On my Saturday morning run, I often run past this tree, which I have always admired for it's perseverance in the face of adversity. It occurred to me that it should be named "The Gary Tree." As you can see, life has taken a few twists and turns for this tree (as it has for Gary) yet , in the end result, it is still onwards and upwards for this battler (as with Gary):


Gary, there is a piece of you in Kiwiland....
Cheers
Neil
PS Here's a sunrise pic taken from the back of my place a while back....

And here's a picture of an airgun to make this post airgun related....

Nice, both the tree and the carbine.

There's a couple around here that look like twins of that "360" tree, I'll have to see if I can get you a photo someday.

Cheers Sean, would like to see them. Nature is very adaptable...
Regards
Neil

Thanks Neil for pleasing us with such beautiful pictures of your homeland. That tree is an oddity all by itself.

Great pics Neil , and that tree was correctly named . Keep reaching for the sun and you WILL blossom . You just gotta find it . Hope your getting some good rabbit time shooting . I always enjoy your posts.

I am honored, Neil. Thank You. . I do feel a warm bond with my leafy namesake there.

You live in a magnificent place, Neil. Blessings to you and your family.

Gary

That sunrise picture is crazy. If that was off my back porch I don't think I would be able to leave the house.

Hello Neil,

Thanks for sharing. In life we have many examples of perseverance and you provided a great example. My life is nothing I had imagined it would be. Not even working in the exact vocation I thought I would be.

The sunrise picture is amazing. I showed my wife, she was WOW. We would like to travel to New Zealand one day.

All the best, thanks again.

Pedro

Up here it's the snow load that gets them all bent out of shape. The saplings base get locked in the bottom layers when it compresses and freezes to the mountain, and the upper section gets pushed downhill as the subsequent snow load slowly creeps downhill. It's not the same every year, so some of them have multiple weird offsets and bends.

The power of snow moving downhill has to be seen to be believed. Back in my boyscout days while hiking in the Rockies we came across almost a quarter mile of trail that was blocked completely by an avalanche "blowdown". Thousands of mature Ponderosa pines on the hillside had all been snapped off clean at about six feet above ground level, all at the same height. Getting through it with our backpacks on took forever, it was a 3-D maze of jackstrawed trunks and stripped limbs all jumbled together. I'm sure some forest ranger types eventually cleared it with chainsaws and winches, but it would have been a major project. Dangerous work too, clearing jams like that when it's all tumbled about.

Phewww, Sean, I'm glad we don't have those snow complications!

Thanks Julio, Kurt, Gary, Sal and Pedro.

Cheers

Neil

Believe it or not, up here (Juneau, Alaska) there are a number of houses built in or near avalanche danger zones. About fifty years ago several of them had their roofs blow down or collapsed just by the air blast preceding the actual avalanche. Seems like a really bad idea to have occupied houses there, but places to build on have always been scarce in this area.

Here's a link to an article about avalanche control methods they use here, including the howitzer the local Dept. of Transportation uses to clear some of the slopes. Yes, the road crew guys up here have their own 105mm howitzer, not something you see every day.


[juneauempire.com]

Wow, a howitzer, that's serious snow control!
Cheers
Neil

I think they use howitzers for avalanche control on Truckee pass in California too. Looks like fun, we walk our dog past the leveled out concrete "shooting pad" pretty frequently, but I've never seen them in action.