Hey, some cool news from our own neck of the woods:

Portland arborist Will Koomjian prepares to descend from near the top of Phalanx, a ponderosa pine he measured at 268.3 feet, the tallest known pine in the world. The pine grows in southern Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, outside Big Pine Campground.

Oregon: Where we shout “We’re Number One! We’re Number One!” because of a tree. Oh yeah.

And 268.3 feet – wow! That’s really tall. That’s from one end zone line of a football field to just a bit short of the opposite ten-yard-line – again, wow!

And it’s a pretty cool story, of how they found the tree, and about the guy who does the climbing – which would turn our knees, ankles, legs, stomachs, arms, brains, and entire beings to water. Check out this shot: Once he was way up one tree, the climber noticed one that was taller – so he shot a line over to it and made his way over on a rope. Gah!

We’re Number One! We’re Number One! …

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Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader’s HOLIDAY SALE – 30% of all books – goes through December.

And oh yeah – how dang relevant: In our brand new “Big John” – Uncle John’s 24-KARAT GOLD Bathroom Reader – we have an article telling you how you can measure how tall a tree is – using only sunlight and a tape measure. That’s a pretty good coincidence, huh?