Mind You Don't Hurt Yourself

 'Mind you don't hurt yourself', were the very words I spoke to Bert when he announced that he and Les were going to fell a dying beech tree.

He had everything ready, long ladders in place, just waiting for the right fellow to assist him in this manly task. Unfortunately, on the previous evening, the ladders had to be re-deployed as Pippin the kitten had got herself into a bit of a pickle. She has a passion for climbing trees and had got herself stuck in a big hawthorn. Her ascent was easy but the way down was difficult because of the thorns. The meows were piteous. All her biggest fans (Hannah, Martha and Evie) were distraught and Bert was nowhere to be seen. Hannah had found a short step ladder and tried to persuade Pippin to come down. Instead, the silly cat went further up.

Then Bert, the hero of the hour arrived, and the big ladder was put in position which Bert ascended whilst getting a jolly good telling off from Martha for attempting the rescue in unsafe Crocs but he paid her no mind. Pippin ( who likes Bert better than anyone) was brought down but not before there was a very scary, jiggly moment with the ladder. There is really nothing much in a hawthorn tree to lay a ladder against.

Today, when Les arrived the ladders had to be brought back to the beech trees. It's really a two-person job handling a long ladder. Bert informed me what they were going to do, I asked him to be careful, and he said I could take photographs but I was to stay at a safe distance. 

The old tractor was used to keep taut a rope intended to encourage the tree to fall without damaging any of the other beech trees. I stood at a safe distance and waited. And waited. And waited.

Then came the crack. The distance I stood at was so safe that all I saw was the rope slacken and the top branches crumble to dust as they fell. 

It would have been far more dramatic if I'd been observing from here.

On the wander back to the house I picked some tomatoes.

And took a fairly decent photo of the mina lobata.

Another one of this veronica, throwing out the last blooms of the season. I've already collected seed and hope to have it again next year.

And this pretty clematis flowering along with white bindweed. One to be prized, the other despised.