BONNIE UPDATE. Bonnie LaGrone is now out of the hospital and continues to recover at home. It is a miracle that she survived at all (she had two or more strokes, and three blood clots remain in her system, plus broken ribs and lungs). She is doing very well, is up and walking around, is talking and knows everything and everyone around her - no mental limits at all. She has lost some of her eyesight though, and only time will tell how much she will regain. I have only been able to see her once, and she looked terrific, though very tired and a little frail. It was the same good old Bonnie for sure, and it was great to see her doing so well.

6/1/99 Some friends of mine from Fayetteville and London (Dr. Jay McDonald from Fayetteville, and his daughter and her boyfriend from London) were out for a day of picture taking. The day began with rain and wind - not what we want for pictures - but soon gave way to sunshine - not good either! We visited this great cave entrance that was choked full of lush ferns, and took a lot of pictures. Then we moved on to top of Roark Bluff. This is one of the most spectacular views in the entire region, although it is very dangerous up there. Next we visited Pearly Spring, and spent another couple of hours photographing it.

Not wanting to make the long drive all the way around through Low Gap to get back to the cabin, I decided to drive across the Buffalo at a low water crossing. Everyone in the truck was impressed with how great the Mercedes handled the deep water - it just scooted right on across. I held my breath just a little.

As we were driving through Boxley Valley, the western sky caught on fire. We pulled over and got out all of our camera gear. What a wonderful scene - a pasture full of grazing cows and horses, towering hillsides all around, and these giant thunderheads on the western horizon, lit up with the setting sun. And there was a cool breeze blowing, moving the hay in the pasture around like a Monet painting. I knew it was a scene that I could not capture on film, at least the way that I saw it, so I mostly stood around and soaked it all in. My friends shot a lot of film, and were very excited and happy about the scene. It was a fitting end to a great day in the Buffalo area.

By the way, the gentleman from London works for Apple Corps - the Beatles record company. He is in charge of all of their Beatle pictures, and buying entire collections from others. If you want to publish a Beatle picture from their archives, you have to go through him. Being a Beatles nut like I am, I was honored to be in his presence.

It was a very long day, and I hit the sack early.

6/2/99 I got up early and went out wandering around in the woods. It was warm, and getting hot in a hurry. I had no real destination, just wanted to get out and see what I could find. The wind was blowing a little, thank goodness.

A black line up ahead caught my eye. It was a snake, one of those long black things - a rat snake probably. Pretty common, although this guy was doing something that I had not seen before. He was all stretched out, but his head and upper body were up in the air, and arched, and I swear he was looking up into a nearby tree. I passed within a few feet of him and he never moved, nor bothered to look my way.

About thirty minutes later I returned to the snake and found him still there, and in the exact same position, with head high in the air, and looking up into the tree. I wanted to try to figure out what this guy was to, so I decided to play a little snake myself. I got down on my belly and moved on over close to him, trying to get the same view that he had. I got pretty close, but all that I could see was the tree.

He was a beautiful snake, his skin coal black and shiny. Must have been about four feet long, and very slender. As I laid there looking at him, he turned his head very slowly and looked right at me. I swear the expression in his eyes said "do you see what I am looking at?" I answered in the negative, just in case he could understand me. After a few seconds of mutual staring, he turned his attention back up into the tree. All that I could figure is that he was looking at a spot where a bird usually landed or a hole where a squirrel was supposed to stick his head out or something. There were two squirrel holes that I could see, but never any movement around them. The object of his attention remained a mystery to me, and I eventually got up and hiked back to the cabin. Having a conversation with a snake in the woods is not an everyday thing around here, and I was glad for the moment.

6/11/99 It was time for more Aspen, so I hauled out another trailer load of the beautiful wood and unloaded it into the basement. Someone made the mistake of suggesting that I put Aspen on the ceiling downstairs, and I liked the idea. I could break up all of the Aspen with cross timbers of half logs from Montana. At last, I had a plan, and it would look great. I returned to the cabin late at night after taking the trailer back to town.

