I like tradition. Granted this tradition has been a bit hit or miss over the last few years but for awhile our tradition was for Peter to risk our lives on holidays.
Today is a holiday. New Years Day to be exact. One Christmas day we got stuck in the snow, the following Thanksgiving were lost in a very foggy state park after dark wandering around in circles.
After several hours of working outside cutting brambles and trimming trees Peter sprung the news on me that he wanted to go to the river to get wood. This didn't make sense to me because we have plenty of firewood and why would we want firewood from the river? He told me the river was low so the wood was not wet or water logged and it should be a BREEZE to get home. After a bit more prodding on my part I got the full story - apparently there was an uprooted tree that had a very interesting root system and Peter wanted to bring it home for little house on the ditch beautification (and photographing). Our target wood was just off the road, across a small bit of gravel. It wasn't very big and our adventure would be an easy one. Peter said I didn't really need to go if I didn't want to - he just thought it would be nice to spend time together.
It was late afternoon when we borrowed Peter's mother's mini-van, loaded the chain saw and the hand truck and set off on our mission. We parked the car, climbed down a muddy slope, crossed a large frozen puddle, hiked across some loose sand, over a dune, down another sandy slope, and there was the tree. Located in a high and dry log jam. Peter grabbed the chain saw, climbed atop the pile and cut off the root system he so desired. Unfortunately, the roots were entwined with other debris in the log jam and additional cutting was needed to cut it loose. We pushed and pulled and eventually managed to roll it off the pile. A bit more pushing, pulling, and rolling and we had it upright and on the hand truck:
It was bigger and heavier than Peter expected it would be. The wheels of the hand truck sunk into the loose sand. With a lot of effort, Peter pulling, me pushing, we got it all the way back to the muddy slope, just before the road and the car. We even got it 1/2 way up the slope by taking it off the hand truck and rolling it up hill but neither of us were completely convinced we had the energy to get it the rest of the way up (considering I'm really not THAT much help with this sort of thing.) We were both sweating - despite the sub-zero temperature and our muscles were complaining. We stood it back on end, put it back on the hand truck and pondered our options.
At that point a most incredible thing happened, a giant wandered by and offered to help. He and some friends had been target shooting nearby. I said, "my, you're a large fellow." His reply? "I'm 6'8" and 340 pounds." He and Peter hauled our tree right to the road, barely breaking a sweat while I leisurely followed. It's good to be a princess every now and then.
We thanked our friendly Giant, he wished us a happy new year, he squeezed himself into his little car and off he went leaving us to stare at our tree and the back of the mini-van. The tree was taller than the van. We thought the hard part of retrieving the wood was over but now we had to figure out how to get the thing the rest of the way home. We managed to lean it into the van - but sliding it into the van involved lifting it. Where was a giant when you need one??
It took us about 15 minutes of wrestling this monstrosity but we eventually got it in the car and eventually home. I'm not sure where it will end up but I'm sure it will a beautiful addition to our landscaping.
My life was not at risk today - unless we take into account physical exertion and the potential for a heart attack or stroke. It was really quite a fine day and a good way to start the new year.
