Slippery When Wet: The Treachery of Wet Pine Straw
Like ice in the north, rain-soaked southern pine straw can slick and dangerous
I lived most of my life in northern climates with cold winters and I learned how to walk across patches of ice. With rare exceptions, I was able to traverse these dangerous spots without falling.
Now that I live in the South I’ve found there is something just as treacherous in the summer time – wet pine straw.
For my northern friends, let me explain: Pine straw is the dried dead needles shed from the long-leaf southern pines. It is nearly as ubiquitous in Georgia as sand in the Sahara. Every breeze and every rain shower flushes these needles out of the trees, covering roofs, sidewalks and roadways.
At some point in the past, people had the bright idea to rake up all these needles, bale them and sell them for use as landscaping mulch. It’s lightweight, a good ground insulator and a cozy home for a wide variety of bugs. These bales are sold in all the home improvement stores and at various roadside stands. You can’t drive 30 yards around here without seeing pine straw under someone’s bushes or around flower beds.
I find pine straw annoying but I’d never thought of it as a potential hazard until the other day on my morning walk.
My Morning Walk
Several months ago my doctor grew concerned about my blood pressure and prescribed medication. But I prefer a more natural approach so I’ve made some adjustments to my diet and started exercising in the form of a daily walk.
Across the street from my home is a golf course that closed several years ago after an unresolved legal dispute with the county about who was responsible for the water that flooded part of the course. Although it’s no longer playable as a golf course, the cart paths provide an ideal walking trail. I meander along these asphalt walkways with my staff in hand (it’s a walking stick but a staff sounds more regal), anywhere from 2.25 to 3.5 miles each morning, depending on the route I choose.
It’s really a beautiful place for a walk because it is hilly with lots of trees. Residents who live along the course continue to mow the fairways on some holes. But it’s a rigorous walk because of some steep terrain.
Then the Rains Came
Several days ago we had a series of rainstorms that Andy Griffith called “frog stranglers” – hard rain that soaked everything. And with a hard rain comes lots of pine straw falling from the trees.
The next morning I went on my walk as usual. The asphalt was wet and littered with clumps of pine straw but it seemed like a normal walk. Normal, that is, until I began descending a fairly steep incline and discovered that wet pine straw, like ice, can cause unanticipated acrobatics.
I stepped on a clump of wet pine straw lying atop the wet asphalt and my foot began sliding just as if I’d landed on a patch of ice. Had I been on even ground instead of heading sharply downward I might have merely skidded a bit. But already being slightly off balance because of the hill I continued becoming even more off balance.
I windmilled my arms and juked and jived until I managed to pitch myself forward and to the side, landing on the edge of the path and rolling onto the grass, which was also covered with wet pine straw. I popped up almost immediately and began to assess the damage.
I had survived the fall with minimal injury – a small strawberry on my knee, a couple of skinned fingers, a bruised thumb, and some dirt and leaves on my shirt and shorts.
Because I walk early in the morning I seldom see anyone else. But as is always the case when something awkward and embarrassing happens, there was an audience for my pratfall. It happened that John and Wilma, who I run into occasionally, were walking the path just a few dozen yards behind me and hurried to check on me. I was upright by the time they arrived and I assured them I was fine.
I use a phone app called Map My Walk to track my mileage, steps, etc., and it records my route. Later I discovered it had even registered my tuck-and-roll, showing the line where I veered off the path, wobbled to my feet and then turned to talk to John and Wilma. So I now know it’s accurate.
My experience hasn’t changed my daily routine. All that walking has taken five pounds off my weight and reduced my blood pressure to a reasonable level, so I’m going to continue my early morning ambulation along the same paths I’ve been used to. The only difference now is I’m keeping an eagle eye out for any wet pine straw.