Coconuts, continued

A four-branch pile-up

Two days ago, a wicked western wind kicked up and the frail fronds were falling fast.

The local coconut street service came to assist our neighbors again. This time, there was no trunk scaling, no party truck, just a good old fashioned sickling. In their version, a sharpened steel crescent is tied to a 20' strip of bamboo. The ground man poked and speared then tugged and shred until the limb gave way only to snag on one of five power lines below. Including ours. The pro was able to clear two, but got hung up on the rest. With permission from the homeowner manging the whole situation from his doorway, he bagged three from the rooftop.

 

Go, go, Gadget Poleaxe!

The official moved down the road, but the work around the hood was far from over. There was still a huge pile of downed coconuts from the last visit, plus this fresh 'windfall' of fuel. The family sent grandma out front to split coconut shells for, like, five hours. they gave her a dull machete and a rock. After that, junior grabbed an axe and joined her for a couple more. This went on for two days. If you look close in the picture at the house on the left, you can see how full the eave already is, in front and along the side above the girl in the doorway. Today the family was stacking the hundreds of split husks and freshly cut 'firewood' in what little space remaining. They did this, of course, with a bamboo ladder poised precariously on the fence.

aeryk