I was cutting trees again today. The tree that I chose to cut today was a typhoon damaged tree. That was laid down by a typhoon years ago and just happened to grow again laying on the ground. I had made sure the goat herd was pastured on the Southern end of the ranch before I started to cut down trees. This was to keep the kids from getting into the area accidentally. I had prepped the tree I had chosen to cut down. It had 3 shoots of branches from it's laid down trunk. Cutting the vines and nearby shrubs, and making my escape route took little effort.
I had already cut off one branch shoot and was already cutting the 2nd and 3rd shoots together. I checked the drop zone area to insure it was clear. Then I commenced to doing the final cut on the the last shoot. Just as the branch trembled as I was cutting into the final cut, I heard a kid cry nearby. I looked up to the drop zone area, and I see Hercules eating the water vine from the first branch shoot that I had cut earlier.
Everything slowed down...the branch shoot that was starting to fall was a good 14 inches across and 30 feet high. I immediately stopped what I was doing and with the chainsaw still running. Instead of running along my planned escape route, I ran towards the buckling, Hercules, jumping over the big branches that I had cut earlier, grabbed him by his right hind leg, pulled him up with my left hand, with the chainsaw running on my right hand, and still running away from the falling tree. I had barely cleared the drop zone when I felt the air brush the back of my neck from the falling tree's leaf filled branches as it hit the ground behind me. That was inches to close for comfort.
Any Slower, and this big boy and that young buckling would have gotten crushed or been seriously injured. Thank God, I'm still fast when I really need to be. I surprised me, today!
I know some of you are probably thinking, should have let the kid go. That's hard. I've lost 3 kids this past season; 1 at birth, 1 weeks ago to a centipede, and 1 yesterday to another centipede. I was not going to lose another kid today, let alone my only replacement buckling. Hercules and Alinnah are the two kids I have left from the kidding season.
You're probably also wondering why I had still had the chainsaw running while I was running to get the buckling. I don't know. It was like it was a part of me when I started running. Good thing I didn't chop my leg off with the chain running. Everything just happened so fast. I was literally shaking after I put that buckling down and shut off the chainsaw.
I thank God for keeping me safe today, even with my unsafe actions. Whew! Don't know if I'll do that again.
After all that excitement, I realized that I had sprained my left ankle. I don't know how I did it. I don't remember spraining it. It has been throbbing since pulling that buckling out of danger. But like a hardcore paratrooper, I went and finished my planned project for today. Cutting up the trees I felled a week ago and stacking the limbs and trunks on the hedgerows. I know, I'm going to feel it when I wake up tomorrow morning.
Keep Smiling
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