About a year ago I was trimming tree branches with my new electric chain saw. I was up on a ladder working on a branch I had carefully examined, and determined which way it would fall. I placed my ladder and myself out of the way, put on my safety goggles, and proceeded to cut. The branch started falling, but did not take the trajectory I had anticipated. Instead, it swung AROUND the tree AT me, knocking the ladder out from under me. I was left dangling from a branch with one arm, chainsaw going in the other. I quickly dropped the chain saw and clung to the tree, trying to figure out how to get down. I was up about 7 feet, too far to jump. My cell phone was in the house, or I could just call up my neighbor to put the ladder back. I tried calling to my neighbor in hopes he would hear me, but to no avail. Eventually, I lost my grip and fell out of the tree, and somehow landed on my feet, unhurt. I just started laughing, hysterically. Only I could manage to get myself into such a situation, and come out of it unscathed. I was VERY lucky that day. I had visions of broken limbs that didn't belong to the tree.
When I was 18, I had surgery on my jaw that required general anesthesia and a hospital stay. About 2 weeks after the surgery, I decided to hop on my tb gelding bareback for a spin around the arena. As we cantered around a corner, I lost my balance and managed to slide underneath him. He unavoidably ran over me as we were going too fast, but stopped very quickly. I had some nice gashes on my ankle, and a large, hoof shaped bruise on my thigh. That bruise must have damaged the fat, because 22 years later, I still have a hoof shaped welt on my thigh.
