Re: Halfmoon's journal
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:00 pm
THE EPIC TOWER STORY, part 4:
*Heads up, @George-too: here’s your The Gods Must be Crazy incident.
Once the two tower sides were secure, we went on to our standard fall projects: bring in the remaining firewood, clean the chimney, check the battery bank and vehicles, winterize everything. We could pretty much count on snow cover by Halloween, which lent a sense of urgency to the crisp autumn days. Then it was finally time for that lovely winter hibernation.
DH took this photo from the tower platform.
Early the following summer, we started again on the tower. DH ascended a corner post with ropes, hooked up pulleys, and I raised logs for him to secure as cross-bracing on the two empty sides. Because cordless drills were unknown at the time (at least to us), he also carried up an extension cord plugged into a generator on the ground. This would be used to drill holes for the threaded rods that held the logs together.
In order to easily ascend, descend and hang in a chosen spot to work on the tower, DH fastened a pulley to the base of the platform at the top. A cable ran through the pulley with one end attached to him and one to the tractor. The plan was for me to drive the tractor slowly forward and back as needed to pull DH up and let him back down, suspending him like (tractor-assisted) Spiderman at any desired point.
That was the plan. It’s good to have a plan.
As previously mentioned, the driveway below the tower was on a downward slope. Our tractor was an old Massey Ferguson 2WD with lousy brakes......get where I’m going with this?
DH hooked up the cable, and I began to drive downhill. As the tractor and I descended, DH ascended. The tractor gained momentum, and so did DH’s rise. Not good. I panicked and slammed on the brakes, but because I fail under pressure, I hit the clutch at the same time. The tractor's downward trajectory didn't falter. DH hurtled up the tower, smashing into logs on the way, wrapping around the cross-braces and then tearing loose to hit yet another log. I finally took my foot off the clutch, stood on the the brake with both feet and managed to stop the tractor just before DH hit the pulley at the top and started flying.
When the tractor stopped moving, I leaped off and ran back uphill to the tower, completely terrified. DH was hanging near the top, unnaturally still. I called frantically up to him: “OH, SH*T! ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT SHOULD I DO??” A faint voice (DH’s lungs were compressed) floated back: “Let. Me. Down.”
When I managed to back up the tractor and let DH descend, he fell onto the ground and just lay there. I thought I’d permanently injured him at the least and possibly killed him. He finally stirred, dragged himself to his feet and limped into the house. He obviously needed to see a doctor, but of course that was a battle. We finally agreed that he would go, but he was going to drive.
Our doctor was a cheerful young woman who was amazed and somewhat entertained at the story of how DH had sustained his injuries. She poked him in various places and asked if they hurt. He replied that everything hurt. “And yet,” I complained, “He wouldn’t even let me drive him here.” The doctor began to laugh, apologized, laughed some more, then said, “Can you blame him??”
After DH was somewhat healed, he devised a different plan for working on the tower. Strangely enough, it didn’t include me. He pulled himself up and down from the pulley on top, which was a lot more effort but less exciting. He finally nailed steps onto one of the tower legs and used those to climb up.
That incident was the beginning of much hilarity on the part of our friends that lasts to this day. They never tire of accusing me of Black Widow tendencies and reminding me of the day that DH fell up the tower.
*Heads up, @George-too: here’s your The Gods Must be Crazy incident.
Once the two tower sides were secure, we went on to our standard fall projects: bring in the remaining firewood, clean the chimney, check the battery bank and vehicles, winterize everything. We could pretty much count on snow cover by Halloween, which lent a sense of urgency to the crisp autumn days. Then it was finally time for that lovely winter hibernation.
DH took this photo from the tower platform.
Early the following summer, we started again on the tower. DH ascended a corner post with ropes, hooked up pulleys, and I raised logs for him to secure as cross-bracing on the two empty sides. Because cordless drills were unknown at the time (at least to us), he also carried up an extension cord plugged into a generator on the ground. This would be used to drill holes for the threaded rods that held the logs together.
In order to easily ascend, descend and hang in a chosen spot to work on the tower, DH fastened a pulley to the base of the platform at the top. A cable ran through the pulley with one end attached to him and one to the tractor. The plan was for me to drive the tractor slowly forward and back as needed to pull DH up and let him back down, suspending him like (tractor-assisted) Spiderman at any desired point.
That was the plan. It’s good to have a plan.
As previously mentioned, the driveway below the tower was on a downward slope. Our tractor was an old Massey Ferguson 2WD with lousy brakes......get where I’m going with this?
DH hooked up the cable, and I began to drive downhill. As the tractor and I descended, DH ascended. The tractor gained momentum, and so did DH’s rise. Not good. I panicked and slammed on the brakes, but because I fail under pressure, I hit the clutch at the same time. The tractor's downward trajectory didn't falter. DH hurtled up the tower, smashing into logs on the way, wrapping around the cross-braces and then tearing loose to hit yet another log. I finally took my foot off the clutch, stood on the the brake with both feet and managed to stop the tractor just before DH hit the pulley at the top and started flying.
When the tractor stopped moving, I leaped off and ran back uphill to the tower, completely terrified. DH was hanging near the top, unnaturally still. I called frantically up to him: “OH, SH*T! ARE YOU OKAY? WHAT SHOULD I DO??” A faint voice (DH’s lungs were compressed) floated back: “Let. Me. Down.”
When I managed to back up the tractor and let DH descend, he fell onto the ground and just lay there. I thought I’d permanently injured him at the least and possibly killed him. He finally stirred, dragged himself to his feet and limped into the house. He obviously needed to see a doctor, but of course that was a battle. We finally agreed that he would go, but he was going to drive.
Our doctor was a cheerful young woman who was amazed and somewhat entertained at the story of how DH had sustained his injuries. She poked him in various places and asked if they hurt. He replied that everything hurt. “And yet,” I complained, “He wouldn’t even let me drive him here.” The doctor began to laugh, apologized, laughed some more, then said, “Can you blame him??”
After DH was somewhat healed, he devised a different plan for working on the tower. Strangely enough, it didn’t include me. He pulled himself up and down from the pulley on top, which was a lot more effort but less exciting. He finally nailed steps onto one of the tower legs and used those to climb up.
That incident was the beginning of much hilarity on the part of our friends that lasts to this day. They never tire of accusing me of Black Widow tendencies and reminding me of the day that DH fell up the tower.