Spring Trimming

Do you remember the commercial where the women are in the house talking about the new window blinds, completely oblivious to the fact that the man is in the backyard being thrown around and blown-up by the grill? A very similar scene took place at our house the other day. I was in the living room where we have a huge picture window that looks down onto our backyard. I was cleaning away - sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, throwing away old newspapers, and singing along with Meatloaf on the stereo; just having a grand old time. At the same time, Riff was in the backyard, trimming the maple tree. Our backyard is on a pretty steep hill, so the tree doesn't look very big in this picture, but it is a normal sized tree, not just a bush. This tree has a tendency to grow straight up which blocks the view of the bay, so every couple of years it has to be trimmed back. Anyway, there's Riff up on the ladder with his big long trimmer thingy-ma-bob happily trimming away. As the story goes, he was actually IN the tree, trying to step back onto the ladder when our very own Whomping-Maple decided to reach out and smack him across the face. His balance was thrown off and down went the ladder with Riff falling through the air and landing on top of the toppled over ladder. Very much reminds me of said commercial, which has made me giggle hysterically to myself all week at random times. Now mind you, he wasn't badly injured, just some scrapes, bruises and a little bit of swelling around the wrist (nothing broken). I wouldn't be laughing if he had, say, broken his neck or something. But as it stands, no major injuries, it really does paint a funny picture.
The moral of the story is....If you were to fall out of a tree at our house, or get blown-up by a barbecue grill, we'll ask if you're hurt - if we can get the words out between the snorts of laughter.