How many times have you just sat on a rock near the trail to catch your breath? The rock has been sitting in that same spot for, oh, you know, a hundred years, but the minute you sit on it, it decides to give way.

This happened to a young woman in Pennsylvania over the weekend. The boulder pinned her against a tree; she died later from hypothermia and blunt-force trauma.

Reminds me of something that happened on Christmas Day back when I was a teen-ager. We were on our way to Grandma Mangan’s place but had to change our route because the usual street we took was blocked off by cops & firefighters. Later we learned that this guy and his wife and child were driving down this gorgeous tree-lined street when a big branch from one of those trees fell on the roof of his car. It flattened one side of the car, killing the driver; his wife and child were unhurt.

I don’t know what to think of the hiker’s passing, beyond the fact that everybody’s luck runs out eventually. Best you can do in life is try to improve your odds (I’m sure there’s a famous quotation to this effect out there somewhere).