happychappyhouse

Last Friday we heard a thunderous thunderclap. And saw a bright, flashy flash of light.  It was really scary. It probably would have been less scary had we not been watching Paranorman at the time. On Saturday we found two large limbs in the yard. Those are underlined in red. Nothing looked like it had played victim to a lightning strike, so that was all probably unrelated. After John got home from work on Monday he took Isabel outside for some fresh air. I watched them from the kitchen window while doing something kitchenly. We all heard some rustling creaky, crackly noises. The dogs ran into the yard and started barking up at one of the trees. And then two super-big branches fell to the ground. By some miracle they landed between our two dogs and not on top of them. (Thank goodness John and Isabel hadn’t stepped into the yard yet.) The basic reaction of the humans was “WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!!!!” The dogs just stood there, bewildered for a moment, before running toward the house. And about a full minute later, Halifax came running up to us from out of nowhere much faster than a cat of his proportions should be able to run, obviously terribly shaken. I realize the branches might not look so big in this photo, but they ARE. I won’t be able to move them to our lawn debris pile on the side of the  road. We will need to cut them up first.

I was trying to pull down a tree. It was a half-dead oak leaning slightly. I began the ascent. It bent more. I kept going. I was about twenty feet up now and had both feet and both arms around, upside down. A few more feet of leverage and my weight should be enough to ride it safely to the ground where the roots could be chopped with an axe. I courageously shimmied an extra foot up, then another. The boulders underneath me like a safety net in the circus of life. Then. It happened, the sound of destiny chirped in my ear like a nightingale on a moonlit riviera. A snap occurred. Three seconds later or an eternity I flailed through the air. Somehow landing feet first. Then felt bone on bone in right knee, slightly saw black, and didn’t even remember the tree landing on me. Right away I knew. “Call an ambulance,” I moaned with the last scintilla of mortal strength.

Sharing this just seemed appropriate, not only because I’m working on a post about an oak tree of our own, but to give you an idea of a man I lived with for a long time during my formative years.