Falling

 September 20, 2023

I’m not looking forward to the next time I have my annual checkup. I’m at the age where one of the questions on the form you have to fill out in advance is, “Have you fallen in the past year?” No one asked me that thirty years ago when I fell off a ladder and ended up hanging upside down over the edge of a shed roof. But next year, I’ll be dreading that question and all the implications the doctor will surmise from my answer.

I was cutting up some of the trees we had taken down a couple weeks ago. This particular stack of logs was lying on a slight slope, and I was on the downhill side, cutting 16” chunks for the splitter when I stepped back and to the side to position myself for the next cut. I didn’t see one of the smaller chunks that had rolled behind me, so when I stepped back, I planted my foot on a 6” section. It rolled and I went down. Landed on the right side of my ribs. Fortunately, I was able to hold the still running chainsaw at arm’s length as I hit the ground. 

I got up and continued cutting till I ran out of gas (the saw, not me), and decided to call it a day. I am grateful it was a short trip to the ground, and that I had the saw extended to my side. Landing on a running chainsaw is not an experience I care to have. Someone says God watches out for children and fools. He did so today, and I am thankful tonight that though my ribs are sore, I still have all my parts intact.