Lindsey asked me if I was going to go downstairs to check it out. In this situation it's really hard to tell your new wife that you want her to come with you to check out the loud noise. But I did. I figured if it was an intruder, two against one gave us the upper hand. So we went downstairs (side note: I grabbed a pillow as a weapon. In retrospect this was not the best choice. But I was half asleep). We saw nothing, everything was as it was when we went to bed and the alarm was working fine.
So we went back upstairs and went back to bed. Of course we ended up lying there for about an hour, scrutinizing any and all sounds. There is a fine line between the pitter-patter of a Chipmunk out for a late-night snack and a chainsaw wielding homicidal maniac. At least to me there is. We fell asleep around 2am.
At 4:30am I heard Lindsey say "What is that?" at the same moment I heard what she was referring to: the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw. "So this is it" I thought. I survived 33 years in New York City without a scratch, only to be ripped limb-from-limb by a deranged killer in the quiet little town of Sharon, CT. As I contemplated the irony, Lindsey told me to go check it out. Well, one of us had to go first. So I went to the upstairs landing (sans pillow) and immediately saw a very bright light out of the window. Every recent Hollywood horror movie flashed through my head ("Saw XVII: Death at the Farmer's Market").
And then I saw the answer to the whole evening. There was a massive thunderstorm on Saturday. It must have damaged one of the trees on the periphery of our property because part of it broke off and crashed to the ground. That explained the noise we heard. And now the guy who owns the house next to us was out there cutting up the part of the tree that fell onto his driveway with his chainsaw (our property is next to his very long driveway, but we can't actually see his house).
My only question is why was he doing this at 4:30am? Why not wait until morning?
With the mystery solved, we went back to bed. But we kept the light on downstairs, just in case.
--Posted by Evan
3 comments:
In 1987, there was a nasty thunderstorm/tornado (the results of which can be still be seen in fields of dead trees in Cornwall and Great Barrington, MA) that took down a tree in front of the house. It fell on the power lines in front of the living room, causing quite the scary sight to my four-year-old eyes.
Also, I don't know if your neighbors are related to the elderly couple who lived there when I was still in the neighborhood -- I think their son may have inherited the place --but it's worth mentioning that there are a number of Northwest Corner residents who consider 4 AM to be an acceptable wake-up time (although chainsaws *are* pretty atpyical at that hour).
Ah, now if we were still there I'd have been off to Tractor Barn (or whatever it's called) and got a Husqui pronto (they don't sell Stihls, alas), and been out there giving your neighbour a hand.
It's a chainsaw thing!
(btw - is Tractor Barn open at 2 a.m.?!)
Ah, now if we were still there I'd have been off to Tractor Barn (or whatever it's called) and got a Husqui pronto (they don't sell Stihls, alas) and been out there with your neighbour.
It's a chainsaw thing!
(btw - is Tractor Barn open at 2 a.m.?!)
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