6/12/99 Have you ever worked all day with your hands over your head? Not a lot of fun. But that is what I had to do in order to get the Aspen up on the ceiling. Fortunately, the distance in the big room downstairs is exactly 24 feet, so I could put up two twelve foot boards end to end and not have to cut anything - that saved me a lot of time and effort.

Since I wasn't quite tall enough to reach the ceiling with my hands to nail up the boards, I had to rig up a platform to stand on, and I had to keep moving it with each new row of boards. It worked great, and the wood went up fast. By the end of the day though, I was one tired puppy, and a soak in the tub was most welcome. I hardly even noticed what went on outside all day.

6/12/99 Today was pretty much a repeat of the day before - all day down in the basement putting up Aspen boards. Although today I had to cut each board to fit, so I did get to see the outside world every now and then. The day began with a little rain, but it soon ended and the sun came out and it was a fine day.

By late afternoon ALL of the Aspen was up! I couldn't believe it. The rooms look terrific, and not too much Aspen at all. The half logs will make it look even better, although it will be a few months before I can get them down here from Montana. The hallway, the stairwell, the big room and the guest room are now all covered with Aspen. Only the floor remains unfinished, and I decided to just let it remain concrete for the time being.

6/15/99 I really dreaded the work that I had to do tonight - using the spray gun and air compressor to apply varnish to all of the Aspen down in the basement. Ugh, I hate working with a spray gun. But it is ten times quicker than doing it all by hand. And I had to put two coats on the wood.

But first I had to tape off the windows and doors and the stairway up to the main cabin, then I had to go around and sand every square inch of the Aspen. That all was a lot of work in itself. It was after dark when I got to the real job. I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. Then I sprayed some more. Damn spray gun. The basement quickly filled with a cloud of fine varnish mist. I wore a hat to keep my hair from sticking together, and goggles to protect my eyes, but didn't wear a mask - big mistake.

By the time finished with the first coat around midnight, I realized that my face and nose were covered with sticky varnish. I suspect that I had varnish all inside of me, and that was an odd feeling. A shower helped a great deal, and got rid of all the junk on the surface, but that didn't help the inside of my nose any! It was an uncomfortable night.

6/16/99 Another day of spraying, and soon the varnish cloud was thick again. This time I had a mask on, but the goggles kept fogging up, so I took them off. Another big mistake, but it was the only way that I could work. After a few hours of work, the second coat was finished. I removed all the plastic from the windows and aired the place out. My eyelashes only stuck together for a few hours.

6/17/99 Today would be a big day in the history of Cloudland - a TV arrived from Tulsa. I had always stated that there would be no TV at Cloudland, but as time went on, I could see the need, uh, the desire for one, so I went ahead and bit the bullet. As I think back, I have actually been true to my word, as the TV is down in the basement and not in the cabin part at all - I intentionally designed the log cabin so that there was no place to put a TV, ever. The basement was an afterthought.

Anyway, this TV thing was probably a large mistake. Once the movers all left and I got everything hooked up, I turned on the tube. I didn't leave the futon couch for seven hours. Oops. I had created a monster!

6/18/99 It was late when I arrived back at the cabin after a day of town chores. Ken and Terry Eastin joined me, and we, well, we watched a movie.

6/19/99 Today was going to be a work day, and the SUMMER BUSHWHACKER party! The work started early, and workers/guests showed up all day to help. Bob and Dawna Robinson, Jim McDaniel and Susie Crisp, HETE, Pam Rodgers, Luke Collins and Mary Wright, Roy and Norma, Dan and Deborah Coody, and Scott and Carolyn Crook. The main chores were washing ALL of the windows - most had never been washed before, ever - wiping off the logs inside with wet rags, and getting the satellite dish pointed in the right direction (took three of us two hours to figure that one out).

All the chores were done just in time for the first blender of bushwhackers in mid-afternoon. It was great to see everyone and to catch up. And to get the windows cleaned - wow, what a difference!

