Apartment Lucy

Kelly tells this one better, so check out her blogpost "Morning entertainment" here: http://wwww.kellyhasablognow.blogspot.com

For now, though, here's the general jist of the story,

Apartment Lucy is home to Kelly Larsen, Julie Adams and myself for the post-homestay portion of our semester.   From our new location, 5 stories above street level, we have the delightful opportunity to enjoy some fantastic people-watching.  The balcony affords a great view across the street to the Pentecostal church and the river.  But our living-room window recently provided one of the most entertaining spectacles yet.  Take for instance yesterday…

I could not concentrate, due to a chainsaw buzzing away outside.  And so I moseyed into the living room, peered out the window and found the source of the commotion. “There’s a man in that tree,” I announced to Kelly, who was happy enough to abandon her research and join me at the window.  Because, you see, there was a man in big galoshes with an orange chainsaw on a string in the tree directly outside our window. 


A red car, parked beneath, had a large dent in the roof… perhaps this explains why the tree was undergoing demolition.  More probably, the dent was a result of the demolition. 

The man clambered around in the tree in the most precarious manner, exactly the sort of situation which a chainsaw never improves.  He cut down huge branch after huge branch using the good old “cut toward yourself instead of away” method, stabilizing himself by wedging his galoshes between branches and propping against his elbow.

The chainsaw’s string didn’t appear to be horribly helpful in keeping the process streamlined (at one point, to our consternation and peals of laughter, Man-in-tree even passed the chainsaw between his legs to untangle the string) and we were tempted to assume it superfluous...until he began to lower the chainsaw down and up, to and from his friend on the ground who was apparently heading up the safety committee and in charge of brilliant ideas, to boot (who, in turn nearly cut off his leg while messing around with the saw).  

 At one point, the chainsaw was replaced by a cigarette and the man proceeded to smoke in the tree.  He continued smoking through the next several branches.

Kelly and I soon took to yelling “Timber!” out our open window, as the branches fell, and a crowd gathered on the ground near the site of this wonderful spectacle.  Everyone seemed to be enjoying the entertainment, but none more than a little old man in a brown jacket who we have become friends with and who runs a small store just outside out apartment building.  He wandered in and out of the work zone, smoking, chatting with the Idea-man and just generally enjoying the proceedings. 

At one point the Man-in-tree got his chainsaw stuck halfway through a limb, where it stuck out horizontally.

Mr. Ideas on the ground came up with a great plan and got the attention of the chap in the tree by throwing a stick at him.

The great idea: Ideas coiled up a rope and on the second try Man-in-tree caught it. 

He then shimmied up the half-cut limb from which the chainsaw was sticking out (oh, that’s smart!) and tied the rope on some 8-feet above the saw. 

When he had slid his way back down to sawing-position, Mr. Ideas and our friend in the brown jacket strung the rope out across the yard (effectively tangling man-in-tree) and pulled, lifting the branch slightly. Success!  Man-in-tree was able to wiggle with saw loose and finish the final branches.

Sadly, the tree now stands, forlorn and branchless, a stark, ugly trunk in our yard.  But I’m glad we had the good fortune to witness the more humorous play-by-play of its demise, instead of simply returning home to the sad remains.  

We shall see what delights Apartment Lucy’s windows afford in future… =)