This morning, whilst checking out my local mountain bike trails, two notable things happened:
- I almost ran over a snake.
- An enormous tree broke and landed next to my car.
With almost comic precision, the tree laid directly across my exit, it’s length being more/less the exact width of the path. At first I was confused; it’s not something I’d expect to see after returning from a couple hours riding my bike, that’s reserved for something like a smashed car window and stolen sunglasses. I marvelled at the scene for a minute or so until the reality sunk in, then I sprung into action to check my car for damage (and busted out my camera).
I cannot understate how lucky I was:
- The falling tree did not land on my car, but right next to it.
- The falling tree did not damage my car despite branches, twigs, and bark being strewn all over the place.
- A couple blokes in a truck drove by.
After assessing the (zero) damage to my car, I began systematically removing branches from the massive tree limb and throwing them aside. I thought that if I could remove as much weight as possible from the main limb, I’d be able — with considerable effort — to drag the tree out of my way. I’m happy to report that only a few minutes in to my task a United Energy truck drove by. And slowly enough that I was able to flag it down. I asked one question:
Do you, by any chance, have a chainsaw?
Long story short, the two blokes and I had the barricade cleared in 10 minutes. In hindsight I chuckle at the notion of moving the tree myself; it took two of us just to carry the larger chainsawn-off chunks of tree trunk. I thanked them, shook their hands, and wished them a good weekend.
The moral of the story?
I gotta get me a chainsaw…
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Oh yeah, I also didn’t get bitten by one of these fellas. So that’s good.
