DAY 236
11.26.07
TREE 160
Kind of a disappointing day. Not too bad, but a few things transpired that weren’t so good. I went to the Mount to take down my show. It was a little sad but, really, I knew it was not meant to be forever. I just need to concentrate on the future. It was nice to see Lisa and hang out with Norman. I took a break to climb while the rain stopped. I didn’t want to take too long and no tree jumped out at me at the Mount so I drove over by the Chiropractic Worx place off 150. I parked at the back of the lot and walked into the nearby field along the edge of a wood.
The big trees in the distance looked good from the road, but as I got closer they were too big and limbs too high or far apart. I also felt as if I was on property I shouldn’t be on. So I started to get nervous about my visibility.
I stepped into the woods and found a tree with two trunks that seemed to have a path to the top. All around the base are a mass of thorny vines. I stepped on those and mashed them down as best I could. I stepped up on the crotch of the two trunks and made my way up, mossy, wet, and dirty. Many of the limbs were damaged or dead and very slippery. I took it really slow. On one limb I had to get one foot up, steady myself with my other foot pressed up against the trunk while I held up my weight with my hands on the same limb my first foot was on. It was a balance act. I have definitely gotten better at it and more confident on higher limbs.
I got up half way to the top and was ready to go higher but the next set of limbs were all dead, and a really, not-trustworthy dead.
I broke one off and just stood there debating with myself about going for it or stopping here. I tested grips and looked for alternate routes up. But all just felt bad in this wet slippery state. I almost went for it, but I stopped.
I tied my ribbon, took pictures, then very disappointed, climbed down.
Slow, dirty, then I dropped into the thorny vines. That didn’t feel very good. Than I walked out of the woods and back to the parking lot. As I looked back towards the woods I noticed a NO TRESPASSING sign. Sorry, I just knew it though. Especially risking it for such a disappointing climb.
But afterwards I had a great Thai dinner with Father Paul, Father Troy, and Norman. A nice way to end the cold wet day. Back to work tomorrow. My first four day week at this job.
11-26-08: I stupidly bought a bright red raincoat a few years ago so when I go out and try to be sneaky it’s quite hard. It is funny how I can be in a tree with no leaves, in the middle of the day in a park, wearing my bright red raincoat, and when people walk by they still don’t see me. I just figure if the weather is that nasty no one will want to come out and chase me away. But I try to stay off private property as much as I can. Sometimes certain trees call to me very strongly and I disregard that rule.
Just for information from the above entry: The show I took down was my Daily Climb – Part 1 collection of photographs and journal entries at the Mary Anderson Center. And we went to eat at Mai’s Thai in Jeffersonville, IN.
Last night I went to Sports Time (aka Richo’s or New Albanian) with Amanda and Ty.
We met up with Norm, Gus,
Hope,
Molly and some of her friends (sorry I didn’t get pictures of them because they were at another table). We had some beers and pizza and then when we were ready to leave I headed out to scout for a tree nearby. I found one in a nearby lot but it is so short. All the trees around this area are short. Amanda and Ty seemed interested in watching and I figured I’d just get it over with and climbed the tree. It was a two-trunk pine about 25 feet tall, maybe 30. The branches were really low and it was easy to get into. I picked my trunk and went up through the crowded sections of branches.
At first Ty and Amanda watched below but Amanda got cold and went to get her car to watch from inside.
I continued to work my way breaking many limbs along the way.
I got up towards the top and it was tough to find strong limbs to support my weight.
I had to use one arm to hold me to the tree so I wouldn’t fall out. That left one hand to take pictures. I got a few of the surrounding businesses like Kroger and this car wash place that was blaring radio music even though it didn’t have any customers.
At one point I took a picture of Ty below and the flash made all these floating particles visible.
It wasn’t raining or snowing or anything. The needles weren’t wet so I have no idea what it was but it came from the tree. I took a few more pictures then started to climb down since they were waiting for me. I broke a few more branches on the way down then took one more picture of the tree with the help of Amanda’s bright head lights.
