the Land Girl often are more related to water.  I think of 2018 when white water rafting, and she found a wave knock her on to my lap. Or, the six plus inches of rain on our first major camp trip at Pattison in the mid 1990's. The camp cookware set is part of my wife's family history and that of our family. Just when I think I may not have much material for a post, the Land Girl comes through once again.  As my antique-aged Land Girl and I go on our next camping adventure, this cookware set will likely have a little bit more meaning for us.  After all, it is not everyday an item we have and still use makes state history.

Tomato Surprise

Every year I plant about 40 tomato plants.  My spouse, the Land Girl, cans tomatoes, makes tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, and other things with the crop of tomatoes. Much to my surprise, about one half of the tomato plants in my garden are not my standard Mariana Hybrid, but our small, cherry like tomatoes called Sun-Golds. 

Add caption

My wife was given some Sun-Gold tomatoes a few years ago and she really liked them, and the person gave her a couple seed packs.  For the past few years I planted a few, perhaps two to four Sun-Gold plants to have to eat among the many we grow for canning.  I am not sure what happened in order to get half of my crop this year as Sun-Golds.  My wife blames in on my marking system when I start my plants.  I think I either used the wrong pack, picking Sun-Gold over Mariana, or that even Jung Seeds had the wrong seeds in the marked pack. It could not be my marking system, since I thought I only planted four Sun-Gold plants, and marked them with their own letters.

Mariana Hybrid on vine

My marking system involves numbering or lettering on cut up pieces of yogurt containers to fit in each four or six pack of plants.  I may have six to eight six packs of Mariana Hybrid and each pack gets its own marker, using a different letter or number.  I then mark this by day planted in my gardening journal.  Land Girl says each type of plant should be marked with the same letter.  But, my plants may vary by year.  For example I used to grow 3 six packs of broccoli, but because it always seems to be ready at the same time, I have cut that down to about six or maybe nine plants (a pack or pack and a half).  The only thing that has not much varied is the number of tomatoes I plant, although that has been cut back over the years, too.  Of course, this year with the mismarked pack of seeds, we may lack sufficient quantities to can what we need.  Sun-Golds would be difficult to can, due to their small size, so they are really an eating tomato.  I don't tomatoes unless processed as sauce, or salsa, etc.  Thus, it is hard for me to think I would have planted 18 or more Sun-Gold plants.  Because I did not think they were Sun-Golds, I would not have had them marked as such.  The problem with the Sun-Gold is that the plants are indeterminate and they go everywhere, long legs of branches hanging over the other tomato plants.

Sun Gold

Overall, but for the issue of too many Sun-Gold tomatoes, and the issue of rabbits eating my broccoli and kale plants before I got the fence up (although I had a row cover on the plants) my home garden has been successful.  My garden at Sun Prairie is another story with something, rabbits, woodchucks, or whatever, eating the beans, and Brussel Sprouts to nothing but nibs.  The few tomato plants and the eggplant seem to be doing fairly well at that garden.  

I had to put up netting to keep the deer from grazing 
on the tomato plants

Our gardens bountiful harvest, from last fall, has extended to this summer, as on Friday night we had a dinner made with spaghetti squash, tomato sauce canned last year, and peppers fried from last year as well.  It contained fresh basil and garlic harvested earlier this week.  Only two ingredients were from outside the household--the sausage and the cheese.  Perhaps I need to purchase a cow so my Land Girl can make homemade cheese, and raise a pig for her to butcher for pork sausage. The pig raising and milking may be new to her, but the Land Girl is a willing learner. Raising animals will take her back to her early teen years.

Sun-Gold Overload

As for learning, I either have to pay more attention to the seeds I plant or perhaps find another supplier.  And when it comes to marking plants next February to April, as I start them, time will tell if I continue with my old method, or change up and do what the wife has suggested.  As for this year, I will have a load of Sun-Gold tomatoes.  My wife, who likes Sun-Golds, may have her skin may turn the color of her hair.  Whatever I do, I do not wish to have another tomato surprise next year.

Sun-Gold Are Ripening 

Water, Water Everywhere

"Water, water everywhere...."  So begins one of the lines in the Samuel Taylor Coleridge work, "The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner."  I often think of this line, and its following portion "nor any drop to drink" when we camp.  For you see, when we are camping we are, literally, the rainmakers.  The Coleridge line well fits the predicaments of water in which we often find ourselves.  When we had dry years while I was working, and the city was instituting an odd--even watering calendar (some people love to water their lawns), I noted they could send us camping and the rain would likely materialize.  The problem was we like to camp in northern Wisconsin, generally well out of the Madison climate zone.  The forests are larger and the lakes are more clean in the north woods.

