These days I'm chainsawing trees either for mill logs or fuelwood.
Because the trees in Deerwood are so tall and close together, they'll tend to fall into one another instead of falling to the ground when I cut its trunk. That means the tree is 'hung up' and getting it down is one of the hardest and dangerous tasks in logging.
I've bought and used a cable come-along to try and hand winch cut trees off their stumps, but it's damn hard if not impossible sometimes.
So, in order to solve the problem, I cut the already severed trunk in a series of extreme angles that is my best chance of getting the tree vertical and possibly falling out of the tree its hung up on. Cutting into an already cut tree is very unpredictable and just plain dangerous.
You really don't know where the tree will fall once it's cut through as the unsupported stump will fall in another unpredictable direction.
I found myself repeating a sort of montra, "I'm ready to die...I'm ready to die...". But the scarier part is realizing that I probably wouldn't die (at least not right away), but be trapped and crippled instead. It would probably take half a day for someone to find me. And for those twelve hour and beyond, I'd likely prefer death.
But as "I'm ready to die...I'm ready to be maimed..." doesn't roll off the tongue so well, I finally went with just, "I'm ready...I'm ready...I'm ready" which may be of some comfort unless you're actually not...ready.
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I would never presume that you were on any kind of the coward scale that I inhabit(although I must admit, I was one of the better girl fighters growing up in my neighbourhood), but...
ReplyDeleteShock always tends to introduce a brand new dimension in horror.
In your case, perhaps you're pinned under that tree, then, four hours into your ordeal that bear and her cubs show up, looking for a free lunch.
Just saying.
I'll consider cowardice if and when it comes calling.
ReplyDeleteAn untamed forest is a dangerous place. That's why foresters wear hardhats almost all the time. The French-Severn forest district where Deerwood is even more so when you consider that the trees are rooted in very shallow soil.
If I feared all the things that could go wrong, I'd never begin. I do it in spite of the known dangers. If I do joke about such things, it's in the company of men and few women who share the danger. It's a grim humour seasoned with resolve.
By the way, I think the bear sow is dead as I've seen the cubs running around without her a few times. The cubs will likely die soon.
How about feeding the bear cubs, taming them through food, then (somehow) make them into guard bears, lol.
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