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A Winter to Forget

Growing up in the great northwest, I remember a few interesting winters, but there were none that could possibly compare with this one, which I'm hoping, is almost over. First came the rain, then the floods, then the winds, then more rain, then the snow, then some more winds, then the freeze, and now it is simply the typical gray and drizzly fun that we normally experience.
I'm willing to bet that this winter has not only created power outages, but some interesting stories too. This is the story of the tree that simply would not die. It actually began last year as that was the first year that it passed. Typical of this tree, it fell down right across the power wires that crosses our country dirt road that we share with 5 other families in our small town. This special tree did double duty damage, as not only did our "hood" lose power, but we also became a tighter nit community as we were trapped in timber togetherness. To my poor memory's recollection, it only took a couple of days to get rid of "the tree" and for power to return. Our good neighbor who doesn't work for All State and probably would not have been covered by any company for his bravery, took his trusty chainsaw and cut that tree in pieces off of those wires. I saw it with my own eyes. A section of his fence was also destroyed by that tree. We all thanked him for getting rid of it, recognizing that we would have probably been stuck together without power for a lot longer had he not been willing to risk electroshock treatment with his actions. I've heard that electroshock might help us and maybe that was the reason for his bravery, I don't know, but I feel that I owe him. Anyway, I felt good knowing that we wouldn't have to worry about that tree falling on any more of our power lines and I'm sure I wasn't alone in those thoughts.

To my utter amazement, following the winter flood that almost took out our community dirt road part of which had been paved, the windstorm once again worked its magic. I say to my utter amazement, not because we once again lost power, but because it appeared to be the same dog gone tree, in the same location of our dirt road that was once again hanging all over the power wires. And I guess not too surprisingly, my neighbor was once again using his chainsaw to cut the tree off of the lines. This event was almost enough to make me believe that deja vu was a more concrete reality than even Denzel Washington could imagine. The only difference that I could make out was that this time we lost power for close to 5 days, as opposed to only 2.
Did this tree come back to life? I couldn't find its twin's stump. Maybe the flood took it out. All I know is, this time I have clearly marked the remaining stump so when the tree falls next winter, I will know my imagination has finally come into bloom.

Learn more about this author, Steve Erickson.
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