Nature's Revenge

Having recently read that walks in the woods greatly enhance happiness, reduce feelings of anxiety and lower blood pressure, last night as I went to bed I promised myself that I would go for a long walk today. I awoke this morning all set, but was dismayed to see that it was extremely windy outside, like Wizard of Oz, witch-on-a-broomstick windy. I decided not to go out lest a wayward tree limb fall on my head and kill me. 

After all, there are over 250 billion trees in America today, and I bet many of them are pissed off at the lousy deal they have gotten thanks to our ongoing need for boats, furniture and houses. "I'm not taking any chances," I said to my husband. Mitch scoffed, seeing this as nothing but a transparent excuse to avoid exercise. However, thanks to the wonders of the Internet I was able to find the following information on a website belonging to a group of personal injury lawyers:

"While sustaining injury due to tree fall is relatively unlikely, there are ample opportunities for accidents to happen.  In some cases, accidents — sometimes fatal — have happened."

"In 2009, Mary Kathryn Ladany was out for a jog in Philadelphia’s famed Fairmount Park when  a 30-foot branch from a tulip poplar loosened and fell 50 feet to the ground below. The massive branch struck Ladany and killed her instantly."

"In March of 2013, 12-year-old Connecticut girl Gabriela Hudak was struck fatally on the head by a tree which collapsed in her own yard."

"In August of 2013, 30-year-old New Yorker Yingyi Li was sitting on a park bench in Queens when she was crushed and killed by a falling oak tree."

"In January of 2014, 50-year-old North Carolina woman Cheryl Harrison was killed after high winds caused a tree branch to sever and fall on top of her."

Adding in the two people I personally know who were killed by falling trees, both females, I concluded that trees obviously blame women for all their problems. Tomorrow's forecast calls for no wind. I'll go for a walk then.