There was a big, fat salmon filet on the grill for everyone, plus we feasted on a ton of other goodies that were brought out. And then the music began, and lasted long into the night. At one point, there was a group downstairs watching a movie, a group out on the deck enjoying the night air, and a big group in the main cabin dancing. The music and laughter were loud, and I made more pitchers of Bushwhackers than I ever had at one party before.

Someone started a Congo Line, which snaked down through the basement and outside and up the staircase and back again. This went on several times. GOOD Bushwhackers!

It was another classic Bushwhacker party at Cloudland. The only down side was the fact that we ran out of water early in the day (for only the third time in history) - a broken toilet flap was to blame. So everyone had to pee outside, which was fine because it gave us the chance to break from the chores and enjoy the outdoors. One of the qualifications for being a guest at Cloudland is the ability to go out into the woods at night and pee if you have to without complaining. Of course, there has to be great food and drink and company to go along with it.

Oh, I almost forgot, one of our guests (who was actually sober at the time) walked right through the big screen door that leads to the back deck. I needed a new screen anyway.

6/20/99 Everyone was up early, and we spent the next several hours out on the back enjoying the day. More so than before, folks hesitated to leave, and it was noon before the crowd was reduced to one. I spent the remainder of the day cleaning up, washing dishes (my guests usually do that, but we couldn't because of the water situation), and watching movies. Saw the "Horse Whisperer" four times. Good movie, great scenes, and terrific music.

6/21/99 I sat in the swing and watched clouds race across the blue sky. My friend Jessica from Kansas came by to spend some time with me. She had not been here since the cabin had been built. There is a picture of her in the Buffalo River Wilderness picture book on page 118 - that picture has quickly become one of my signature images, and prints of it are hanging on many walls.

We hiked through the forest and the meadows and looked at tiny objects on the ground and took in grand vistas and renewed our souls. It was a great day for doing all of the above. And NO TV. There was grilled salmon and corn on the cob and pasta and wine for dinner. And then it began to rain, softly.

6/25/99 The sky was full of black clouds, which really stood out against a blue backdrop. The valley below was filled with white clouds, moving around cautiously. The air was dead still, like everything had been reduced to a photograph. The only movement was that of a bird or two flying back and forth.

Several of the black clouds opened up and dumped rain - about a half inch worth during the afternoon. Quiet rains they were. Nice and soaking.

6/26/99 The morning brought brilliant sunshine, which flooded the canyons and pushed the low clouds around. Everything is basically the same color of green this time of the year, but the yellow light changed colors of the hillsides as the beams swept across. Lots of birds out. Still no wind at all.

I took a hike in the late morning, out through the woods to the Faddis Meadow, then along the road to the mailbox (had to send a movie back), then down the Crag Trail. There was no one in sight, no footprints on the trail. And no wildlife out either. Calm, very calm. And warming. The air was heavy too - lots of humidity.

Soon I was walking through the East Meadow where the grasses and other plants were nearly waist deep. Should have worn long pants - shorts aren't very smart when walking through brush this tall in the summertime. The garden looked sterile - none of the dozens of watermelon hills had produced anything yet. Don't know what the problem is. Although the ground was soft and clear, there weren't any critter tracks to be found. No food for them to chew on for sure, but I figured that some of them might stroll through just to see what was up. At this time last summer, this garden was a frequent hangout of the bears.

It was good to leave the tall grass and get back into the forest. The trail was clear of brush and offered safe passage through the trees.

I spent the rest of the day down in the basement, glued to the tube. This TV will be the death of me I know. But it is still a novelty, and it all will wear off before long. I did return to the Faddis garden just before dark to steal a couple of zucchini to go with my grilled sausage. The mountain seemed empty - no wildlife or people all day. Dinner was fine.

Later in the evening, I stumbled out of the cave into one incredible scene out on the back deck. The 3/4 moon had lit up the entire wilderness, and the individual ridges and hollows were all visible. The valleys were filled with clouds, bright white against the dark, nearly black, hillsides. The clouds seemed to reflect the moonlight, bouncing it in all directions. The forest was alive and howling at the moon.

