Mountain Hike

Mike and went on a two hour mountain hike yesterday. Last week end we watched Everest, but I don't think that inspired us. Nope, that movie was about people risking their lives and the lives of others for no good reason.  Our hike didn't seem too risky, although there are bears and mountain lions up there.  Still, we were on a well traveled path so the risk was very, very low.

Anyway, It was a beautiful Fall day. Almost perfect, in fact.

Right away we had company.

I like this walk through rock. It's pretty cool inside!

I admired these little ferns that seem really, really determined to live. 

I told you is was pretty cool inside there!

I like rock. Doesn't everyone?  Really, there is a lot of beauty in most rocks.

I like sunshine, too.  I really like sunshine on rocks.

There were many places where we could look down to see how high we'd already hiked.  It made me feel pretty much like a jock.  Well, if most jocks huff and puff and hear their pulse pounding in their brains.

But the beauty up there was worth the effort!

Another beautiful vista.

I thought of my sister a lot as we hiked.  My sister can't walk and I sometimes feel guilty when I get to have these sorts of adventures. Then, I feel guilty when I don't use my legs as much as I could/should, knowing how much she would love to go on just one hike.  Just one.

Then, I feel guilty about feeling guilty.

So, I take lots of photos.  Tina, I hope you can kind of get the feel of a Fall day on the mountain.

Isn't that tree just stunning?

And I like water.  Sunshine. Rocks. Water.  Perfection.

More gold.

Gratitude. 

Tree Monkey Guy

Remember this....

 and this...

\

 and this?

That was early October, the result of a LOT of snow arriving before our leaves had fallen. The limbs were too heavy and trees all over town were broken. It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Everywhere, limbs down. It looked a bit like a tornado had come through. 

This morning I went out and looked up toward one of our broken beauties.

The shattered limbs still looked sad.

We also had several large limbs that were kind of like wishbones.

They were stuck up there with some dangerous potential.

So, this afternoon we had tree surgeons (arborists) come to complete the amputations.

I heard a lot of thunks and booms as some of the limbs hit our house.

I don't think they were hurting anything but I decided it

was a good time to go to clean the basement about then.

I heard one guy on the ground call this other guy a tree monkey.

You probably can't really tell but he has a chainsaw up there.  He also had a long pole thing with a curved saw on the end. That looked wicked! I've climbed many a tree in my life. I've climbed them carrying things like dolls and later, bologna sandwiches, but never a chainsaw. 

Just so you know, climbing a tree with a bologna sandwich did not turn out well for me. I was a 5th grader and I'd ridden my bike about a mile down a country road to meet a friend by Little Lake Alice. We had brought our lunches and decided to eat them in a tree. I'm not sure how far I got into the bologna sandwich before the limb my feet were resting on gave way, plunging me to my fate. I hurt my wrist.

I may have been kind of a tough kid. I stayed and played for about an hour after injuring my wrist. Then, I rode my bike home. I did realize my wrist wasn't working quite right but it was a sandy road so I needed both hands. I ended up kind of hanging it over the handle bar and trying to steer with my forearm. When I got home I was still doing ok until my Dad turned to my Mom and said, "Grace, I think Susie may have broken her arm." Then do you know what I did, more than an hour after my injury? I cried. I guess the idea of a broken arm (wrist) was worse for me than the actual pain of it. And, yes, it was broken.

Huh... I didn't realize this was going to be a post about the first time I broke my wrist. I meant for it to be about the tree monkey guy.

It's Good to Have Friends With Chainsaws

So, in case you missed it, click here to see how our yard looked Friday. It was awful and we were pretty overwhelmed! Saturday we sent Sam to help Maria and Eric (by then they had power back) with the damage at their home while Mike and I started in at our  house. It was hard, hard work. On the other hand, we don't usually spend that much time together, it was a bright and sunny day, and we had less damage than some people in town.

This is how things looked on Saturday...

The sun was melting that 14+ inches of snow very quickly!

Yesterday a friend from church came by with a chainsaw and a little trailer. He looked at all that Mike had hand-sawed and was amazed! Well, Mike had spent hours and hours and hours sawing while I lopped smaller branches. We both hauled about a forest worth of limbs out to the front of our house. Our friend cut up the biggest limbs lying in our back yard. He didn't have too much time to give but it was still so helpful! It raised our spirits to have him cut up those big branches into sizes we could handle. We're still pretty worn out and sore, but we can manage it. We also loaded up his trailer twice, for runs to one of the city's newly designated limb drop off areas. That didn't make much of a dent out of our pile but still, we've made a lot of progress just to get everything cut! That's Sam, hauling loads from the downed branches in the back yard.

We still have lots and lots of loads to be hauled, but our chaos is now more organized.

When we look up, we see we still have some problems. Can you see the broken branches dangling up there? We have several more of those. Will a good wind bring them down? Maybe, but we'd rather then didn't fall on a person or the house.

You simply could not imagine what this city looks like! There is destruction everywhere. It is really quite heartbreaking. Everywhere I drove, there were trees down. Streets are lined with piles and piles of the tree carcasses. It almost looks like big hedges as they are all still green.  There is so much work to be done and so many people with bigger problems than our's. Although we uncovered Sam's car and it looks pretty good, not everyone's vehicle was so lucky. It is the strangest thing to see our town so injured.

On a happier note, though, we've also seen neighbors helping neighbors. We've seen strangers stopping to help someone with a mess in their yard. Thousands were without power but we all worked together to help each other find warm beds. We were all in this together and we knew it. That's something good that came of this white tornado.

Lucky Tree Trimming

When a heavy, wet snow comes along this early, 

it can cause some damage. 

The trees all still have their leaves so there is a lot 

of surface area on which the snow collects.

It gets too heavy, though.

Branches start breaking.

Driving home from work last night I saw fallen branches all over town.

I was nervous as to what I'd find at home.

As I approached, I could see that some things had happened.

There are branches hanging off our roof.

There were branches laying all over our yard.

This one is about 30 feet long and

when I tried to move it I did not

even make it budge.

Mike got out his saw and took care of it.

The fallen branches looked kind of sad.

Luckily, the ones on our roof were

small enough that I don't think there

was any damage.

A few hours after I got home Mike came in and asked if I'd seen

the one between the garage and the fence.

I had not.

This very large branch had fallen

right smack dab between our fence and our garage!

It was heavy enough it could have taken out our fence

or damaged our garage.

Luckily,

the only damage was a bent gutter.

I am grateful it wasn't worse. 

Our cars were not hit; no people were hurt...

and our trees were trimmed for free.

The Beauty of a Tree

On my way home from work one day this week I found myself really noticing trees. they are all around town. Each is different from the next. What I was really noticing was the intricacy of each tree. That led me to thinking about all the opportunities to observe beauty that are available pretty much anytime. Although I was tired, I decided to stop for a few minutes to enjoy the view.

Here is what I was enjoying. It seemed like an amazing work of art.

I love trees.