DAY 230
11.20.07
TREE 154
I think today was the closest I came to almost forgetting to climb a tree. Back to work again this morning, up at 5:30AM. I learned how to use a chainsaw today. Made a few mistakes. Par for the course. I learn from the mistakes. Then after work I went to therapy. I just made it too since I worked late and didn’t leave the shop till 4:30. I was supposed to have my session yesterday but she double booked and the other person was in need of help more than me. That’s fine. A good thing, actually. So we talked about the Portland trip, etc. Then afterwards I called Drew and he told me he got the space downtown for his business. I wanted to congratulate him and buy him a beer. So I met him and MaryLiz at the BBC downtown. They had a concert to go to this evening. We ate, drank some beers, and talked. It was nice. Then I drove home and on the way talked to Ben. While driving and talking it hit me… I hadn’t climbed yet today! It was dark, getting late, and I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to this point. It’s a good addiction, climbing trees. So instead of going straight home I pulled over off 146 by the Italian restaurant in Buckner. There is one tree by the railroad tracks I’ve been eying for a while, but before I committed to it, I looked around. I saw a bigger more inviting tree across the tracks. I approached it but soon heard a dog bark. Then I saw it running towards me. I turned around and walked back to the first tree. It was easy to get in. I climbed fast and got up to the top in no time.
There were quite a few limbs around so I had good maneuverability up there. I felt very comfortable. No hands, no problem. With a strong stance I steadied my camera with both hands for long-exposure shots. With the nearby light and a bright moon I got some good ones.
After all the blowing wind and rain lately the leaves have mostly fallen from a lot of the trees. This one had just a few scattered about making visibility high.
Something about this tree, this climb felt really good. It feels like tree-climbing has become my "thing." It is what I do and I’m good at it, and no matter how many I climb, even easy ones, I still love it. Cold or hot days, whatever, I climb trees with a passion. Maybe it was the two beers talking but I just paused up there and gave a little appreciation to this tree, this night, this project, this climb, and to me. Then I climbed down. Tree climbed, disaster averted. I know a day may come when I won’t climb a tree, but I hope it isn’t anytime soon.
11-20-08: I believe Drew and MaryLiz were going to see Feist at the Brown Theater that night. Happy 1 year anniversary for your building Drew! Like I said about synchronicity in my last post, we (Drew, Robert, Cheyne, and I) went to BBC downtown last night. Strange.
I will also just say that sometimes I read these old entries and think, "damn, I’m a tree-hugger."
Yesterday I had an incredibly frustrating tree climb and a really long bike ride. I had this idea that I would bike to all my old houses around Louisville. For those of you who know Louisville, I have lived in Indian Hills and Goose Creek. They aren’t exactly close or easy to get to by bike. So I started out from Butchertown and went the Beargrass Creek Trail to Cherokee Park. As I was biking through this massive old sycamore caught my eye. It had a vertical branch growing out from the base of the trunk and seemed to intersect with a branch much higher up. I pulled off the road and checked it out. Upon closer inspection I realized it would be crazy… but tried anyway. I went up the vertical branch as high as I was comfortable but was not even close to the branch. There was no way I was going to get it. So I came back down and started to look at the trees nearby. I saw another sycamore equally as huge and awesome. It too had a low vertical branch only this one intersected a branch that looked actually reachable. I went up that one, and what do you know? I was right. I transferred to the larger, higher limb and crawled into the trunk. From there I was stuck. I had no where to go. From the ground I saw a small branch and a knot and I figured that would be enough. But it wasn’t. I peeked around the large trunk and saw a small V-shaped tree that intersected a higher limb on this sycamore. It looked like a better option so I lowered myself on the branch I was on, crawled back to the vertical branch, transferred back, with some difficulty and a lot of faith, then back to the ground. At this point I was getting a little worn out. But I wanted this tree. I walked to the small tree and started to climb up. Pretty soon I was to the sycamore limb, which looked slightly dead but held my weight when I tested it. I transferred to it and began to crawl into the trunk again hanging upside-down hooking my heels and going hand over hand. I stuck my hand in some animal shit along the way. That was gross but I couldn’t let it affect my concentration. I righted myself of the limb and looked for my way up. Nothing. I was too far from the next limb. Another dead end and I just couldn’t risk getting to my feet on this branch without a better hand hold. This was the end of the line so I figured I’d take some pictures. I struggled to get the camera from my zipped up coat pocket. When I finally got it out the power was on and when I went to take my first picture it said "battery depleted." DAMN! I must have bumped the on button a while back and it was just draining all this time. Frustrated I just said screw it, rotated under, crawled back through the shit to the V-shaped tree. When I transferred I decided I would stop and take some pictures with my cell phone. I took one of my view down from the V-shaped tree.
Then I climbed the rest of the way down and took a picture to show you all the places I tried to climb onto this sycamore.
This was the V-shaped tree attempt. (Look carefully)
Thiswas the first attempt on the second sycamore.
I backed up and took one of the whole tree.
Then I walked over to the first sycamore where I had locked up my bike and took one of it.
The quality of these pictures are so awful you probably can’t make out enough detail to try to figure out how the hell I tried to climb them.
I was so frustrated about the failed attempts and the camera dying that I just wanted to ride. I took off and hit all my old homes. Along the way I also ran into a Greenhaven Tree Care crew in Murray Hill. I was ready to ride on past but I saw Hugh who was one of the few nice ones and he recently had breast cancer. So I pulled over and we caught up for a while. Then I rode by my Kinvara Lane house. After that I rode through Barbourmeade to Barbour Lane and went all the way to HWY 42. That was a scary ride. No one goes 45mph on that road. And it’s hilly as hell. That is when I started to get pretty tired. But I still had to go through Indian Hills to my old Signal Hill Road house. I did that after passing by my old elementary school and Zachary Taylor’s old house. Then I headed down Blakenbaker Road to River Road. That was the last leg and worst part of the whole ride. I fought a strong head wind and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it home. I got to my house and was just so exhausted I couldn’t move for hours.
I did save enough energy for parkour last night though. What a day!
My path: (ignore the blue line on the interstate)
