What’s the best way to get something out of a tree branch? This may not be the best way, but seemed like a good idea at the time. Some styrofoam wrapping material was stuck in this tree for more than six months. Today I decided to do something about it, using the tools at hand. The tools included a rusty garden rake, a roll of packing tape, and the pole from a roof shovel.

Link to Part 1 Video.

Creative Commons license music: At Launch.mp3 from incompetech.com

A big wind storm last year blew a piece of styrofoam packing material up into the tree over the driveway. It has been stuck there for more than six months, even through the wind, snow, and ice of last winter. I want to get it down somehow to throw it away, but am not sure how to reach it without injuring myself in the process. What would you do?

The Palladian Circle in Saratoga Springs. A strange garden monument with statues of satyrs and maenads from Greek mythology. The statues are under glass to protect them from the winter weather. The boxes get removed every year for the summer. The pyramid in the center is covering a huge stone sundial.

Found this natural spring fountain on a walk through the park. It seemed like it was spitting at me. The water tasted like sulphur.

Also, this is my first video in HD.

Behold The Giant Icicle!

It flows down from the roof
Like the upper echelon of society
Extending their influence
Through money and politics.

And juts up out of the snowbank
As the aspirations of the common man
Soar upwards toward the sky of their dreams!

The frozen center where both meet
Belies the disunited character
Of the social order.

It stands – as does Nature itself
Bearing mute witness
To the inhumanity of the human creature.

Nature is trying to tell me something. Stay put ’til Spring!

Bonus Pics!

Here I am all tired out after another run with the snow blower. 12 degrees out that morning! There was ice forming in my beard from the moisture in my breath.