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BIKE GUY: PUTTING UP THE TREE: CHRISTMAS EVE DAY AT THE LAKE
Bill Humphreys
December 23, 2008
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Last year was our third year with a lighted Christmas tree at the end of the dock. It can be seen for miles around, and it helps Santa find his way to our chimney. This year Sara picked out a particularly tall tree and it has been a pain in the butt to get all the sections of lights in working order
We attempted to put it up two weeks ago but had to back off. Then we ran out of lights, only to find after visiting hardware stores from Old Lyme to Deep River that our lights were obsolete. We purchased a section of the new lights only to find that they did not hook up well with our old ones, then we lost the connecting point somewhere, it was a disaster.
We had to strip the whole tree of lights and start over again. The tree was finally up and running 3 days before Christmas.
So here it is Christmas Eve morning, I’m having my coffee looking out at the tree and realize there is a fairly strong wind blowing out of the south. I’m thinking,” I better get some more braces put into the base of the tree,” and soon.
A quick trip to the local hardware store and I have two more braces screwed into the north side of the tree. This should do it, as Ian and I go bike riding to the soccer fields at the Senior Center and chase the Canadian geese until they fly.
When we return home, Sara greets us with, “Go look at the tree now honey!” Not only has the tree blown over into the lake, but because of it’s height and solid attachment to the dock, it had taken the whole dock over sideways with it. Talk about your basic Christmas screw-up.
The first two sections of the dock are on twisted on their sides, the wind is still moving a thin layer of ice up against our shoreline and the tree is half under water. It was such a mess I had to laugh and mutter something under my breath about this evil tree. For a very brief moment, I was thinking, “OK this is beyond fixing, a storm is moving in, the lake is about to freeze over, this will have to wait until spring thaw for me to clean up.”
Ian must have read my thoughts because the next words out of his mouth brought me back to reality. Daddy, ”How is Santa going to find his way to our chimney with out the tree to guide him?”
Like I said it was a very brief thought, but I also knew I could not spend the winter looking out at this wreckage.I put in the canoe and while holding on to the dock with one hand I sawed the tree off just above the braces under a foot of freezing water with the other hand. Then I floated, the fully loaded with lights, tree over to the right of way beach next to us.
Looking back over at the torn twisted wreckage of a dock was not a pretty sight. My day was far from over. Somehow I managed to separate one section, but pulling on a water-logged dock that had not been out of the water in 5 years, was not exactly what my chiropractor had in mind for the holidays. Sara yelling directions, to me from the security of the living room window was not working out well either.
It was time to get out the wetsuit and get in the lake, but not before we try throwing a line over a tree branch to hoist the dock up. More comedy of errors, what is this tree trying to tell us?
Now I am waist high in the freezing lake, ice pushing up against me as I do squats with two tons of water logged dock, while freezing my butt off. My wife, tries to help by pulling on the dock from shore, with the camcorder out, still yelling instructions, our neighbors across the cove had to amused.
A couple of hours later, Sara has had enough, “I am done with that tree and will not deal with it again” She said,” I am leaving!” Sitting around in my wetsuit eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, drinking a Belgian beer, smoking a good cigar, eyeballing the pile of tangled Christmas lights, I take a break.
A couple of beers later, the tree is shortened by 4 feet, the lights are untangled and hung with dreams of sugar plums dancing in my head.The tree is secured to the dock, and a line is attached midway up the tree to a Maple tree on shore. The wind still has not let up.
Now to plug it in, “YES!” It works! It is going nowhere, wind, and ice can not break the Christmas Spirit.Time for another beer….Santa will find the chimney! “Merry Christmas” |
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