We had a beautiful weekend in central Maryland. It was sunny with high temperatures in the low 60's. The leaves were at their peak colors. All in all, it was a great weekend to be outdoors.
Kim and I took advantage of the weather yesterday by heading up to Catoctin Mountain Park to hike. We did a 5-mile loop that took us to Maryland's biggest waterfall (which was more impressive than I thought it would be) and the two highest points in the park, which gave us great views of the surrounding countryside. I didn't realize til we got to the park that it is the site of Camp David. Unfortunately, they won't tell you exactly where Camp David is on the grounds so I wasn't able to stop by and say hello to Sasha and Malia.
As nice as yesterday was, it wasn't the highlight of my outdoor adventures over the weekend. Nope, the highlight actually came on Saturday.
Two winters ago, the back-to-back huge snowstorms that we had knocked down a couple big cedars in the woods right behind our property. At first, I tried to convince Kim that both cedars were still alive as they remained green for several months. But, it soon became apparent that they were dead. Each of them were about 25-30 feet high and, as they slowly died and their needles turned brown, they got pretty ugly. To make matters worse, this summer they became covered with wild vines. By the end of the summer, they were an eyesore. If you sat out on either of our back patios, you couldn't help but notice the huge mass of limbs and brush. Kim started to get after me to clear them out and, finally, I agreed.
So, this Saturday morning, I found myself out at the edge of the woods with my trusty chain saw (wearing my tick-repellent pants, in case you were growing concerned). Whenever I get my chain saw out, there's always some sort of adventure. Sometimes it's me falling off a ladder. Other times, it's me setting the Bucci land speed record as I dash out of the way as the tree trunk comes crashing down exactly where I didn't plan for it. As I fired up the chain saw, I asked myself what it would be this time.
Surprisingly, things went pretty well. I worked slowly and carefully, pruning the vines and cutting away limbs and sections of both trunks at small intervals. I cleared pieces as they fell to the ground so that I wouldn't trip over them. Things were a little too uneventful.
As I finished up before lunch, I remembered that there was a stray dogwood in the woods about 20 feet to the left of the downed cedars. That dogwood had a low-hanging limb about 7-8 feet up from the ground that was dead. It was directly in view when I sat at our outdoor table. Since I already had the chain saw out and things were going so well, I decided to cut that limb before heading in for lunch. I should have known better.
I got to the tree, stood off to the side of the dead limb, and reached up to make my cut. The limb was about 2 inches in diameter so the cut didn't take long. The saw's blade finished its job and the limb started to fall to the ground. In a split second, disaster struck. The edge of the limb hit the ground, causing the top of the limb (where I had just made my cut) to kick back up in the air. As it came down again, it shifted about 2 feet to the left and proceeded to come down right on my poor balding head. "You've got to be kidding me," I thought, as I quickly blinked, saw a few stars, and then put my hand up to my head to check for blood.
The physical pain wasn't too bad. But, another embarrassing episode with power tools? It's getting kind of ridiculous. I can't seem to do anything manly without some sort of sideshow. What kind of example am I setting for my impressionable teen-age sons? No wonder they stay far away whenever I try to be handy.
On the positive side, I've now got a couple nice scabs that are temporarily filling in some of the thinning spots at the front of my head. I'll take that.