2025, gardening, Health, home, Uncategorized, Weather

Lions & Tigers & Bears

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When I went to bed Monday night, after uploading yesterday’s post, I was doing a mental run-through of things to get done on Tuesday. 

The biggie was the tree so I was thinking about what I would need to bring up to my bedroom: extension cord for the trimmer, the trimmer, a rake to shake loose any bits that get stuck.

Then, because it was dark and I was very tired, my brain went a little sideways.  I thought maybe I should be sure to wear shorts with pockets so I could have my phone on me, in case I somehow fell off the roof.  If my phone were in my pocket I could call for help right away, rather than try to drag my broken body into the house.  

As if that weren’t enough then I started thinking about the chewed up tree that I would be falling onto.  If I skewered myself, the phone probably wouldn’t do much good.  Or what if I hit my head on the way down and bled out while unconscious.  All my neighbors work during the day, so they couldn’t come to my aid either. 

It was at this point, around 11 p.m., that I made the decision to forego climbing out on the roof to trim the tree from above.  Sleep, which had been eluding me while I imagined my gruesome end, came fast at that point.  My decision was solidified when it rained at 5:30 a.m. and then again around noon, and the roof was wet.  If only Mother Nature had informed me sooner I would have had a better night’s sleep!

When have you scared yourself silly?

28 thoughts on “Lions & Tigers & Bears”

  2. on your tree vs… are you going to pull the stump?if you are . leave enough to get hold of and ill bring my truck over and wrap a tow chain around it and drive down the driveway to pull it out. if youre just going to cit it off at ground level never mind.
    with what is left of the tree its safe to lay it down now and cur it up on the ground . cut the v on the street side facing the direction it will fall with the v going 75% into the trunk( bottom cut first )then take out the too of the v in 3 steps so as not to get thr blade stuck. when that wedge is cut out come at it from the back cutting at a downward slant so as it falls the trunk opens up your cutting spot and the tree lays down where you want it . its so little you can push it as it goes down but it should fall where you have aimed the v to direct it

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    2. I agree. Now that you’ve gone this far just cut the little tree down from the ground. No damage it could do compares with the damage you could do to yourself falling off the roof or off a ladder.

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        3. I tried to recreate it using the description “creepy tree with eye reflected in water” but the images all overemphasized the eye.

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  6. I can scare myself into losing sleep if I think about our current state of affairs too much. I’m better than I was a year ago. Of course the situation gets worse every day, but I continue to have faith that someone somewhere will finally DO something to stop what’s happening.

    I love hiking but I don’t do it alone in the Superior National Forest anymore. I’ve tried a few times, but the solitude and my lack of physical ability usually make me turn back. I could so easily stumble and fall, or who knows what, and I could be lying there on the ground with no phone service and a hiking stick. I’m a big chicken these days, but at least I can admit my limitations.

    I’ll hike familiar trails in State Parks so I can still get some hiking in, but they tend to be much more popular. I guess that’s helpful in case I do fall, but sometimes it detracts from the overall experience. I remember when I was younger, I could hike the trail from the Tettegouche parking lot to the end of Shovel Point without losing my breath, and without seeing another soul. Not anymore. It’s a lovely hike, but I just find myself remembering when the trail was very scant, like following a deer trail through the woods. Now it’s compacted and there are signs everywhere directing people where to walk. There are people rappelling from the west-facing cliffs, and people gathered to watch them, and people down on the rocky beach where I used to gather rocks.

    So I just don’t hike as much as I used to. I should get over it and go hiking.

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  7. I have a new medical symptom which is getting much worse. I read there are 3 likely causes. One is treatable. One is difficult to treat but not fatal. The third is scary. I have my annual wellness visit in 16 days. I will then I suppose. I am not scared silly but I do not think about at bedtime because I do mindfulness exercises then. But now you made me think about it.
    Clyde

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  8. Scared silly is maybe a little strong but the last time I experienced prolonged anticipatory tension was when I was driving in Wales. It was bad enough that I was driving a stick shift and sitting on the right side of the car while staying on the left side of the road, but I also had to negotiate roundabouts, remembering to go clockwise. Even worse were the minor roads, which were often single track with high hedges or stone walls on either side and locals who drove them as if they were freeways.

    When I went to bed each night my hands were frozen into claws from clutching the steering wheel.

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  9. Better Late than Never, Baboons,

    This turned into such a busy day, which is good. I am finding I am able to do alot more this week. I now walk with a cane most of the time, instead of a walker. Things are a bit less boring–last week I was feeling like recovery would never end.

    About 10-15 years ago, I had several nights in which I suddenly awoke feeling terrified about retirement. Would I have enough money? would Social Security still be there? I must admit that most of my life, I did not ever think about retirement or anything related to it. I saved a bit, but really just assumed I would be ok. So when I had several of these nights, awaking in terror, I was shocked. And then it passed. I never did figure out what brought this on. But it scared me silly. But the felon kind of revived the fear during the DOGE days of laying of Social Security staff. That still concerns me. These guys.

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  10. Like others, not necessarily scared silly, but I sometimes wake up now (while many of my meetings and UU commitments are on hold for a couple of months) with this real sense of angst. Without all those meetings to structure my days, I now have to be self-motivated to get all the things on my list done (some of which MUST get done) this summer. I see that I need to plug them into the calendar AS IF they are appointments (well, some of them will be).

    I did get my new iPad ordered from the tech guru’s shop (bless his heart!), and am scheduled to get stuff transferred over on Friday.

    I suspect that some of the angst comes from the daily antics of you know who and his minions.

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  13. I am afraid of heights too. My niece and her husband used to live in a condo on the 24th floor of a building in downtown St. Paul. They moved into a two-story house earlier this year. While they were living in the condo, two kids were born, and just the thought of one of the toddlers climbing onto the railing of the balcony made me feel ill. A couple of times I went out on the balcony to look at the view, which was often quite lovely when the sun was setting, but I had to stand with my back pressed up against the wall and not look directly down.

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