Timber
Siblings – Mark, Jon and Jan.
Saturday was the annual tree cutting day at Mark Queijo’s. Adam and I drove out together and along with Al, Jan, Brett,Jon, John, Dwight, Kevin, Mark and Jan, we chain-sawed nine trees into splitable length logs. T’was another long, hard day, with two notable events. First, Janice Elaine Queijo Carpenter, Mark’s sister, not to be confused with Janice Elaine Queijo, his wife, slipped and broke her wrist. Both bones.
A few words about that. Nobody except the other Jan knew that Jan had fallen. No yelps, no nothing. She walked into the house and returned holding an ice pack on her wrist. Without a hint pain, she announced that she could no longer help clearing trees because she couldn’t lift anything, and besides, she needed to go to the hospital. I asked her to move the ice pack so I could see her wrist. It was an ugly, swollen, bruised peach color with bony bumps in places that should have been smooth. I said, ëIt’s broken.†I thought, I’m so glad I’m not married to you; I know nothing about dress sizes.
Secondly, the tallest oak tree we cut down almost fell onto Mark’s house. Had that happened, it would have crushed it. The Queijo’s live in a Deck House – I don’t know if that is a regional-only company – but its primary function is to be open and allow in a maximum amount of light. It most closely resembles a timber frame house with glass – a mere play thing to the mighty oak.
After Mark cut the customary pie shape from the side he wanted the tree to fall, he began cutting from the backside – the house side. Instead of falling away from the house it leaned into the saw, binding the blade. From where I stood, I could clearly see the future – two month’s work for me – and I hollered, “It’s falling this way.â€
What you can’t see is the house-saving, hefty, yellow, nylon rope tied about a third of the way up, and anchored on the other end by four men who are now desperately trying to pull the tree in their direction. Fortunately for Mark, for all of us, they succeeded.
If you click on the Quicktime movie, you’ll see two things. The tree leaning towards the house and (look closely) Mark jump up and run. He’s not running away, per se, he’s running to his garage to retrieve his maul and wedges. He reasoned, by pounding the wedge into the saw kerf he could tilt the ten ton tree away from his beloved house? Talk about stopping pterodactyls with a fly swatter, but in a panic, what would you do?
Whoever was making the movie was sure caught up in all the excitement. Either that, or the oak was creating an earthquake.
Next time you guys cut down a tree within smashing distance of a house, for goddsake tie that rope to another tree on the far side.
I guess Janice C. won’t be driving anything but an automatic–if that–for a while! Too bad.
It’s dangerous out there in the Acton woods.
Comment by rakkity — November 2, 2004 @ 11:33 am
Skip the movie — whole lotta nuthin’ goin’ on. The text paints a better picture.
As one of the unseen forces applying resistance via said yellow rope, I can tell you we were already tired when Q started running for wedges and we felt the tree develop a leaning towards Q’s quite crushable Deck house. We immediately did what rakkity suggests, which we previously had not — secured our Large Yellow (and probably Hopelessly Inadequate) Rope to the nearest large tree (of which there were thankfully many from which to choose). And at the tree, the LYR was secured by a couple of half-hitches applied by a man who that day had admitted a bowline was beyond him……
It needs be said that with at least a modicum of foresight, a safety HAD been applied in the form of a Come-a-long and a manila rope of lesser girth, but its utility is debatable. And with a renewed respect for gravity (and one or two hastily commandeered additional conscripts), we heaved with both determination AND desperation and split the difference — the behemoth fell sideways, perpendicular to the axis of its desire and ours.
Comment by yellow rope anchor — November 2, 2004 @ 5:32 pm
If Mr. Clear Cut has his way, some day there won’t be that easily accessible tree with which to wrap the LYR around. I did not know you tied her up during the math, which absolutely prevented the aftermath.
Between you and me, YRA, that would surely have been the THE SAGA of Mr. SAGAS life. For that, I’m a wee bit disappointed.
Comment by michael — November 2, 2004 @ 5:48 pm
Actually, the experience of pulling indicates we actually did engender motion away from the house, relegating our loops around another trunk to mere safekeeping — hardly causative. Still, the falling sideways, while a comparative relief, WAS somewhat surprising…… I’m only sorta sorry you were out two month’s steady work. It woulda been a longish commute…….
Comment by YRA — November 2, 2004 @ 7:51 pm
Two people have asked me what I meant by dress sizes. It’s a sexist reference to who would wear the pants in the family. It was inconceivable to me that Jan could hold up her broken wrist and smile.
Comment by michael — November 3, 2004 @ 6:46 am
The 1000 words in this case carried much more impact than the picture, particularly the later words about tying off that important LYR.
This story reminds me about the time I cut down a 1 1/2 ft diameter, 60-ft tall pine tree up at Grok Hill with an axe, just to see if I could do it. It took me several hours, and it was very exciting to hear the creaks and groans of the tree before its final topple through the neighboring maples and ironwoods. This was 100s of yards from any human structure, so there was no need for a LYR, but when I chop down trees here in MD, in the midst of wires, fences and sheds, I use 2 LYRs.
Comment by rakkity — November 3, 2004 @ 12:22 pm