I am a native to San Jose California, born here in 1953. I have seen all the changes of this once fruit producing valley and am sorry to see so much development. People talk about looking out over this valley and seeing blankets of blossoms in the springtime. I remember lots of orchards, lots of trees in bloom, and a different way of life. Now it seems the only apples that grow around here anymore are computers. But as everything evolves, so do I. Being an avid computer user and "techno junkie", I have learned ways to incorporate my addictions into my business.

Getting back to my roots and where I began my obsession for trees, I would have to say that it started out climbing trees as a child. We always had a tree fort where ever we lived. My father owned a ranch in Morgan Hill in the sixties and I grew up driving a tractor and picking plums. He used to give us (my brother Brian and I) five cents a bucket for all the plums we picked. The good thing about this was that we had to sort them and the small ones we could keep. So Brian and I would bag them up and sell them to the neighbors in San Jose. Thus was the start of my business with trees. Christmas came around and Brian and I sold Mistletoe door to door or at the local market. I worked this scam well until I was too old and not so cute--, so I sent in my little brother. (First employee at age ten) So even at an early age, I was learning how to make my living from the trees.

When I became a teenager, I took up rock climbing. That became an obsession to me. In high school, I took metalshop so I could make my own climbing gear. I was climbing El Capitain in Yosemite as a senior. After I graduated, I moved up to Yosemite and lived there for most of a year. I lived in a tent and studied photography and climbing almost every day. Life was good. Working sometimes for the park service allowed me to stay for free on standby. Working an occasional rescue or search gave me some spending money. I was in the best shape of my life and came to a turning point when I asked myself, "What am I going to do for a living?" I needed the workout and I needed to be outdoors, so I evolved into a treeworker back in San Jose. I was fortunate to have some "old school" mentors who took me under their wings. What they saw in me was a gutsy young kid who would do anything. What I saw in them was a way to an education that I needed badly in order to survive in the business world. Saratoga Tree Service was founded in 1973 and I am proud to say that this is my 31st year in business.

This year I am turning fifty-one, which is a time of great anxiety for many of us middle agers. I am proud to say that working outdoors has kept me in great shape (for an old man), and has given me a life full of adventures. I get to meet new people everyday and work in new locations. The business has been good to me and my family. I have seven children that are the pride of my life and my greatest achievement. I now live up in the Santa Cruz mountains (above Saratoga) on twenty acres of trees and I love it up here in God's country. My wife Gina and I count our blessings daily.

I would encourage any young person who is considering a career choice to think about choosing a lifestyle based on doing what you love. I still love working with trees and expect I will continue to my final days. Retiring does not interest me and I fully expect to be a ninty year old tree climber some day. So, if I look at it from that perspective, I've got another forty years of exciting work to do!

I have plenty of other interests including rock climbing, photography woodworking, and computer graphics. I don't think I will ever get rock climbing out of my system and that is a sport that is hard to explain.