Preparation H

As you'll recall from a previous post, attempts to retrieve my digital camera rocket from the tree failed. Well mostly failed anyway, since we were able to retrieve the rocket fuselage but not the nosecone where the digital camera was.

The tree laughed at us as we attempted to retrieve the rocket multiple times. We tried preparations A through G to retrieve the rocket and all of them failed.
Then came the relief of Preparation H...as Borat would say, "Great Success!"

The secret to this victory: a dog fetching tool, tennis ball and a four-wheeler.
The dog-fetching implement is basically a flexible plastic arm with a cup at the end just the right size to hold a tennis ball snugly. In it's normal function the tennis ball is placed in the cup, the dog stares at the ball in the cup, the dog entertainer then swings the plastic arm and snaps his/her wrist at the end, launching the tennis ball. This device is incredibly effective, and just the trick to launch a tennis ball tied with string over 50 feet in the air straight up! Mad props to Don Lighty for coming up with this technique!

So, with the tools laid out on a sheet to prevent the string from getting snagged on a twig or branch, I unrolled the twine (bricklayer's string).
before:
after:

After a few throws I was able to get the tennis ball over the branch I wanted. The weight of the tennis ball pulled stonger than the weight of the string so the tennis ball returned slowly to earth and I then had both ends of the string. But the string is not strong enough to pull the branch without breaking. And the plan was definitely to pull the branch until it broke. It's on.

So I removed the tennis ball and tied the end of the string to a thicker rope, then pulled the other end of the string until the stronger rope was pulled all the way back over so that I now had both ends of the stronger rope, with the rope looped over the branch.
Now it was time to pull. It was time to see if a small branch in a tall tree was stronger than me. Short answer: yes, it was. Trees are strong y'all! There's a reason it made it through windy days and ice storms.

I pulled, and pulled and pulled some more and the rope only got tighter and the branch only bent more, until my hands were too tired to hold the little rope anymore or even wrap it around my hand anymore without cutting off all of the blood!
Time to separate manfolk from monkeys. Time to get midevil - well, redneck anyway - on it.

I tied one end of the rope to a thin stump, making a loop and knot so it would not come off. Tied the other end of the rope to the back of a four-wheeler.



Got on the four-wheeler and drove! It went about 30 feet before the branch finally broke. Well, not the branch with the nosecone and parachute on it! The branch next to it...sigh.

But what's this? The nosecone had fallen, the parachute still in the tree, tied forever to that branch. You can have it, parachute-eating tree!
The rubber band that had held the nosecone to the parachute had finally given up the ghost, probably deteriorated from being in the tree for a WEEK!
Tree defeated and nosecone retrieved I packed up my stuff and like any good hunter tied my kill to the bumper.


If you're still awake you're probably wondering, "Dude, where are the pics from the rocket?"
Well there are no pics. The batteries in the nosecone were dead (remember - a WEEK) and the memory in the nosecone is volatile - if you shut off the power it erases the flash. So no pics this time. But I replaced the batteries and tested the cam and it still works.
So once I get another parachute and rubber shock cord, and we have a WINDLESS day (ha...Oklahoma!) there will be pics. Oh yes, there will be pics.

And video.

To be continued...