DAY 128

DAY 128
08.10.07
TREE 42

Another scorcher today, but slightly cooler. After a certain point it’s just hard to tell. I went up to the tree by the great barn and checked it out. All over the trunk were many tiny ants running very fast up and down. I followed the trail to the ground, over to the grey pump house. The ants were going in a crack at the corner but continued out the other direction. I followed them more, all the way around to the other side of the building. They had lines going off the building to four nearby trees. Millions of them, working hard. The tree I wanted to climb definitely had the most. I went down to the clay studio and warned Norman of my coming ordeal then got to it. It took a couple tries to get a hold of that first knot because I was so apprehensive to interact with the ants. Luckily, this time there was no twig stabbing into my hand. I prepared to commit and got up, then quickly pulled myself up trying to move my hands as fast as I could. Every branch had ants running along them. I kept racing up until the mass of poking twigs stopped me and I had to slow down and start snaking through. At this point the ants started to thin out much to my relief. I got up to my tag then worked my way a little higher. I took a somewhat comfortable seat and called friends to plan the night ahead. Many people at the Mount were heading to their cars after some event and it was fun to watch it from my vantage point. The air was nice and I was comfortable, relaxed, and willing to stay up there a while… till my left leg started to fall asleep. So I snaked down away from the trunk as much as I could and jumped to the ground. Nothing crazy about this climb but I am happy I didn’t get any ant bites.

8-12-08:  Ants.  I remember seeing this video in college about ants.  It was amazing.  It was done by Edward O. Wilson and was one of the best nature documentaries I had ever seen.  And I used to watch a lot of discovery channel growing up.  You know, before it turned into reality shows.  Strangely, though, I never got thatinto shark week.  I liked when they would focus on a certain colony or group of a specific species and follow them for a while.  “People of the Forest” is another classic about the chimps in Gombe.  Monkey footage is just incredible because there is so much to learn from those master tree climbers. 

And speaking of monkeys… on Saturday in St. Louis Drew, MaryLiz and I went to Forest Park.  It is a massive park that contains museums, centers, a zoo, trails, trees, fields, ponds, creeks, fountains, and I didn’t get a sense of it’s full size.  We did the SLAM (St. Louis Art Museum) and the zoo.  My favorite animal by far was a little monkey in the primate house.  The Coquerel’s Sifaka.

Mostly because the two of them were the only animals moving around.  So many animals at the zoo were sleeping in the hot afternoon.  But the zoo depresses me.  Small spaces, hand fed, animals walking in circles with nowhere else to go.  The chimpanzees was probably the worst.  They sat by the glass watching us watch them.  They looked sad… I looked as if they were thinking.  At lease the art museum had some van Gogh’s.  Those always are something to experience in person. 

After the zoo I went to look for a tree to climb.  I began to scan all the beautiful trees in the park and realized all the large ones I wanted to climb had all been dutifully kept up.  Meaning they had no low branches.  And I was not in the mood to get real dirty and sweaty and possibly all scraped up from shimmying up a trunk.  The park was also incredibly crowded with people everywhere and one cop on a horse.  I did not want to be conspicuous and get hassled so I started to run frantically away from the crowds looking for an easy tree.  About ten minutes later, over a hill down by a creek I finally found an oak by this monument:

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn… the father of “systematic physical culture.”  What is that?  Wiki says he’s the father of gymnastics and invented the parallel bars, balance beam, vaulting horse, and horizontal bar.  Wait, what the hell does he have to do with St. Louis?  He was European… and an antisemite.  Strange.  Even more strange was the man standing next to this monument who was obviously deranged and talked to himself.  For a second I was worried he would react badly to me climbing near him.  But it just scared him away.  Here is the tree:

I had to run off the trunk and grab the lowest branch.  It took two attempts but I got in before some pedestrians came a saunterin’ by.

It was a quick and easy climb, just what I was looking for.  I was also well hidden, another aspect I was searching for.  Those people had no idea I was watching them (hahahahahaha). 


The best thing about the day was that the museum and zoo was free.  More places should be like that.