Timberrrrrr!

Skippy phoned at almost 8 p.m. last night. He said a tree between two of the dorms fell down. First, I thought it was just a large branch, because the last time someone said a tree had fallen, it hadn't. Then I thought, because of the location, it didn't surprise me that a branch had fallen because that's one of the three, large trees I had recommended we take out because they are in severe decline. I was right, yet I was wrong. It was the correct tree I was thinking of, yes, but it was the entire tree that fell.

Miraculously, just about perfectly, the massive (except for people who have seen the redwoods and sequoias) tree missed every car parked under it, missed the dorm toward which it fell, and even (and best of all) missed the two boys who had been playing under it -- until they heard some cracking, which they thought was a squirrel in the branches.

Now I get to play Brainy Smurf (see also my 7/15/09 post "I Am Brainy Smurf") and tell Skippy, "Remember that list of trees that the Headmaster didn't give me approval to take down? Well, maybe now he'll listen to what a degreed horticulturist says."

It was a complete coincidence. I wasn't anywhere near the tree at the time. I was at home, watching Frasier. Honest.