Diesel's Rescue

It was a dark and stormy night...

Diesel is a recently adopted cat who had been living with his new family for just 2 weeks.  He was chased by the family dog and had been stuck about 35 feet up a maple tree in his backyard for about 2 days when I got the rescue call.  The tree he chose was right next to a small pond and a cute little gazebo, but his rescue was anything but picturesque.

When I arrived at the home there were about 30 minutes of light left. Despite getting one throw bag stuck at the top of the tree, I was able to get another throw line over a good, sturdy limb about 20 feet above Diesel before nightfall.  Unfortunately about that time a thunderstorm rolled through.  Since it is unwise to climb trees when there is lightning anywhere near I waited for a for about 45 minutes while watching the weather radar and current conditions. With the storm now well out of range I decided it was safe to pull my rope up and do the rescue.

Almost immediately as I started to climb lightning and thunder started getting closer. Then it started pouring rain.  Thankfully Diesel did not move and he let me abruptly scruff him without incident.  Up and down was only 10 minutes, but the lightning was much too close for comfort.  About 5 minutes after we got to shelter in the garage it started to hail, so at least Diesel was not up the tree during the hail storm.