DAY 255
12.15.07
TREE 179
If there is one thing a Christmas party needs, it’s mistletoe. And since Will and I planned a big party for tonight I had that on my mind at work. Ever since that one house in the Indian Hills neighborhood where we cut down a tree in the back yard and the owner wanted us to save the mistletoe, I have started to see it growing in trees all over. So I was determined to pick some myself. While driving home last night down River Road I saw one tree with a good amount of mistletoe growing in it plus a decent path for a climb. I kept that one in mind. Then I woke up this morning to snow. Then the weather turned to rain. It was nasty out there. My parents didn’t want me to climb. But that’s crazy talk. Not climbing is way more crazy to me than climbing in icy rain and sub-freezing temperatures, or even tornado warning storms like I had done a few months prior. I climb everyday, no matter what. I know my limits and it isn’t too dangerous. Well it is dangerous but I’m really careful. Anyway, the power went out at the house around noon. I wanted to get out of there and shop, prepare, and pick that mistletoe for the party. When I headed out I found what cause the power outage: a fallen pine right onto the power line. I backed up and went the other way. I did some shopping and strongly considered climbing at Tom Sawyer Park since I was so close. Plus with this weather the branches actually were covered in a thin layer of ice. I also remember there not being too many easy trees in the park off River Road. But I’ve learned to listen to my gut and it said to go to the mistletoe. So I did. I pulled into the empty park and parked my car in the lot by the playground. By this point the trees didn’t appear to have ice on them anymore but the rain was still coming down good. I changed into crappy shoes and got on my raincoat. I walked around by the playground looking for other options but nothing worked.
I then crossed the soggy field to my tree. Big and mossy with a perfect little ball of mistletoe right in line with my path. The first step into the tree was the worst and the wettest of the climb. I practically body-hugged it and got my arms, legs, and body all wet. But I was in. I was careful about foot placement because little collections of snow still remained in the crotches of the limbs. My fingers became very cold then numb which got rid of the initial pain. I worked my way up to the branch with the mistletoe.
I wiped off my hands as best s I could, got out my camera and took my shots. I checked for a path to get higher but with this slippery bark and rainy cold conditions I wasn’t going to risk it. I was happy just to be picking my own real mistletoe. Not many people can say that at their Christmas parties.
So I bent down, picked it off and let it fall to the ground. I tied my ribbon, looked at the hazy view and rising river, then made my wet way back down.
I never got that high up, but it felt damn good. Good to climb,good to be outside, good to find the beauty in every kind of day. And I was excited about my upcoming party and, of course, the mistletoe.
12-17-08: From Wikipedia on Mistletoe: "Mistletoe is a poisonous plant that causes acute gatrointestinal problems including stomach pain, and diarrhea along with low pulse." From The Handy Science Answer Book. Barnes and Noble. 1997.
What a thing to romanticize and kiss under. Drew and I are having a party this Saturday and I have yet to collect this years mistletoe. I’ll have to remember that for Saturday’s climb. I will have to contend with similar weather conditions however. The freezing rain has left a slim layer of ice on most things. Only now I am more prepared with ski pants, a good waterproof coat, and waterproof boots. I feel pretty much invincible in this weather. I was even biking in the freezing rain. It actually froze to me and my clothes. I quite enjoy it.
Where am I? Still a little behind and trying to get caught up. Ah yes, Sunday night. Well, first I’ll talk about the day. I wasn’t planning on going to the gymnastics gym for indoor parkour training but ended up getting a call last minute to go. I was supposed to get picked up by NJ but accidentally turned my phone to silent and never got the calls or messages from him saying he couldn’t remember which house was mine. Stupid thing number 1.
I drove myself, ended up only having a half hour there to try to train three wild newbies in some basics with the pressure of skeptical gymnastics looking on. When I was driving to the gym I put my wallet on the seat and then I got a call from Charlotte. As we talked I took a sharp turn and I heard the wallet slide off the seat. I waited till I parked to find it. After we finished at the gym I went out to my truck to find my wallet forgetting that I had already looked, found, and stashed the wallet in the glove compartment. I looked everywhere frantically and started to freak out. I went home, looked all around, called people, called the gym, generally got into a panic. Then I drove all the way back to the gym to look. I had to get to Norm’s to go to his Nephew, Silas’s 5th birthday party. As I drove on I-64 I was thinking about canceling my credit and debit cards, getting a new license and other crap I was going to have to do. I made some more phone calls then it hit me, I remembered. Happy but feeling incredibly stupid I arrived in Lanesville. Stupid thing number two.
After the party Norm and I went back to his place to settle in for the night. We planned to work the next morning so I stayed the night. I suited up for a climb and went out to find a tree. Right behind his house is a little bunch of dead conifer trees. I walked up and picked one out.
Though most of the branches looked broken and all the bark was peeling off in decay they still seemed incredibly strong.
Pleasantly surprised I started to climb. Towards the bottom most of the limbs were too dead to trust but there was a smaller tree that supported me far enough to get to stronger branches.
I worked my way up slowly carefully checking each limb for strength and relying on the large strong ones, and avoided or breaking off the weak brittle ones.
I could see in the limited light that nearby branches and trees had snapped from recent high winds. This could be a dangerous tree, especially at the thin top, but that’s exactly where I was headed.
I was convinced this dead tree looked way worse than it was. I got up to the top and for the first time saw limbs littered with small cones.
I got into a comfortable stance and began to take my pictures.
There was little light emanating from Norm’s house and anywhere else for that matter.
There was a nice reflection off the lake and at one point there was a huge caravan line of cars heading down St. John’s Church Road.
I shot as much as I could with the light available then switched to flash.
As I looked at my small screen at the resulting pictures I could tell this tree looked way more dangerous than I could tell in the dark. A nearby tree looked worse though.
I finished shooting, paused a moment, then started to climb down. I took a few shots as I went then made it safely to the ground.
Another successful and exciting climb.
You thought I was going to tell you about some awful mistake and end it with "stupid mistake number 3," didn’t you? Don’t worry, when it comes to climbing I don’t allow for mistakes.