Monday, July 11, 2011

Overcoming Those Niggling Fears Of Immediate Death

The problem took about five years to develop.

First, a tree branch slowly began enveloping itself around the electrical line leading to the house from the power line pole, and started brushing up against it. Then, the big branch above started breaking off the tree, in segments. Two weeks ago, the tip of one of those segments fell onto the electrical line, and began weighing it down. Too many more weeks of this kind of chafing, and maybe I would have a real problem!

Clearly, something had to be done. But what? I suppose I could call the electrical utility (SMUD), but the trouble was clearly on my property (even if the tree trunk itself was rooted in the alley, maybe right on the property line). I think this fell under my responsibility.

My hesitation regarded the nature of the electrical line leading to the house. What would happen if I came in contact with it, as I would almost certainly do? What kind of insulation did it have? It always had a metallic look to it, but it just wouldn't make any sense to have that line not be insulated.

But did I know if that line was insulated? For sure? With 100% confidence? No, not really. Sure, birds could touch it, but they aren't grounded, unlike the sorry primate-on-a-ladder who would helpfully provide an electrical ground with his body.

I remember graduate school, when Dr. Sean Twomey told a story about a weekend day long ago, when he was all alone. He touched a piece of equipment and received a powerful electrical jolt. He stood back in surprise for a few seconds to collect his thoughts, when he suddenly realized he was no longer breathing. Unless he could figure out how to breathe again, and soon, he would lose consciousness, and die. Fortunately, he was able to quickly teach himself rudimentary breathing, and save himself from a terrible fate.

But then, sometimes it's not the electrical shock: it's the fall. When I moved to Denver in 1976 to work at Martin Marietta Aerospace, I remember one day when an electrician working on a line in the ceiling got shocked and fell about 20 feet off of a tall ladder. He died about a month later.

So, there were multiple ways of taking a bullet here.

Oh, what the hell! Life is full of risks! I got out the really tall ladder and the extendable tree limb branch trimmer, and got busy. Bailey the Bunny panicked at all the sudden movement in the yard, and hid.

As expected, there was no way to avoid contact with the line. No shock, though. The line was well insulated. Whew! Now I knew, for sure! And I managed to get the tangled branches off the line, and off the tree altogether, without punishing blows or sad falls. No trips to the hospital. No crash courses in Breathing 101.

Some of those branch segments might still pose a problem in the future, but the immediate crisis is abated.

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