Refracted Rainbows
an excerpt

I remember one day we decided that one of the trees that measured about 6 inches in diameter needed to be cut. The tree itself was bowed over starting about 10 feet off the ground. My partner set a tall ladder against the tree and proceeded to get his equipment to cut the tree. For this careful surgery he was going to use his saw-zaw (reciprocating). I warned him that the tree might spring back when he topped it and he should probably secure himself to the tree below where he was cutting it. He too thought this was a good idea so he took a cam buckle and secured himself to the tree where the ladder ended. He began cutting. The first cut, then the second to take a small chuck out of the side where he wanted the tree to actually fall. Then, as if to secure the whole endeavor he started making the final third cut. As I watched the tree began to slowly sag toward the ground. Gradually it lay toward the ground. The saw had silenced as my partner and I watched in amazement as the cut, not going all the way thru had an unintended outcome. The middle of the tree was green and pliable, it split and the split . . kept on splitting. . .slowly . . .below the ladder. ..if it didn’t stop it was going to take and split my partner in half too. . . To our amazement the tree didn’t spring back as anticipated. . .it just split in two. ..about 2 feet below the ladder before breaking and finally falling like a feather to the ground. The part of the tree he was attached to was miraculously only 1 ½ inches from his tether! The tree swayed gently once and came to a halt. My partner looked at me in disbelief as I had come to my feet and was fervently yelling at this point for him to unhook himself from the tree. “How?” was all he could ask. We were both absolutely amazed. We agreed that from then on he’d take the chance and solo it so that if he needed to he could jump clear of a splitting tree. Never in my life have I ever seen a tree split so slowly and precisely down the center when it was being topped off.