April 22 – “Chain saw on a stick”

I received a request today for an update on the homeless biker dude who was sneaking naps in the abandoned house next door.  I think I saw him yesterday.  At least the bike looked familiar.  A guy walking his bicycle caught my eye through the front window, so I went outside to check it out.  That bike sure looked familiar.  He didn't stop.  In fact there has been no sign of the lone bike in the back yard since the police moved it to the front porch last time he was here.  It's kind of sad.  I'll miss him.   Our hired guns showed up this morning to trim the pecan tree.  This tree is huge.  It was huge when we got here fifteen years ago, and we have never done anything to it.  It towers over the house and provides great shade in the summer.  Some years it provides a fair amount of nuts for squirrels, too.    They brought a three man team.  And it wasn't hard to tell who had the most seniority.  Was it the little guy who crawled up the ladder and stood in the tree and wrapped the rope around the limb so it wouldn't hit the house and held the chainsaw and cut the limb and caught the falling piece that hit him in the face and dropped it to the ground?  No.  Was it the slightly taller guy who walked around and around on our roof, pointing here and there and hollering instructions to the man in the air?  No.  I'm pretty well convinced that it was the guy who knocked on our door to tell us they were here, then sat in the truck -  when he wasn't talking with our neighbor.  Actually, to their credit, they all did help haul the cut limbs to the trailer.    I decided that there were three key things about this crew that impressed me greatly.  First was the fact that their chain saw had to be one of the sharpest things I have ever seen.  All they had to do was touch the limb and the cutting began.  It was not so easy when we felled the magnolia tree.  Maybe we need to do some sharpening with my dremel before we start to cut it up and haul it off.   The second impressive thing was the way they held the chain saw.  With one hand.  In all sorts of contorted positions.    Finally, I was struck jealous by the chain saw on a stick.  I have heard of them before, and I think I have even seen one at Home Depot.  But this was my first time to watch one in action.  It was a tiny thing literally stuck on the end of a big old long stick.  But it was sharper than the regular one.  He could back door the limbs when he needed to and they would melt like butter.   Chris texted Nathan to see if he wanted to come over and help, but I guess he was at work.  I did get a call from Micah, though.  He and Jachin are coming over so their Mom and Dad can go look at a car.   Hebrews 1:3 says, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."   Father, thank you for sustaining our pecan tree up to this point.  And for taking care of those guys hanging from it.  Amen.