On part of the Lake Trail, June 2018

During the first full week of July this year my spouse and I took a camping trip to Laura Lake.  It is our favorite campground.  It was supposed to last Mon to Fri, but a sever storm came through Thursday and the forecast was rain pretty much all day so we came home Thursday. On Monday we had a storm come through right after we set up, which would be mid-afternoon and again in the evening from about 6 to 10 pm. Our first trip to Laura Lake was in 2002 and a few years ago we made three camping trips there in the span of about six weeks.  That year, 2017, I wrote about a similar topic, which you can find here.  Over the intervening few years, from 2017 to today, the water level has not dropped and is even, we believe, higher.  The lingering high water is lasting longer than I would have thought it would when we first came upon it back in 2017.  That bullfrog, back in 2017 belching from what earlier would be an ephemeral like pond created by the excessive rainfall, is now more like a regular water feature. Vegetation in and around this new pond pond area is struggling to survive.  The lingering affects of the high water levels is, however, also showing up in the trees, and other vegetation, particularly those that line Gordon Lake.

Gordon Lake, note some lake edge trees dying in background, July 2019

Given that the trees at lake edge have been hampered by lake water levels, I think it safe to say that the water is abnormally high, at least for the past few generations.  The high water level has, of course, emboldened the mosquito population.  I suspect the black flies are a common problem in the north woods, at least for the early part of the summer. One other thing affected is the path around Laura Lake, the path also goes between Laura and Gordon lakes.  Since we encountered the high water in 2017 the pedestrian path around the lake has become more challenging.  there are detours, and where there used to be no significant water crossings there are now two.  Some old trees across the water assist in the crossing, but they are not the length of the crossing, and every year higher water makes for more and more mud at each end of the tree trunks.  For part of its way the pedestrian trail is near the lake edge, and it traverses between Laura Lake and its many lake side campsites.

Looking to Laura Lake from campsite, July 2020

My wife did not wish to hike the trail this year due to the high water, but on a hot early afternoon Tuesday I set out on the 2.25 mile excursion.  I had two significant water crossings, one shortly after I started at the west end of the Campground, and the other a few hundred feet from a dirt road serving the Laura Lake boat landing.  Both were easily traversed by use of hiking poles to maintain balance on logs, and large steps, or jumps, to find less muddy areas so as to not sink.   I get more water on my hiking shoes during my walk in town after a rainstorm than I did on that hike. Mud on the bottoms of the shoes would be a different story.

Sun setting on Gordon Lake, 2019

Yet, it was a relatively fast hike, as I accomplished it in about 50 minutes.  I did not realize how my heart rate was up until I got home and noticed I had 59 minutes of cardio that day, with most all the time corresponding to my hike around the lake.  It is not like I set out to do a strenuous pace, but I forgot to put bug spray on before starting, although I had some in my day pack with my water bottle, and realized that the mosquitoes were too bad to stop to even put on bug spray.  They did get sufficiently bad, that when I came across a small area of sun I stopped to put on the spray, with about 20 minutes left in the hike.  The mosquitoes were all over my legs as I sprayed first my arms, did my face and then my legs.  I am not sure how much it helped the rest of the way because I continued to move fast.  When I got to the Laura Lake boat landing, I texted my wife, yes I had my phone with me in case I ran into trouble (as if someone would be able to assist), at 1:37 to let her know I was at the boat landing which she would then know the most difficult parts were over and the remaining part we had done together.  The rest of the way would be back to our far campsite via a trail predominantly along the lake edge, except for a few detours due to high water.  The moral of the story is that if you want to get a good cardio workout find a trail with a lot of mosquitoes.

Google map photo of Gordon and Laura Lakes

Beyond the mosquitoes I am sure there are other effects on other wildlife of high lake levels. We did not see much in the way of wildlife this year, other than a couple loons.  In the past, beyond loons, we have seen otters, eagles, ducks, and some amphibians.  I did see some small fish in the water while swimming.  I am just glad I was not attacked by an otter.  A very good friend of my oldest son was swimming at a lake in a national park in California recently and was attacked by a river otter.  He is a very good swimmer and made it to shore, albeit with injuries that required significant stitching and staples, not to mention shots for rabies.  Unbeknownst to him, he was near the offspring of the otter who attacked him.  The news reports, doing what they like to do for sensationalism, made it seem he purposely did that, but I know the young man, I have been on canoe trips and hikes with him, and he would not knowingly do such a thing.

