By The Seat of His Pants

Just thought you might enjoy this picture. Would you believe this started with a simple ball in a tree?
[EDIT: Candy asked me to tell the whole story and I posted it in the comments, but figured I would post it here too.
I can actually share it in pictures… although Picasa refuses to upload them in the order I have them in iPhoto. Grrr…
Basically, the kids were playing with a foxtail ball and it got caught in the tree. The adults descend to sort the problem out. First they tried throwing other balls hoping to dislodge it, they they threw badminton racquets, then they tried branches, sticks, bamboo, then they tried all of the above a second time only from the added height of a bedroom window. When all of this failed a plan was hatched to climb out of the attic window and scurry across the roof to shake the branch and hopefully send the ball to freedom below. When the attic window access point was decided to be unsafe the ladder was brought out and those among us who had not by this time had too much to drink attempted the climb. It was scary and still involved crossing the steep roof so that plan was also squashed. Finally a forward thinking cousin found a hardier branch of bamboo and stole it from the neighbors yard, the men rallied round and finally the ball was freed…. the children of course played with it for 5 seconds after it hit the ground and then ran off to other games leaving the hard won foxtail laying lonely on the lawn. Seriously though… click on the ballgate 07 link in the sidebar. This tale is far more entertaining in pictures!]