Climbing trees.....at any age....

Here on the sprawling thousand hectare V estate, we have all sorts of trees. The fruit trees are typically under 15 meters in overall height. The berries, of course, under a meter. But the gymnosperms, evergreens, can grow in age and health to well over 35 meters. Senior oaks, as well. Perfect for antennas of all sorts-great for keeping in touch with the aging walker assisted radio amateur community, And for those not addicted to TV, a more sensible way to enjoy this dying/morphing broadcast medium, without the confiscatory charges of the cable companies. And to quote Pink Floyd, almost all Shite there anyway. Infomercials and the God squads. For well under a hundred USD, an antenna does it quite nicely. Also doubles for FM radio, which doesn't, BTW, seem to be in the throws of media death. Add a rotator, and being here not far from Oh Canada, way ooouuut there, Eh?, ---and even a few of their stations come in, on some nights. And get this, these are still analog modulated signals. Easy way for me to get my daily dose of liberal Canadian PC, as well. But I digress. Climbing one of these formidable plants is at once vigourating, and indulging in living on the edge. The women in my family use other, more colorful, words here. Because the lower sub canapé branches have long fallen away, one right through the roof into one of the servants' cottages, a small ladder is needed to get to that first sturdy branch. But then, successive ones run right up to the top, where luckily, no Ospreys or Eagles have decided to raise their young, YET! When this happens, the nanny state regulators bestow sainthood then on the plant. Hands then off, VIERK. But by retaining just a tad of our simian skills, the branches are typically spaced well within reach of even a shrimp like me. The safety trick is, of course, after assessing the strength of each next branch, in keeping three out of four monkey limbs attached at ALL times. For taking down trees, chainsaw in hand, a climbers' leather belt is best, but I used rope, when I took down that threatening big pine, with the roof piercing 100 pound lower rotting branch. All in 8 foot sections, tilted by a come along. Neighbor's took them all for various uses. And how marvelous is the ascent. A tree is an ecosystem all its own. The protective bark is a marvel of bioengineering, yet how all those beasties breach it is amazing. The woodpeckers somehow, without everlasting headaches, easily go right through, thereby providing deeper access to all sorts of insects. One sees it all. Occasionally, a red squirrel loudly chirps out disapproval from above, even bombarding the climber with stored acorns, only to vacate the premises as the approach to the crown continues. All sorts of abandoned bird nests, most also engineering marvels, await the climber, some, rarely, appear to be either stolen, or reused. But what do I really know? Lots more, folks, but eventually we reach the top. These trees seem to grow first by laying down a circumference of small proto branches, with an apical central shoot branch leading the way, ---usually, these are strong enough for some pesky birds of prey to mount a huge nest. But for those of us who don't use wings too fly, the perch usually is strong enough to allow leisurely views of the ocean bay, and distant hills, along with all sorts of water craft, and sea life, and birds/insects on the wing----the latter all being for another nature blog.