My wife had been lamenting that our neighbor's pine tree had grown such that every time she pulls out of her parking space in front of our house, the pine drags over the top of her mini-van. I have to say, at this point, that we have great neighbors, but lawn/tree maintenance is a very low priority for them. They are friendly, the father of the family is a great shade-tree mechanic and he fixed my old cargo van several times, and they always stop by to chat with my kids. Anyway, about 20 years ago they planted their Christmas tree in their yard, not far from the street. It has grown unchecked since then and now some limbs pretty significantly hangs over the street. So we're cleaning out our basement Saturday morning and I see my limb cutter tool and decide to walk over and trim the 4 or 5 skinny low- hanging branches that scrape the top of our van as we drive away. I would ask them if they minded, but I know they'll never notice (and yes, I know that that is hardly the point). Anyway, the first skinny branch I cut hits me on the head leaving me with a nice dose of pine tree sap in my hair (I didn't realize this until a couple hours later when I was brushing my hair, cheap shampoo is no match for tree sap, I resorted to the scissors). Then as I clip the last branch, I somehow smash my right thumb between the wooden handles of the limb cutter. I wish I'd just left that tree alone!
Mike