Gordon Lake looking west.  Notice green on trees
Photo July 2004

What is occurring is that climate has affected water levels.  It was but eight years ago and people were complaining about the historic lows of Lake Michigan, and now the lake is at or near its historic high levels.  Docks are underwater, and buildings are close to the water and in some areas houses have fallen in to the lake as the shore eroded.  Water is powerful, it has cut mountains down to monadnocks, and then to hills, and then to plains, it has formed V and U shaped valleys (U shape created by glacial melt water).  Every time man  tries to tame water, by use of rip rap or sea walls, the water can lead to problems elsewhere.  There is never any good answer.

Distant view of Gordon Lake west shore, July 2020

The beach at Gordon Lake saw a number of locals, and some who have been in the area for thirty years never knew of the beach.  Yet they came because the beach at Lake Hilbert, where they used to go, is underwater, as is part of the parking lot. The Gordon Lake beach has attracted a whole new set of clientele.  Given that I do not recall hearing about the high lake levels at Lake Hilbert last year, it is probably in keeping with our theory that the water has gotten higher around Laura and Gordon.

Closer shot of dead trees on Gordon Lake West Shore
July 2020

As the trees on the west shore of Gordon Lake die due to high water at some point they will fall in the lake perhaps creating more fish habitat.  It is but one parcel in the overall effects of climate on the natural environment.  Nature is adaptable, the questions are how adaptable can it be and for how long?  One thing is for sure, water, water is everywhere, and it does not seem as if Laura and Gordon will be seeing its old normal levels anytime soon.  

On the Bottom of Lake Poygan

On the bottom of Lake Poygan laying in mud are a pair of my eyeglasses lost forever in its murky water.  I am quite dependent upon eyeglasses, as without glasses, well let me say my eye doctor will not tell me what my vision is without glasses. The eyeglasses were lost while tubing, and when I made a, in hind sight, stupid decision to get the tube on edge. My wife said there better be a blog about this incident, and because I always obey her, here is the blog. (I can already hear her reaction and comments on the penultimate statement of this paragraph.)

Indian Paint Brush, Council Grounds State Park July 1

The incident of the lost glasses occurred on July 3, 2020 while at a small, socially distanced, gathering of family members to celebrate the 4th of July.  What is interesting is that I had my trusty glass strap on, which placed the glasses tight my face.  I know realize that perhaps past experiences have given me an over abundance of confidence in the effectiveness of the glass strap since I have jumped into water, swan, did water slides and many other activities years ago at a water park, and the glass strap held the glasses in place.  Heck, they even held when we were rafting the Menominee River and were getting swamped  in Piers Gorge in 2018.  They even held when a wave in the rapids after Piers Gorge knocked my wife from her seat next to me, right into me.

Wildflower, Council Grounds, July 1

I should not have gone out of my comfort zone on the tube, as they were lost when I was trying to get further out of the boat wake and getting the tube on edge.  The tube got the better of me.  It happened so quick, I am not really sure what happened.  I recall objects looking blurry and realizing my glasses were full of water, but when I felt for them, I could not find them. Not that with my eyesight I would be able to see them.  Lost with the glasses is my glass strap which has seen me through many adventures.

Laura Lake Campsite, July 6-8

The thing is I have a glass strap that I bought to use in the boundary waters, and that is supposed to make the glasses float.  Well, I took my standard black strap along with the new strap on that trip, but decided on the old one, as I thought the one that floats could more easily come off the glasses. I mean, what good does a strap that will make the glasses float if the strap comes off the temple and ear piece?  When I did the boundary waters, I had just gotten a new pair of eyeglasses, but used my older pair while on the trip.  I also used my older pair for tubing, so at least part of me had some sense.

Laura Lake 

Due to my prescription, I need special plastic lenses, which are not cheap.  The problem with plastic is that they gradually de-laminate, and combined with scratches, that by four or five years into a pair, which I stretch another one or two years,  I am in need of a new pair.  Next year may be the year for a new pair.

