I think I've done something to anger the tree gods.
A couple of weeks ago I was out with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers re-setting and re-flagging location tags. It's not an easy slog up the creek through the ravine. You scramble through soggy brush, slip and slide up and down steep banks, cross in and out of the creek on slimy, moss-covered rocks, and generally get a good workout.
I'm particularly careful, as I've had a fused spine and a couple of rods in my back since I was a kid, so I always move slowly and carefully in the ravine.
I was stepping over a fallen tree and somehow didn't see the broken butt of a thick branch sticking up vertically from the trunk at an angle. Whap! I smacked my right knee into it hard enough that I yelped, and got a red welt that bruised rather nicely.
Today I was in the ravine helping set Gee traps to survey fish populations, and, you guessed it. Whap! Right knee into an obstruction.... I looked down and stared in amazement. The same *&%! tree and the same branch!
Next time I'm scrambling up the ravine I'm taking a folding saw with me, er, I mean, I will make offerings to the tree gods before I set out.
Posted by Paul at February 21, 2004 08:14 PM