This was one of those scenes that is impossible to photograph - it would require a very long exposure, and you would never be able to make out the clouds, which would move around during the exposure. And the FEELING of the moonlight striking you in the face could never be put down onto paper or cloth. So I stood there, the moonbeams bouncing off of my face, and listened to the night birds, and the frogs, and the river, and the wind. What a great place to be. Then I had to decide between the hammock, the swing, or the hot tub as a spot to continue the night. I choose all three...

6/27/99 The morning was grey, and warm, with a heavy cloud cover. The breeze had picked up some, which felt good. It spit a little, not really rain. It was hazy, I guess because of all the humidity. I had opened the cabin windows during the night, and the weather station showed 100% humidity inside the cabin. I closed the windows and the reading immediately dropped down to 95%. The wild sunflowers began to peek out more and more, and bright yellow goldfinches flew back and forth between them. The bluebirds were out, and the phoebe too. And the tree frogs were singing. And lots of hummers buzzing.

While in the kitchen doing dishes and looking out the window (all sinks should have a window over them), I spotted a phoebe sitting on the rope that connects the school bell and the front porch railing. A favorite hangout spot for this phoebe. She flew off to a nearby tree, grabbed something, then flew back and landed right on top of the bell. Whatever is was that she got had something inside, because as she chomped down on it, puffs of smoke would come out - kind of like when you step on a puffball. I don't keep binocs in the kitchen, so I didn't get a good look to see what it was, and in a few seconds, she had eaten it all.

Just then I noticed some movement - three deer were walking right down the drive towards the cabin. It was odd to see them there. The lead one was mamma, followed by two very large yearlings. Their coats were this beautiful cinnamon color, lush and brilliant. They stepped gingerly, looking in all directions before proceeding. I wondered if they were simply worried about approaching the cabin, or puzzled to see a Mercedes parked in front of a log cabin! I moved on over and grabbed my camera to record the scene, but was spotted as I moved across the front door window. They turned and retreated into the woods, using the trail to the East Meadow for their escape.

After a few cabin chores, I got dressed up and headed down the ladder trail to the river. It was very dark in the forest - not much sunlight penetrates the thick canopy high above at this time of the year. The woods were pretty open, and I could see along long ways into them.

I was surprised to find that Whitaker Creek was actually flowing, and the water was nice and clean and clear. It us usually dry by now. The Buffalo was flowing too, and the water was inviting, so I just had to take a dip. Lots of fish of all sizes swimming about, but I didn't have my mask with me, so I only got to see them from above. It was time that I spent more time on and in the river - I will work on that.

After the refreshing dip, I turned my sneakers uphill and leaned into the hillside. I made the trip up the steep trail without stopping, though I was really sucking air all the way up. And my head was really pounding. I collapsed in one of the deck chairs and didn't move for a half hour. Somebody needs to get back into better shape.

The moon was spectacular this night - one day before full - and it lit up the entire wilderness. It was dead still out, with not a whisp of air movement. And it was quiet for the most part, except for the low hush of the river below, and a whippoorwill or two way off in the distance. There aren't many night bugs this year. Last year the noise of millions of cicadas was deafening. Only a few lonely ones could be heard now.

6/28/99 It was hazy, humid, warm, and very still at daylight. I am beginning to miss the wind. I sat out on the porch and listened to the silence and sipped my Starbucks. Then I heard a whisper, way out in the forest. It got closer and closer, and the volume went up a little, just a little bit. Soon it began to rain ever so softly...And FINALLY the wind began to blow!

6/30/99 The music outside was loud, and in stereo. The Buffalo looked more like the Big Muddy than a wilderness stream. Rain. Lots of rain. Four inches in one day. The spot where I swam a couple of days ago was under about five feet of water, and there were no rocks visible in the riverbed. Whitaker Creek was running wildly too.

Later in the evening,I spent some time down on the back deck, gazing up at the moon and the clouds and the wind and the night. The 3/4 moon was peering through breaks in the moving clouds, and it reminded me of a scene from one of those horror movies, on an English moor somewhere. The Hound of the Baskervilles or something like that. It was eerie, but comforting. Wind and clouds and the moon, and the sound of wild whitewater far below.