Tree Climbing Daddy Style

We'll start at the end of the day for perspective, and then rewind:

Marlee was bragging to Cailin at the dinner table that she got to go tree climbing. Cailin's response was, "So, I climbed a tree today too." And then came the "No, I got to climb a tree daddy style!" Unfortunately, I never got a picture of Marlee doing this, but she got a couple pictures of me earlier in the day.

I hear the Easter Bunny might be bringing her a real kid's saddle so she can climb without going numb in the lower extremities from the ad hoc rope saddle daddy made. Then I may have time to get the camera. Turns out recreational tree climbing is a growing sport, and a great family activity. In fact there is even a great company that is right down Riverbanks Road from where Erin used to live: www.newtribe.com. Check 'em out if you have a few minutes. I've got lots of other sites if anyone is interested.


Here I'm maybe 50 ft up rigging the bull ropes to lower a branch that hangs over the house. The offending branch is the large one below me coming across the right side of the picture.


Here you get a little perspective, although the ground still isn't in the shot. You can make out the spot where the troublesome branch was removed.


This is my climbing buddy, Jason. Also known as Sawyer J. This is up a neighboring tree where we were pruning a lot of the nasty lower branches purely for aesthetics.


After doing some delicate tree work at my house on rope, we went up to my neighbor's house to have a little fun just plain dropping some of his dead trees. I was feeling pretty cocky after dropping three dead pines exactly where I wanted. Jason really likes my big MS460 Magnum, I think it fits his personality.




Finally, we have a little video of Sawyer J dropping this dead oak tree at the neighbor's house. If you would like to comment on his OSHA-approved technique, I'm sure he'd be glad to hear it, just send him an e-mail.