GroupWBench

The doorbell rang just as I was wrapping up the final bit of trim work for the kitchen entry yesterday. There were a couple of high school kids and a neighbor from down the street. They explained that they had been testing their physics experiment that they would have to present on Monday. It was a model rocket.

They launched it from the park down the street. A combination of a powerful engine and a lot of wind had deposited the rocket firmly in the grasp of a huge oak tree in my front yard. It was about sixty feet up and way out on a thin limb.

After a bit of discussion, I offered to go up and see if anything could be done. We broke out the rope and harnesses and, with a head start from the ladder, I made an ascent of the big tree.

It was very different from climbing on rock. The tree moved a lot. Plus, the bark was kind of crumbly and never really felt solid.

Once I was up to the level of the rocket I used some slings to protect against a fall. It didn’t take long to determine that there was no safe way to go out that limb to get the rocket.

I called for the saw and spent the next twenty minutes sawing and sweating in an awkward position.  Finally, after much effort the branch came loose and fell. It swung down until it was vertical and then dropped until it hung up on the dead branch near the top of the ladder. Fortunately, the end of the branch with the rocket on it had swung down to almost ground level and a successful recovery of the intact physics project was made.

I had to lower down and tie another rope off around the branch so the ‘ground crew’ could pull it out and down to the ground.

In the end, the branch was brought down safely, the physics project was saved, and I got a bit of climbing in without having to leave home. Not too bad. I figure I can cut people off in traffic for a week before I use up all my Karma points.