October 07, 2010
He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay
This is the tree that needed to come down. It looks like Dr. Seuss' back yard because Husband already cut all the dead branches off, as high as he could reach. On a ladder with a hand saw. I was in the kitchen with the window open and the phone nearby, listening for The Accident.
Cousin Ramone came over to help Husband, despite my aunt's certainty that someone was going to lose a limb!!! Isn't it cute how he's wearing plaid? That's Ramone holding the ladder for Husband, who is tying a big rope to the top of the tree.
We gave Ramone the honor of making the first cut. And uttering the first profanity.
"This blade is dull as shit." So he exchanged his gas-powered saw for Dad's electric saw, which was nice because it wasn't as loud. At 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday.
I told Husband to be the one holding the rope that steered the tree to its final resting place. If someone was going to hit the house or take out a telephone wire, I thought it should be the homeowner. Nothing ruins Thanksgiving dinner like a lawsuit!
This is an action-shot of the tree actually falling.
Taking a photo of falling trees is not only difficult to time, it's also kinda stupid.
The tree and its trunk, parted for all of eternity.
All the crap behind our shed is now entirely too visible. Note to self: add this to Husband's To Do list.
"The chain is loose, but I don't really know what I'm doing here. Any ideas?"
Surprisingly, this did not end with a trip to the Emergency Room, although I will admit that I did get the small cooler down from the shelf in the garage, just in case we needed to keep an appendage on ice during the ambulance ride.
Now for the fun part -- dragging all the branches to the curb. Luckily, I had made an amazing coffee cake, so I was excused from manual labor.
This is the treasure that was found buried in the debris under the tree. Can't imagine how old it is. Is it just me, or is Spiderman's thigh almost... disconcertingly muscular?
Comments
what, no bonfire?
Posted by: Stac at October 8, 2010 06:02 PM
We live a stone's throw from Chicago. If we started a bonfire, someone would assume it was a car fire started by a gang and call the po-po.
Posted by: Wenchie at October 9, 2010 09:26 AM
i laughed out loud at the lady with her eyes blacked out to protect her identity. i'm sure you wanted to protect her id but that's just funny.
Posted by: Daddy Escape at October 11, 2010 08:54 AM