The Mountain Man(Herm Sherwood-Sitts) The Mountain Man
By Herm Sherwood- Sitts

The storm a few days ago, took the top out of a tree in his back yard. Thinking the rest might fall on his carport, the ole man called his nephew, Bobby.

Bobby and his wife showed up and Bobby strapped on his hooks. He ties the tree off about two thirds of the way up. His wife ran the strand to a pulley attached to a big Ash tree, back farther in the woods. From there the strand took a ninety degree angle to a chain hoist attached to a big Red Pine, about thirty feet away. The tree he was cutting down had a lot of weight leaning towards the carport. Like a pro Bobby, dropped the tree on target.

Both of the ole man’s sons offered to help him clean it up. The ole man tells them I can do it. He knows the sons are full time workers, husbands and fathers. Their plates are full enough without the ole man's crap. I am sure the ole man’s wife was thinking, 'stop being a stubborn two year old, and let them help you!'

So the ole man ran the chain saw for a while… and sat down in a lawn chair and rested his back. He would split a few blocks with the go-devil… and sit down in the lawn chair and rest his old bones. This went on for about four or five days. (A chore that in his younger days might have taken a day and a half.) In a few weeks he will be sixty seven. He needed to prove to himself that he could still do it. It was kinda’ like therapy to him.

He will tell ya that it took him so long because the temperatures were around ninety degrees. However the truth is … He is not the mountain man he once was.

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