Grandpa Wes vs. the Whomping Willow (aka the Satsuma Limb-Cutter Massacre)

As promised...

Legend has it that Grandpa Wes is an experienced tree trimmer of sorts, so while he was in town we took full advantage. He and David took it upon themselves to trim the willow tree in our front yard, which until then was looking quite dreary. Let's just say several branches were actually draped onto the ground.

Not our tree...

Everything was going fine. The boys were out front working hard and being manly, and Halen and I were asleep on the couch. In other words, not supervising.

What could possibly go wrong?

So there we were, sleeping peacefully, when David woke me up. It went *something* like this:

D: Hey Honey, we're taking Wes to the emergency room.

M: Whuht?? What's wrong?

D: He cut his face open.

M: Huh?! How? Is he okay?

D: No, he cut his face open...

M: Oh, right...

Long story short- Wes was on the ladder, propped up against a not-so-sturdy branch, when said branch gave out, the ladder fell, and Wes fell right along with it. Face down. Onto the back of the 6-inch blade of the limb-cutter he was holding. I believe the magical number of stitches was 17?

That'll learn yuh...

It's a miracle he didn't break his nose, several ribs, an arm or two, or worse - jab an eye out.

Due to the nature of the incident, the following pictures are all "after" shots. I didn't know at the time that "before" shots would be required...

Here's Halen trying to be polite. (kidding! He loves scary Grandpa Wes!)

You shoulda seen the other guy.

And a more "artistic" version -

Grandpa Wes confronts his past -

And to answer the question surely on everyone's mind, here's the tree.

On a side note, Wes's glasses broke in half right down the middle, and while they were at the ER, I played a rousing game of "find the other half of the glasses in the branch pile." David's explanation of where to look? "By the ladder."