Why I am a Superhero
I remember it like it was yesterday. My youngest was a mere 3 years old and a friend of mine asked me to move a tree for his dad.
So this friend calls me and asks if I was doing anything on said date. I said nothing much… I’m just watching the kids while my wife is at work. He proceeds to asks for a hand in moving a small tree at his dad’s house and that his mom would be willing to watch the kids while we moved the tree. I said sure, as he is a real good friend, and I had nothing else planned.
We had planned it for a few weeks and he said that by the weekend, the roots where going to be cut out and the only thing that we would need to do is to pull the tree out of the hole and move it to the other side of the driveway.
The weekend finally arrived and I got out of bed on Sunday and proceeded to go to his dad’s house. We looked at the tree and I was floored. This so-called small tree stood at least 25 feet tall and it looked to be about 15 years old. Not only was it twice as big as it had been alluded to, but the roots were far from being cut out. This was going to be a bigger project.
We spent the better part of the morning digging and cutting around the roots so that we could pull the three out of the hole. When all of the prep work was done, we tried to move it out of the hole. The tree just swung from side to side in the hole… it wasn’t going to budge this easy. We were left scratching our heads as to how to get this small tree out of the ground and moved to the other side of the driveway. We ate lunch and to give us some time to think of a method of getting this project done without getting ourselves hurt in the process. We quickly formulated a plan to use the Jeep and a winch to get the tree out of the hole. We put the tree on the ramp. This contraption acted like a sled. It was believed that the Egyptians used this technique to move the stone blocks for the great pyramids.
When the contraption was ready for trial, the girls came out and giggled at us for trying to move such a big tree. We strung a few ropes at he top of the tree to keep it steady just in case this actually worked and we got the tree out of the ground. We told the girls to move back and I jumped into the Jeep to give the tree a tug. It started to work but the tree was just too big for us to simply pull it out of the ground with the Jeep. The girls laughed out loud. My youngest suggested that we call Superman. I told her that we weren’t going to call Superman, because he was busy and besides, and that we were engineers.
We needed to make the edge of the hole a much smoother ramp or else the tree wasn’t going to budge. We dug the hole wider and made the edge smoother. The second attempt we also used some 4” steel pipe and rode the sled on them. When we were ready, the girls came back out of the house to see us work. Slowly we tried to pull the tree out of the hole, the pipes helped as the sled slid over them while they turned. We eventually got the tree out of the hole as the girls cheered. The tree swung from side to side on the pallet. In addition, it was a good thing that we had those ropes holding the tree steady so that the tree didn’t hit the house.
We had half of the job done; now we needed to move the tree to the other side of the driveway. We went slow and steady as I pulled the tree with the Jeep and the sled slid over the pipes. My buddy helmed the tree with the rope and his dad moved the pipe from the back of the sled to the front when the sled slipped over the piping. This worked great and the tree finally got pulled into the other hole and it stood straight up.
The girls cheered and my youngest called me a Superhero just like Superman. I still drive by that tree every once in while and it brings a smile to me when I remember how my kids eyes lit up in amazement as that tree moved across the driveway.
So this friend calls me and asks if I was doing anything on said date. I said nothing much… I’m just watching the kids while my wife is at work. He proceeds to asks for a hand in moving a small tree at his dad’s house and that his mom would be willing to watch the kids while we moved the tree. I said sure, as he is a real good friend, and I had nothing else planned.
We had planned it for a few weeks and he said that by the weekend, the roots where going to be cut out and the only thing that we would need to do is to pull the tree out of the hole and move it to the other side of the driveway.
The weekend finally arrived and I got out of bed on Sunday and proceeded to go to his dad’s house. We looked at the tree and I was floored. This so-called small tree stood at least 25 feet tall and it looked to be about 15 years old. Not only was it twice as big as it had been alluded to, but the roots were far from being cut out. This was going to be a bigger project.
We spent the better part of the morning digging and cutting around the roots so that we could pull the three out of the hole. When all of the prep work was done, we tried to move it out of the hole. The tree just swung from side to side in the hole… it wasn’t going to budge this easy. We were left scratching our heads as to how to get this small tree out of the ground and moved to the other side of the driveway. We ate lunch and to give us some time to think of a method of getting this project done without getting ourselves hurt in the process. We quickly formulated a plan to use the Jeep and a winch to get the tree out of the hole. We put the tree on the ramp. This contraption acted like a sled. It was believed that the Egyptians used this technique to move the stone blocks for the great pyramids.
When the contraption was ready for trial, the girls came out and giggled at us for trying to move such a big tree. We strung a few ropes at he top of the tree to keep it steady just in case this actually worked and we got the tree out of the ground. We told the girls to move back and I jumped into the Jeep to give the tree a tug. It started to work but the tree was just too big for us to simply pull it out of the ground with the Jeep. The girls laughed out loud. My youngest suggested that we call Superman. I told her that we weren’t going to call Superman, because he was busy and besides, and that we were engineers.
We needed to make the edge of the hole a much smoother ramp or else the tree wasn’t going to budge. We dug the hole wider and made the edge smoother. The second attempt we also used some 4” steel pipe and rode the sled on them. When we were ready, the girls came back out of the house to see us work. Slowly we tried to pull the tree out of the hole, the pipes helped as the sled slid over them while they turned. We eventually got the tree out of the hole as the girls cheered. The tree swung from side to side on the pallet. In addition, it was a good thing that we had those ropes holding the tree steady so that the tree didn’t hit the house.
We had half of the job done; now we needed to move the tree to the other side of the driveway. We went slow and steady as I pulled the tree with the Jeep and the sled slid over the pipes. My buddy helmed the tree with the rope and his dad moved the pipe from the back of the sled to the front when the sled slipped over the piping. This worked great and the tree finally got pulled into the other hole and it stood straight up.
The girls cheered and my youngest called me a Superhero just like Superman. I still drive by that tree every once in while and it brings a smile to me when I remember how my kids eyes lit up in amazement as that tree moved across the driveway.
posted by Fe Man at 5:15 PM
2 Comments:
Yeah, but how fast can you read???
Not very fast... but I can move a huge tree with the use of a Jeep and a winch.
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