Okay, I hope you see the humor in this story.
I am just a little old lady in little old lady health, slower reaction times, running isn't an option for farther than maybe ten steps, but I keep trying. My brother is two years younger and pretty much the same. We are each other's BFFs and gladly help each other whenever a little more, and I mean little, muscle is needed. We live about five miles from each other in the Rocky Mountains, very rural, very rugged.
He had some dead trees that needed to come down, one was a big tree about eight feet from his house. Trunk about ten inches diameter, about 40 feet tall, leaning towards the house, of course. He attached ropes and pullies and such, really quite impressive, and while he chain sawed the trunk I was to pull on the ropes to keep the tree from falling the wrong way and taking out the roof we had replaced last year.
Now, friends, this project has been on his to do list for months and every time we talked about it, I adamently begged him to call me to help, not to try it alone!! He can be stubborn at times. Yesterday, he stopped by and told me he would be all roped and ready today and would my rope fit in his pully (no), and that he would call me today when he was ready. We admitted we were both scared and would have to psych ourselves up overnight.
This morning, he called. I went over, looked at what he had done with the ropes, told him I didn't see anything obviously wrong, talked over the plan, decided which would be the best path to escape if it fell the wrong way. Lots of big rocks, other trees, very rugged ground. And I was to yell when it looked ready to fall, he would drop the saw and grab the other ropes and we would pull together and don't wrap the rope around your hands! He grabbed his chain saw, I grabbed the ropes. Do you see this picture?
So this whole time, I am thinking, "oh wow! Maybe I won't have to kill myself! Maybe I will die by Tree Falling!" I guess SI kicked in because I did tell him my phone location to call 911 should anything happen.
Well, he sawed and I pulled and when the time came, I shouted, "STOP!" But he didn't hear me. "Stop Stop Stop!!" While I pulled with all my might! He finally stopped, grabbed his ropes, and we both pulled and down it was coming, slowly at first, and he yelled RUN! Which I did, or at least what I would call running. And WHUMP! That tree hit the ground! Right where he wanted it to go. We stood there, looked at each other, and I said, "I don't know about you, but I need a cigarette, and damn, shoulda brought a bottle of whiskey, too." High Five, Bro!
Then we proceeded to cut down five more, smaller and away from the house so no big deal, no ropes, just "Push it that way".
I picture what we must have looked like, two oldsters out there. I am still laughing.
Btw, anybody need any firewood??
I am just a little old lady in little old lady health, slower reaction times, running isn't an option for farther than maybe ten steps, but I keep trying. My brother is two years younger and pretty much the same. We are each other's BFFs and gladly help each other whenever a little more, and I mean little, muscle is needed. We live about five miles from each other in the Rocky Mountains, very rural, very rugged.
He had some dead trees that needed to come down, one was a big tree about eight feet from his house. Trunk about ten inches diameter, about 40 feet tall, leaning towards the house, of course. He attached ropes and pullies and such, really quite impressive, and while he chain sawed the trunk I was to pull on the ropes to keep the tree from falling the wrong way and taking out the roof we had replaced last year.
Now, friends, this project has been on his to do list for months and every time we talked about it, I adamently begged him to call me to help, not to try it alone!! He can be stubborn at times. Yesterday, he stopped by and told me he would be all roped and ready today and would my rope fit in his pully (no), and that he would call me today when he was ready. We admitted we were both scared and would have to psych ourselves up overnight.
This morning, he called. I went over, looked at what he had done with the ropes, told him I didn't see anything obviously wrong, talked over the plan, decided which would be the best path to escape if it fell the wrong way. Lots of big rocks, other trees, very rugged ground. And I was to yell when it looked ready to fall, he would drop the saw and grab the other ropes and we would pull together and don't wrap the rope around your hands! He grabbed his chain saw, I grabbed the ropes. Do you see this picture?
So this whole time, I am thinking, "oh wow! Maybe I won't have to kill myself! Maybe I will die by Tree Falling!" I guess SI kicked in because I did tell him my phone location to call 911 should anything happen.
Well, he sawed and I pulled and when the time came, I shouted, "STOP!" But he didn't hear me. "Stop Stop Stop!!" While I pulled with all my might! He finally stopped, grabbed his ropes, and we both pulled and down it was coming, slowly at first, and he yelled RUN! Which I did, or at least what I would call running. And WHUMP! That tree hit the ground! Right where he wanted it to go. We stood there, looked at each other, and I said, "I don't know about you, but I need a cigarette, and damn, shoulda brought a bottle of whiskey, too." High Five, Bro!
Then we proceeded to cut down five more, smaller and away from the house so no big deal, no ropes, just "Push it that way".
I picture what we must have looked like, two oldsters out there. I am still laughing.
Btw, anybody need any firewood??
