October 2008 – Page 30

DAY 180
010.01.07
TREE 97

My climb today was a little rushed. The morning and early afternoon were filled with MACA work. Then I went with Norman to Sarah Frederick’s house to clear bamboo from her yard. I also climbed a tree to cut some limbs. It’s an Osage Orange tree and those have thorns… nasty, poison ridden thorns. My arms got pretty scratched up and now they feel incredibly sore. After that we quickly drove to Cherokee Park, parked by Frisbee Field and briskly walked to the tree. As we approached I told Norman how this tree made me think of Rachel since I climbed this tree just before picking her up from the airport on July 1st (2007). But my memories had to be put aside. We were on a schedule and we were already late to meet Gus at J Gumbo’s. After that we were going to see a free screening of The Jerk at Actors Theatre. When I got to the tree I quickly walked to the branch I used to get up, jumped to grab the tiny part of the limb then walked in till my feet didn’t touch. Then it was hand over hand incredibly fast. It made me think of the hand bikes on American Gladiator. Anyway, once on the limb I grabbed, pulled, jumped, and scrambled my way up this beautiful sycamore.

All the way up at the top I ripped off my ribbon and picked a brown spotted leaf. I

took pictures in a rush and that was easy because there wasn’t too much that was very interesting.

Then I climbed down the branches and hung from the long branch at the bottom and dropped. I was lucky because I scraped my ankle and just missed my scab by a millimeter. I snapped a couple more shots then we were gone. A really fun, fast climb.

10-1-08: Ahh, The Jerk… I had never seen it before that night. It was worth rushing for.

As for the American Gladiators arm bike thing, I was looking for a video and couldn’t find one. You know what I am talking about, right? It was a part of the old AG Gauntlet (the final obstacle course) where they hung from these pedals attached to a track on the ceiling and used their arms to pump the thing to the other side. It looked incredibly hard and awesome. Out of all the things they do on that show, that and the Hanging Tuff rings would be my favorite.

So yesterday Drew and I spent all day moving to our new place. Drew rented a U-Haul and we took two trips. Once we finished unloading we went to Target with Drew’s mom to pick up some household needs. And since our appliances in the kitchen are stainless steel Jody went nuts buying stainless everything. She also bought me a monkey faced rug for my room. She just thought it was "totally Todd." And a nice tree themed entry mat. After we were done shopping I spotted a maple and got my climb out of the way. Yes… I said out of the way. Some days, when I’m busy, it just seems like I need to get it done and over with. So I did.

The tree was not tall by any standards, nor was it that interesting. I went up, took pictures and came down. That being said, it was still fun. Always is.