DAY 51

DAY 51
05.25.07
TREE 57

I did a little manual labor in Louisville, Prospect to be precise, on Wednesday and today. On my way home Wednesday I was driving down River Road and noticed some really nice trees along the side of the road by Cox’s Park. So on my way home today I stopped at the park. It has so many nice big trees but they are so big the climbing didn’t look so good. So I made my way over to the ones I saw the other day, and I was right, they are perfect climbing trees. Low, strong branches, evenly spaced and they go all the way to the top. So I was up fast. It was rush hour and many cars zoomed below me, but I was pretty sure none saw me. Especially when I was up high. I love that hidden aspect of climbing, especially when I fear cops would give me static for what I was doing. I don’t know on what grounds but I just feel they wouldn’t like it. In the top of the tree I paused, swayed in the wind, and took a phone call. This tree was great and had beautiful camouflage type bark coloration. I look forward to climbing this one again.

5-25-08:  Again with the word “static”… I have never even been harassed by cops this whole project.  In college the campus police raced to a quad where I was climbing a tree, lights going, and the officer got out of the car and walked up to the tree.  I was way up in the tree and I looked down thinking… “what now?”  Apparently the station got a call from someone reporting a possible suicide attempt.  I told the officer I was doing this for art.  I think he thought that was bullshit and told me to get down.  And if I was going to kill myself, I could think of a much better way than jumping from a tree.  What a bad way to go.  If you even go… you’d probably just end up very injured. 

Yesterday was another good day of tree climbing with Will and Basil.  This time we went to Hogan’s Fountain in Cherokee Park.  I challenged Basil to climb a tree I had climbed before that is a bit of a challenge but you get up high.  He did it, and I think he enjoyed himself.  He was also very proud of the long bloody scrape he got on his forearm.  We went into the woods and climbed young maples to bend them to the ground.  In one, I bent it to transfer into a hackberry.  Then from there I stepped onto a very large old tree, I’m not sure what kind.  I took a video up there: