Tree trimmers ascend to new heights

Every day I see people at jobs I couldn't or wouldn't want to do. I admire them.

That thought crossed my mind after tree trimmer Jose Martinez came over to prune the palm trees.

Once I did that job, but then the trees began reaching far into the sky while I still hovered at under 5-foot-10.

Jose straps himself to the tree trunk and shimmies dozens of feet up to the top, where he wields a chain saw that churns through limbs like a hot knife through soft butter.

In his shoes, some of us would be so winded by the climb, or so worried about falling or cutting ourselves in the balancing act, we'd let the saw fall to the ground and call it a day.

Lots of tree trimmers ascend to Jose's heights. Far more of us wouldn't go so high unless we were in an elevator.