Thursday, June 23, 2011

Up a Tree

I like Trees. I like the way they dance in the wind. I like the way they smell. I like the way they change with the seasons. I like the different shades of green they come in.   When I was a child one of my favorite poems was about trees. It said "Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."

Trees are important and formidable figures in literature and pop culture.  Tolkien had the Ents in Lord of the Rings, that fought to free the people of Middle Earth. In the movie the Wizard of Oz the apple trees threw apples at Dorthy and her friends. In C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian the trees come to life and destroyed a whole army of men. There are a number of stories in which trees fight back.

We have some very beautiful trees in this area, but a few months ago we had a bad wind storm that knocked a bunch of them down and broke some branches. You can see some of the damage HERE.

William had a lot of work to do after that storm, and a lot of trees to clean up. You may remember this picture from my mom's blog when he was trying to cut a half fallen tree down and decided it would be a good idea to tie a rope around his waist and try to climb it.
Luckily I did intervened before he managed to get up in the tree. I have no idea what he was thinking.

A few weeks ago another branch of a tree half broke and was dangling over the wooden fence.  So while everyone was in the house William decided to try to take care of it by himself.  Keep in mind that when the branch first broke I specifically told William not to climb that tree to try and cut the branch down.

That's a pretty good rule of thumb actually: Do not climb trees to cut them down.

So today around 4pm, I was in the house and heard what I thought were goats bellowing very loudly. We have some pretty load and talkative goats so for a while I just figured that's what I was hearing. Until it seamed that one of the bellows sounded like my name.  I decided to investigate just to make sure that every thing was ok. Sometimes one of the goats gets their head stuck in something and need help.

So out I went and saw all the goats standing in a huddle looking very scared, and then I heard why. A very loud shout of help.  I ran towards where I saw the goats looking and where the sound was coming from and sure enough there he was.
William was hanging from a tree.

I ran and got my mom and a ladder before I had fully assessed how he was.  Since he was at the bottom of the hill our house sits on I didn't see clearly how he was but I knew we needed to get him down. Of course I expected the worse. From the top of the hill it looked like his leg was stuck and may be broken.

It took both me and my mom wedging the latter up against the tree and holding it stable enough for William to put his weight on so he could lift himself up and unwedge his leg from inside the forked tree.  Luckily the leg was not broken. Just very very stuck. 

I'm very very very thankful that he's ok. He's very bruised and scratched up, but we have him heavily medicated, well fed, and resting with his leg up.

So for future reference. Do Not Climb Trees in Order to Cut Them Down.

Or if you're William. Do Not Climb Trees.

2 comments:

  1. You're such a good little nurse Michelle....I taught you well :)

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  2. You Did! Remember when you taught me how to give shots? you should tell William to let him give shots. ;-) I don't Think I'd be as good as you though. I barely felt yours.

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