He knew that it was only Thursday, and that he might need to wait until the end of the weekend for his children, ex-wife or other family members to realize they had not heard from him, since classes at his school in Marshall would not begin until Monday.... Rainfall on Thursday evening provided Ceplecha about a cup and a half of drinking water....
“Breaking stuff down into time periods. That began to occur on Saturday, when things were… difficult. And I would say to myself, ‘well, you think you can survive another half-hour? Yeah, I can do that.’ So I would survive another half-hour.... Think you can make it another five minutes? I would do that periodically.... The nights, if you can imagine it, were more difficult than the days....
On the Monday afternoon of Aug. 31, the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office received a request for a welfare check on Jonathan Ceplecha, who apparently had not shown up to work at his school in Marshall...
Maybe don't go cutting trees on your own without telling someone first, but if you do get pinned under a tree, "You have to understand that you are stronger than you think you are. People love you, no matter what. And if you use that as a motivator, you can make it through anything."
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Pretty amazing story. He missed the Boy Scout lesson: Be Prepared. As you say, there are some things it is wise not to do alone. There are innumerable videos on youtube about tree cutting fails. I've taken down a few small ones over the years but always leave the bigger jobs to the professionals. Well worth the money.
"You just look at the facts."
The facts seem to be "dumb guy misses out on Darwin award when rescued by ex-wife".
Funny how they tried to make into a tale of military survival in the face of overwhelming odds.
If Americans hear you can get a welfare check by spending four days under a tree . . . .
This is how I managed to not drink in the first few weeks of my recovery: one half-hour at a time.
THEOLDMAN
" People love you, no matter what."
The fact that that is even partially true is a problem in the world. I'm not a Christian, so I can say that your love is too valuable, too special to give away to everyone regardless of who and what they choose to be. I don't expect that from anyone toward me. If I want loved, I'll earn it.
"People love you, no matter what. And if you use that as a motivator, you can make it through anything."
I once spent a year as a philosophy major in college. Only the love of those around me got me through it. I broke my days down to the smallest parts: my 9:10 class. My 12:40 class. The 10 minute arguments. Of course, the night classes were the toughest. I mean, Ethics from 7pm to 10pm? Is there no mercy in the natural world?
Through the love of my friends, and a few strangers, I managed to make it through to my next major. Linguistics. Aarrgh.
And even today I lean on those lessons from yesterday. Though I have no ethics, and do not understand language use at all, I'm using the skills learned in those tough days. I can still order a pizza with one hand, while tossing a frisbee with the other. And I can still find comfort in a 10 minute argument. Just ask my wife.
The children, relatives, and his ex-wife never missed him!
If you look at the image of the stump at 0:55 in the video, you can see the tree split up the trunk and broke off well above the kerf he sawing. Fallers call this a barber's chair. It's very dangerous and often injures the faller when it happens.
I can't tell for sure from the picture if Ceplecha made a back cut. It doesn't look like it. A back cut is generally made and a wedge of the trunk is removed from the side of the tree facing the direction you want the tree to fall. Then, starting opposite the back cut, you saw through the trunk to meet the back cut, but stop just short of it, leaving a hinge of wood that will keep the butt on the stump as the tree falls. Removing the wedge of wood gives the trunk above the cut a space to move into as the tree swings down on the hinge.
If you don't make a back cut, you will get a barber's chair every time. Often, when a tree barber chairs, the butt will come back at you fast. It sounds like that's what happened to Ceplecha.
A barber's chair can happen even if you do everything right, but usually because the tree is rotten inside or has some other inherent weakness not apparent on the outside.
I wonder if Ceplecha knew what he was doing. The writer of the article goes out of his way to tell us what a simple, routine task it is to cut down trees. That is wrong. Falling any tree, but especially a large tree like the one Ceplecha was cutting, is a dangerous task that requires knowledge and experience to do safely. Logging is always near the top of the list of most dangerous jobs. The unpredictability of trees is one of the main contributing factors. Some trees deeply resent disrespect on the part of a faller and if they perceive it, they will try their best to kill you.
Was it a pin(e) tree?
Bob Boyd, that sounds like something a Huorn would do!
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