Gordon Lake beach

I still have my set of glasses that were replaced by the set I lost, so when swimming this past week while camping, I tended to wear those glasses.  They would work for swimming, but not good enough for driving.  That is why I need to be careful with my current pair of glasses.  If they break or get lost, I am up a creek without a paddle. While swimming, I wore the strap that floats that I bought for use at the boundary waters.  I tried it, with it connected to the glasses while at the beach and it did allow the glasses to float.  The question is, would it have stayed on the glasses during my tube mishap?

View of Laura Lake from campsite

While camping this past week I got up early and was hooking up our portable solar panel to the RV.  I happened to notice, out of the side of my eye something not quite right with the left screw that holds the lens in place. I went to the picnic table and carefully took the glasses off (with the table cloth my idea was if the screw fell it would fall on the table cloth and I could probably find it, bad eye sight and all) and noticed that the screw was in the bottom part, but not the top part, and luckily the lens was still in place.  This is the second screw I have had on this set on the left side, while the right retains its original screw.  I take my glass repair kit camping, and so I went on a search to find if it was in our car, or in the RV.  It was in the RV, which meant I had to disturb my still trying to sleep spouse.  I then went to the screen tent and screwed it in.  It seem to hold, but the screw was striped since it kept turning. Being extra cautious, I went to my small repair kit and found some black electrical tape from which I cut a long narrow strip and wound around the headpiece so as to (attempt)hold both screw and and the two parts of the headpiece assembly in place.  My spouse, who has fingers more adept, and better eye sight, placed a second strip on.

Sunset over Laura Lake

The day we returned home, I went to an optician who put in a slightly larger screw.  In the past they have put in screws with a small nut and that has done the trick, but they no longer carry nuts to place on the screw.

Sun has set behind the trees on Laura Lake

I had a series of unfortunate events with my eyeglasses in the span of about four days. While coming back to shore on July 3, people on the boat were talking about other large boats they saw, and when I looked out I saw nothing but white blobs. When I got to shore I was able to retrieve my main pair of glasses and could once again see. While my next to newest pair of eyeglasses, which were still fairly old, lay on the bottom of Lake Poygan, my hope is that my current pair will last until they are rendered to water tubing service.

Piss Elm

It was many years ago, when I was probably a teenager, that my older brothers asked for my assistance in removing some Chinese elm trees, otherwise known as piss elms.  Google piss elm and you will find it is a commonly accepted name. The trees were located along a fence row of my grandfather's farm.  My duty was to haul the brush, while my older brothers cut down the trees probably using grandpas large old McColluch  chainsaw.  Describing that chainsaw as a monster would be like calling the dog Hercules in the movie "Sandlot" a shrimp.  I think they simply dropped the trees into the field and cut them up from there. Leaving me of course, to handle much of the brush. A couple weeks ago I had some tree work accomplished, and it made me think about how different cutting trees is today than decades ago.  It is even different compared to say about ten years ago.

89' Reach Arbor Machine

About ten, twelve or so years ago I had two of the same three trees trimmed that I had done this year.  Ten years ago, I used a different tree service and they had a man go up in the tree with harness and ropes.  You don't see that much anymore.  The first tree I recall seeing being taken down was an elm tree at the southwest corner of our backyard, and my Dad and older brothers using that McColluch chain saw took it down.  It was the first time I recall seeing that chain saw, and I was almost mesmerized by its size.  I was really young so I don't recall much of what they did, much less how they did it, but I do know a large tall stump was left for a long time.  How they got up the tree, if they did, I don't know.

A winch on this belt tightens ropes which are used to fell large branches

When elm trees, which used to grace the streets of the United States, were hit with Dutch Elm Disease, they seemingly went quick.  Today we have the Emerald Ash Borer, which hails from Asia and lacks any natural predators in the US.  Many of the elm trees on the street on which I grew up were taken down by Loney (Spelling?) and I recall, about 25 or so years ago, my neighbor used him and his boys to remove trees in his back yard.  I think Loney, who hailed from Cottage Grove, made good money due to elm removal.  He used fairly good sized International tractors to haul the wood, but used ropes to climb and dismantle trees over time.  Today the equipment is quite different.

