Bad Cherry and More Cats

My cherry tree is bad.  Very bad.

It's infected with a new bug to the valley that attacks nearly ripe and ripe cherries, creating a black spot where the insect larvae grow inside the cherry.  The Oregon State University extension office told me there was no spray to kill these bugs and it was advised I even pick up fallen cherries and seal them in plastic bags before disposal to prevent spread of the bug. 

I knew then I needed to down the over sized cherry tree.  Not that easy for me to do.  It sits right by the fence.

Yesterday I climbed up the aluminum ladder after securing it to the main trunk and began hacking off limbs with the reciprocating saw.  However, its battery lasts only for a few cuts, making this project time consuming.  In the end, I went at it with a dollar store hand saw.   I got most of it cut down but not the tallest trunk whose branches support one of the widow makers fallen from the maple.

The project created a lot of debris.   Slowly I am cleaning that up too.

I am very sore today but had taken Aleve before I even started to ward off some of the after effects.

I also began to trap a colony last night outside Lebanon.   Not sure how many there are.  By now, I've caught five.  I had four of the cats in the car last night on the way home, after dark, driving a rural road.  A car had come off a side road behind me south of highway 34.  Once across highway 34, it slowed way down until I could barely see his headlights behind me.  I wondered what was up with that.  But suddenly the car increased speed so dramatically he was merely a couple hundred feet behind me, as I watched, worried, in my rear view mirror.  When suddenly I saw the lights of the car go topsy turvy.  The car had flipped off the road. 

Yikes.   I hit the brakes, backed up, put on my flashers, got my flashlight and walked back and saw the car upside down in the ditch.  I waved my arms and flashlight to stop other cars for help.  Lots stopped very quickly.  Most of the occupants were young folks who quickly stepped in to help.  The guy was still in the upside down car, but seemed just fine.  He was banging on a window trying to get out.  Some guys rocked the car up so the door, jammed against the side of the ditch, could be opened.  The guy popped out, not a scratch on him. I'd called 911 and the police arrived.  I had to wait to give a statement and did.  A bit of excitement I guess and the guy seemed completely unaffected by his roll over.

Did everyone in the states just love losing an hour as we "spring forward" to daylight savings time, whatever the hell that is good for.  I've never quite understood it.  You don't lose an hour really, you can't lose time, but setting our clocks forward essentially jet lags everyone.

I needed a nap by mid day today.

Anyhow, here are the five cats caught so far at the Rock Hill Colony.

I took this photo before I started trapping.

This one too, before trapping started.  

There are at least two more out there needing caught.   Maybe more than that.   Traps still set.

The first five will get fixed tomorrow.