When attempting to do disaster-related work, I have had conversations with a great many people. While trying to gather supplies (like winter clothes, tents and tools) and the different fuel products (like propane tanks, off road diesel and 2-cycle mixed gas), it is sometimes hard to sort out what people have told me. For the recent trip north to western North Carolina, I was told that many Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) entries would be temporarily misleading, which THEY WERE! Also, the trusty Rand McNally Trucker Atlas could not be trusted. It reminded me of going to a church function and meeting 20 or 30 new faces and trying to keep all of their names correct by the end of the evening. I try to keep things that people tell me in my memory banks, but alas, the vault in that memory bank is not as secure as it used to be! Among the items to be collected, I was able to secure a product donation from a former boss of mine and he was one of the people who threw a “nugget’ of wisdom my way before I headed north for the trip. Now that “nugget” got misplaced for a while but came back to me as I was on my way back home. As I was talking with a family member about how things were up where I had just been, I was told of hard times being had by people within an hour’s radius of our home. Then It came to me.
He said, “Charity begins at home!”
So, I decided to set my sights on how and where I could be of use back home. Not long after being home, my recent past activities came back to haunt me in the way of that “thing” that got into my head from falling and going under the water, which was obviously more contaminated than I thought it would be! I thank GOD that He allowed the medicine to do its thing in eradicating whatever got into my head and didn’t allow it to get worse!
Not too long after being home, I got a call from a friend that I have known for many years who had quite a bit of tree damage done on his multiple acres on the east side of the county. I had concerned myself with problems happening hundreds of miles from home and our friend had a massive tree leaning hard on one of his structures.
I probably should have tried to help him before going north, but “things” sometimes just happen. In retrospect, if I had not gone up north and battled with those three oak trees in the river, I would not have known just what that 12,000 lb. winch on the front of the truck would be capable of.
So, a trip was made out to the property, and a meshing and mixing of ideas was brought out. This tree was not broken on the ground but about 30 feet up its giant base. It was positioned between three other sets of trees as well. We could not just cut any one tree down to drop this multi-ton hazard. It had to be surgically taken apart. And before anything had a chainsaw get near it, it had to be made safe (the hardest part).
Now, my friend had access to an old mechanical lift that (mostly) ran. I say that because when I was up in the bucket, it had fits of not wanting to move me where I needed to be. (Thank God, the secondary controls on the machine’s base worked better than those up in the “bucket.”) Between the tools that “Mr. N” had, what I brought to the “party” and some extra manpower from another friend, “Mr. J,” we were able to get a rope on that monster and continue to steps 2, 3 and on. There was a wide spread of tree that had to come off of the building and the last two large limbs were so heavy that we had to bring a car jack up on the roof to put plywood between the tree and the buildings’ shingles. When the last cut was made, the rest of the base (that was still 25 feet long and 16 inches around at where the rope was tied) gave way. I thought for sure that my truck (which was the anchor for this job) was going to move, but the combined 8,000 lbs. of truck and tools kept its footing secure. The old adage “If you don’t try, you’ll never really know what you are capable of” rang true on that day. AND I was glad to be able to be of some help close to home! May all of you have a joyous and “Merry Christmas” season!
Steve Goodwin is a recently retired Christian conservative veteran (of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division), who still feels that “duty to country” did not end when the military uniform got hung up. He and his wife Cecelia live on the edge of a beautifully wooded tract of land just south of the bypass, and are involved in not only church activities, but also attend school board meetings and local community action events as well.