I used Capital City Tree Experts for the tree work this year, the same company who treats my front yard Autumn Purple Ash.  They brought in a piece of equipment imported from Italy, so I was told,  and it has a bucket that can reach 89 feet in length (their longest reach piece of equipment). The surprising thing is that it can get it as narrow as three feet, in order to get into a rear yard by a fence gate.  This piece of equipment was purchased for ash tree removal, which is as big business today as elm removal was in the 1960's.  Maybe even bigger since ash was a common yard tree.  Yet, it was not the length that was impressive, but its low angle of repose.  Years ago, the municipality I worked for saw its Fire Department buy a very expensive ladder truck, and the ladder was never able to safely get to a low 30 degree angle.  I think it cost $500,000 for that lemon of a ladder truck. I recall telling a fire fighter that all of the improvements planned for the then new McKee Farms Community Park, could be built but for a swimming pool with that amount of money.  That comment was of course passed to the Fire Chief who asked me about it.  Anyway, back to my trees.  The man in the bucket worked his way among branches to trim and cut.  He also cut down a 25" plus silver maple in my yard.  That maple came from Arbor Day, and why they would give a gift of a tree with less quality than a piss elm, I don't know.  The other maple I obtained from them is quite nice.  On my walk in May, I saw the same company take down a large silver maple in a backyard, and it took them over one week to take it down and get all the wood out.  Longer than five working days. the guy who give me the quote said they took a beating on that estimate, and he was glad one of the owners did the quote for that household and not himself.  My thought was, I have to get that one silver maple out before it becomes a week long project, not to mention expense.  Trimming three trees, and taking down the silver maple, took from about 8 am to 3 pm, and cost a good chunk of money.

Besides the equipment, they had five men on the crew, and other than cutting the stump, they hauled wood, chipped and cleaned up, although two of them cut the stump down. To reduce cost, I kept about 12 large logs, about 10 feet long that I cut up for firewood, and two more even larger pieces for my son to use at his saw mill. With five men, there were, as my wife noted, some down time, but I did notice when needed they were needed.  Their chainsaws were Stihl, the main saw was a small one pretty much used by the man in the bucket and the large one was needed to cut one of the two main branches (in the bucket) and then cut up the trunk.  I suppose chain saws today are quite a bit lighter and more powerful than the monster McColluch saw my grandfather operated.

Watching them take down the silver maple, I realized tree removal is both an art and science.  They used ropes, winch and a pulley connected to part of branch to haul cut and lower down some branches, and how they figured out placement is beyond me.  Yet, he had to maneuver his bucket, which took  time, the bucket up down and around branches to trim or remove.  I marveled at how far back he knew to take the bucket without looking back as he maneuvered around the many branches.  I was also amazed at how far he knew to cut into a branch to have it stay in place and then to grab and finish the cut with the saw in the other arm and hand

Why all the equipment?  Well, times have changed, most things are now mechanized, and they have a piece of equipment between a bobcat and a garden tractor to haul brush and wood.  You see mechanization with garbage trucks.  No longer are men riding on the back to jump off, grab and 55 gallon  trash cans; no it is a refuse cart, with a garbage truck that has a grabber come out to grab, lift and empty and then set down the bin.  These guys hauled brush and logs with that hybrid machine, which can hold a piece up to 850 lbs. Not the piss elm brush pulling I did decades ago on my grandpa's farm to a brush pile.  Today they make a pile, and bring in that hybrid machine with claws that move almost every direction.  Workmen's comp and liability is a big player today, and for good reason, tree cutting is dangerous work.  My now deceased oldest brother Steve found this out several years ago.  An experienced tree cutter, he cut his own wood for heat, he had a tree unexpectedly get hung up and then it came back and swing into his face, knocking him out cold, a day or so before Christmas.  He laid unconscious for some time, with his jaw broken.  Not a pleasant surgery to have the jaw wired shut.  Capital City Tree understands the perils, too.

My wife posted a video of one branch coming down
and then swinging by the ropes and they then lower

Talking with the lead man on my job, who was in the bucket, he said he only takes down by chunking the tree down, not unlike how he did my maple. He said only a few employees of their company still do the tree fall method. It sounded as if even fewer still climbed trees. Perhaps felling a tree is becoming a lost art.  The tight environs of my backyard favored the chunking method of tree felling.  They have a sign on the large bucket and the small "tractor" that reads something to the effect of:  The best method is the safest method."  The days of Loney and many individual tree removals are going away due to safety and advances in equipment.  Although, I suppose in an open field condition, those piss elms today could easily be removed by felling, and not chunking. Provided of course, they don't get hung up in another tree.  But, it does cost.

I offered to move the red trellis' but they said they could
easily work around them, and they did