Darwin Awards, contestant #1, follow-up

Well, it’s been over a week since I saw the guy on the ladder with the chain saw. I am happy (and relieved) to report that I have seen nothing in the papers concerning this contestant’s demise.

Good for him.

gilmark

Darwin Awards, contestant #1

While stopped at an intersection in the northwestern part of Rhode Island, I heard the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw in action. All four corners were wooded (this being the intersection of two highways, and still somewhat rural), so it took me a while to find the source of the noise.

Off to my right, balanced precariously on the top two rungs of an extension ladder, approximately 16′ off the ground, was a shirtless man without gloves, goggles, ear protection, hardhat, ropes, safety harness, you-name-it-and-he-didn’t-have-it, cutting off the butt of a crotch where the tree trunk had split a long time ago.

Maybe this act isn’t as exciting as attaching a rocket to your car or strapping yourself into a lawn chair that’s tethered to a lot of helium weather balloons, both of which are guaranteed to give you the ride of your life, but this was fairly dangerous and potentially a very dumb way to die. As family history and folklore go, wouldn’t it be a better tale if Uncle Leo disappeared over the coast of Maine, drifting towards the North Sea, than falling out of a tree with a chainsaw and who knows how grisly an outcome?

Note to self – check the papers and see if anything disastrous happened to this man.

gilmark