Monday, July 31, 2006
Sometimes you climb, sometimes you fall
Overall, a very nice weekend. Friday morning I relaxed with a cup of coffee and watched TV for a while (and morning television sucks, OK? Yuck!). Around 10:30 I drove over to the park for our company picnic. Checked in, got seen by the right people, and wandered over to the batting cages. Sixteen tokens later (at sixteen balls per token), I was getting a blister on my thumb and decided to give it a rest. That's right, quick math person, I took a swing at 256 balls. I'm not claiming I hit them all, but I did swing the bat 256 times.
Laura and I hit the rode around noon and I was in the pool by 4. Finished another book. Friday night we had dinner out, watched the sun set, and relaxed in the hot tub (Our neighbors [Laura's parents] have one now).
Saturday was more of the same. A long relaxing day.
Sunday my father-in-law and I had to cut some branches off two trees. The top half of one tree broke off and was resting horizontally on a branch of the nearby tree. A 20-foot long, 500+ lbs. piece of wood hanging 20 feet in the air is a health hazard you don't need over you (literally). So we got the extension ladder, some rope, and a chainsaw, and went to work. We tied to the ladder to the tree in two places so when the top half of the tree came down, it wouldn't take the ladder with it. I volunteered to cut the other limb, so up I climbed 20 feet with a running chainsaw in my right hand.
The maneuver was flawless: Made a slow cut on the branch holding the tree, Crack, crack, crack, and down it came: 500+ pounds dropping straight down 20 feet. BOOM! I turned off the chainsaw and came down the ladder. The tree trunk was still caught on a branch on the other tree, so it was now leaning at about a 45 degree angle. No problem, I figured. I'd scamper up the log and the top part would give way and fall, right?
Except I was wearing old soccer shoes with soles that were so worn that they had no tread. I made it about half way and slipped, my left foot shooting out. My right leg scraped against the trunk from my thigh to my ankle, and I fell five feet onto my back. Onto a tree branch, actually. Luckily the branch was at an angle, so I only scraped and bruised the left side of my lower back. If the branch had been perpendicular, and I had come down with my spine crisscrossing it... [shudder].
But it all worked out, and I didn't paralyze myself, so that's good.
Laura and I hit the rode around noon and I was in the pool by 4. Finished another book. Friday night we had dinner out, watched the sun set, and relaxed in the hot tub (Our neighbors [Laura's parents] have one now).
Saturday was more of the same. A long relaxing day.
Sunday my father-in-law and I had to cut some branches off two trees. The top half of one tree broke off and was resting horizontally on a branch of the nearby tree. A 20-foot long, 500+ lbs. piece of wood hanging 20 feet in the air is a health hazard you don't need over you (literally). So we got the extension ladder, some rope, and a chainsaw, and went to work. We tied to the ladder to the tree in two places so when the top half of the tree came down, it wouldn't take the ladder with it. I volunteered to cut the other limb, so up I climbed 20 feet with a running chainsaw in my right hand.
The maneuver was flawless: Made a slow cut on the branch holding the tree, Crack, crack, crack, and down it came: 500+ pounds dropping straight down 20 feet. BOOM! I turned off the chainsaw and came down the ladder. The tree trunk was still caught on a branch on the other tree, so it was now leaning at about a 45 degree angle. No problem, I figured. I'd scamper up the log and the top part would give way and fall, right?
Except I was wearing old soccer shoes with soles that were so worn that they had no tread. I made it about half way and slipped, my left foot shooting out. My right leg scraped against the trunk from my thigh to my ankle, and I fell five feet onto my back. Onto a tree branch, actually. Luckily the branch was at an angle, so I only scraped and bruised the left side of my lower back. If the branch had been perpendicular, and I had come down with my spine crisscrossing it... [shudder].
But it all worked out, and I didn't paralyze myself, so that's good.
Sunday night soak in a tub of hot water back home worked the soreness out, and I'm mostly bruises and scrapes, with not many actual cuts. Looks bad, but didn't bleed much.
So, yay, I guess.
# posted by smacky @ 8:52 AM 
