Newsletter Stories


12/4/02
"The Tree Trimming"

I decided to take last weekend off from riding to catch up on some real estate enhancement projects. Since this was big trash pickup week I decided to tackle some tree trimming that has needed to be done for a while. This is a pretty big tree that has started to grow over the roof of the house and rearrange the tile when the wind blows. Normally this wouldn't be too big of a problem but this is the type of tree that sends branches out a dozen different ways and then they all meet up in the middle to make a tree trimmers life a little more complicated. Solving this problem required getting up on the roof with the chain saw and precisely carving my way through this mess. On top of everything else, over the year it has shed some of its' foliage which made walking on the roof a bit of a challenge.

As an avid rider I seem to compare everything I am doing to riding a motorcycle. At times even day dreaming where I might be riding, especially on a beautiful Sunday afternoon while attending to domestic duties. Imagine this. I'm standing there all stretched out as if I'm doing an audition for Cirque De Soleil with one foot near the top of the roof, one foot on the tree, one hand hanging on to a limb and the other holding the chain saw roaring through a branch of the tree. There are two problems with this word picture. One, I was not auditioning for Cirque. Two, my mind was on my motorcycle cruising slowly South down Scottsdale Rd. in 4th gear, the sound of the thunderheader was echoing softly off of the boulders of Carefree, the sun was beating down on my face to take the chill away from the cool air and UH OH! My daydream had come to an end.

The chain saw made its way through the thick branch before my mind made it back from my leisurely ride through the boulders. As the saw sliced through the branch it severely changed the geometry of my strategically placed arms and legs for balance. My audition for Cirque was officially over. I was now a candidate for Funniest Home Videos. The sudden movement from the saw cutting through the branch made me lose footing from the foliage on the roof. Next thing I know I am on my back sliding down the roof, holding the chain saw in one hand and a twig from the branch in the other, wondering what would be my fate.

A lot of things go through your mind when you are about to experience something like this. Not unlike when you are in a tight spot on a motorcycle. The first thing you think is: How am I going to get out of this? The second is How bad is this going to hurt? As I'm sliding down the roof I'm thinking what is going to hurt worse, the pain from the fall or from hearing Mrs. Cyclerides laugh after I tell her what happened. Fortunately the builder of the house must have envisioned my impending slide down the roof and strategically installed a chimney on the front of the house that also served as safety device for an amateur tree trimmer. As I was about to slide off the roof with chain saw in tow, I reached out and grabbed the chimney to stop the slide. I knew that fireplace would be good for something.

The moral to this story is: If it is a nice Sunday afternoon...Hire a tree trimmer and Go Riding.

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