Peter Burman asked me to fall a dozen or so trees that needed to be removed from a large lot before construction could begin. What made this challenging was that most of them if not felled precisely could fall on a house or a power line. Even worse three large trees leaned the wrong way and needed a push if they were not to fall on something and do serious damage.
I had been working several hours that morning but was now waiting for the excavator to come to give the three trees a push so I could finish falling them. Rather then wait I decided that I could fall one of them on my own if I was careful. After placing the undercut I was now working on the back-cut, wedging the tree behind my cut as I went. I would cut a bit, then wedge a bit, check my cut, cut a bit, then wedge a bit, cut a bit more, then I cut a bit more, when suddenly, by not continually checking, I had cut the most critical supporting corner of the hinge off and the tree was now falling out of control sideways to the intended fall, and aiming right at Peter’s fifth wheel, where his wife Karen was standing.
When Karen saw the tree coming towards her, she took off and not any too soon as the tree came crashing down on their fifth wheel messing it up royally.
What made it even scarier was that I had been talking to Rose Rudolph, Karen’s mother, just moments before. If the tree had decided to go in that direction it could have hit Rose as well as the original farmhouse on the property.
I felt terrible about the accident and only charged Peter a hundred dollars for my days work because of my incompetence. It lessened my pain some as he did have insurance that replaced his fifth wheel, but no one feels happy to have to go through such an inconvenience, and I’m sure Peter felt the same.
It was a humbling experience and it taught me a lesson to not take pride in being the hotshot faller that I thought I was. It is good to eat as they say, “Humble pie”. Potential disaster and mayhem is not far from any of us and sometimes it takes a strong lesson to smarten us up. I shudder when I think of what could have happened and feel that the Good Lord went easy on me, as no one was hurt.
Remember angels are everywhere and intervene when we least expect it.
I had been working several hours that morning but was now waiting for the excavator to come to give the three trees a push so I could finish falling them. Rather then wait I decided that I could fall one of them on my own if I was careful. After placing the undercut I was now working on the back-cut, wedging the tree behind my cut as I went. I would cut a bit, then wedge a bit, check my cut, cut a bit, then wedge a bit, cut a bit more, then I cut a bit more, when suddenly, by not continually checking, I had cut the most critical supporting corner of the hinge off and the tree was now falling out of control sideways to the intended fall, and aiming right at Peter’s fifth wheel, where his wife Karen was standing.
When Karen saw the tree coming towards her, she took off and not any too soon as the tree came crashing down on their fifth wheel messing it up royally.
What made it even scarier was that I had been talking to Rose Rudolph, Karen’s mother, just moments before. If the tree had decided to go in that direction it could have hit Rose as well as the original farmhouse on the property.
I felt terrible about the accident and only charged Peter a hundred dollars for my days work because of my incompetence. It lessened my pain some as he did have insurance that replaced his fifth wheel, but no one feels happy to have to go through such an inconvenience, and I’m sure Peter felt the same.
It was a humbling experience and it taught me a lesson to not take pride in being the hotshot faller that I thought I was. It is good to eat as they say, “Humble pie”. Potential disaster and mayhem is not far from any of us and sometimes it takes a strong lesson to smarten us up. I shudder when I think of what could have happened and feel that the Good Lord went easy on me, as no one was hurt.
Remember angels are everywhere and intervene when we least expect it.
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