9/1/99 There was an aroma of fresh dirt all over when I arrived in the afternoon. Bob was having a pond of his dug out, the one that I like over near his cabin. Fresh dirt just smells great sometimes. And the new version of the pond was deep, with steep walls.

The bulldozer man is Charles Thornberry, he lives over on the King's River near Boston, and is not only a great dozer operator, but has a sense for the natural beauty of things as well, so he never over-dozes it. This guy is an artist with a blade, and he can carve up the woods with great precision. He can certainly take out an entire hillside of trees and change the shape of the landscape when it is necessary, but he often works on smaller projects that require that delicate touch.

Charles also cleaned up an old road that leads from the pond over to the Woods boys cabin. Bob wants them to use the road instead of the one that goes past his cabin and through the north meadow. This road has a nasty little hill on it near the beginning, which is why they haven't been using the road much up to this point.

Bob informed me that he had given away two parcels of his land - including a large chunk of the east meadow. I was stunned. The spirit of this place has been broken somehow, and a bit of the magic lost.

9/2/99 There were many dark clouds swirling around at daylight, but no rain. We are back to very dry and dusty conditions here, and could use about a foot of slow rainfall.

I wandered up to the Faddis cabin and discovered that our bear friend had been visiting during the night. He came out of the woods to investigate the one creature on the mountain that was larger than he - the bulldozer. His tracks were all around it. I found them down at the Faddis pond as well, and it appeared that he had gone into the pond and come out the other side, twice. These are the first bear tracks that I had seen since he and I met in the meadow nearly two weeks ago.

Charles arrived and worked his big blade around the Faddis cabin for a little while, then came creeping my direction and spent a couple of hours cleaning up my little road some. Part of my road gets rather nasty during the winter, because of a series of little seeps along the hillside. Charles took that giant blade and dug a little ditch along the upper side of that stretch of road. When he finished, the road was the best shape that it had ever been in - nice and smooth! I'm sure the winter will take its toll, and I will eventually have to spend some real money and put down a good base of large rock, but that will have to wait.

It poured down a total of about ten sprinkles during the day. Not quite what I had in mind. There were a few exciting moments when a twin-engine airplane made several low passes over the cabin, each time dripping down into the canyon and pulling up at the last minute. The plane was so close that I could look into the cockpit and see the pilot and a passenger, but I couldn't ever make out who they were. I'll bet they had a great view!

After Charles finished up, we sat out on the back deck gazing out into the wilderness. He told me that he could see the Buffalo Fire Tower from over near his place - the same tower that we could see from my deck.

9/3/99 The highlight of the day for me was a hike down to the river. It was warm and sunny, but the sun had dipped down below the trees a bit and the river was all in shadow. I had really just come down to walk up and down the river bed some, knowing that much of it would be dry. I couldn't go upstream very far before I came to a riverbed full of water, although it was still and didn't look too fresh.

I retreated and went down to the old swimming hole. Much to my surprise and delight it had hardly changed at all - still lots of great cool water, six feet deep and a hundred yards long. While there wasn't any water flowing into it, there was plenty of tiny springs feeding it, so the water was fresh. I hadn't planned on a swim today, but how could I not?

The next hour found me in the pool, swimming some, but mostly just hanging out and looking up into the trees. There were a number of young sycamores lining the banks and still in the sunshine - their white bark reminded me of aspen trees, which would be getting ready to turn brilliant colors up in the Rocky Mountains in a couple of weeks. A kingfisher flew by and landed in a sweetgum. It was a cool, peaceful, relaxing afternoon in the pool.

I don't even remember the climb back up the hillside, except that I didn't ever break a sweat - guess my body core was well chilled from the spring water.

As I sat on the back deck after dinner enjoying a black sky full of stars, the cicadas and tree frogs struck up one of the loudest concerts that I had ever heard - I almost needed ear plugs! A few barred owls joined in and it was quite a symphony indeed.

9/4/99 Bright sunshine and a little wind at daylight. I stayed in bed until almost 9am - several folks are coming out for the evening and I figured I had better catch up on my sleep. AND, a new addition to Cloudland will be arriving with one of the guests!

Roy, Norma, Ken, Terry, Jessie, Dan and Deborah all drifted in during the afternoon and evening. Roy and Norma and I did a radio test - they called and talked to me via a pair of small hand-held UHF radios from as far away as five and a half miles (at the base of the Buffalo Fire Tower). I am considering putting in a base station at the cabin, and getting several hand held radios to hand out to hikers, and I'm trying to figure out if I should get the standard CB or UHF.

We later made a major discovery. It seems that either my hillside had grown taller recently, Beagle Point had shrunk down some, or Turner Ward Knob - a major landmark in the wilderness - had added height. I had been gazing into the wilderness from my back deck for two years now, examining every little rock outcrop, ridgeline and tree with the telescope, but had never been able to see Turner Ward Knob before. But son of a gun, there it was today, right out there in front of us. Well, actually there was just a tiny bit of it showing, creeping up from behind Beagle Point. I will keep an eye on it to see if it grows in the future.

We grilled salmon, swordfish, mackerel and one or two other water critters, plus had a host of side items as always. And then hot apple pie and ice cream.

9/5/99 Everyone was up early, enjoying the banks of clouds swirling around below us. Jessie let out a cry and pointed to the east - a huge red ball appeared above the hillside, and the day was official. After a few blueberry biscuits and omelets, we all hung out on the back deck enjoying a light RAIN (only a total of .05 inches though), which lasted for several hours. Ken and Jessie and I took a hike around the Cloudland loop, and investigated the fresh bear tracks down at the pond.

Then it was time to unload and set up the new addition that Dan and Deborah hauled out in the back of their pickup. OK, so I didn't REALLY need one here, but when large numbers of people drain the water system it would come in handy. And it would certainly fit into the general theme out here. So I bought a rough-sawed oak outhouse, complete with a crescent moon cut into the door. It is a real working model, and I had planned to set it over a pit, and use lime or fireplace ashes to keep any odors down. But mostly it would just be a visual treat, and I suspected that it would quickly become a major photo point at Cloudland.

I picked out a site in the woods to the north of the cabin, off of the trail to the east meadow, far enough away but still within sight of the cabin. We backed the pickup as close as we could, then unloaded the outhouse. The green oak was really heavy! So much so in fact that the four of us big strong men could not even pick it up. We were unable to move it very far, so we had to leave it right next to he road until I could bring out a hand truck to help move it.

Everyone agreed that the outhouse looked great, even Norma. Now, all I have to do is dig the hole. And we decided that it would be a good idea to set up some of those low-voltage outdoor landscape lights leading to it with a switch for nighttime use. But like I said, the outhouse would only be used when we ran out of water, which doesn't happen very much. I'll post a picture once we get it in place.

After the outhouse, we all headed up the hill for another hike around the area, and visited the new oak floor in the Faddis cabin. It looks kind of funny - a $2,000 hardwood floor with particle board walls, but what the heck.

Dan and Deborah had to return to town. The rest of us spent part of the afternoon watching a movie, then we packed up and hiked down to the river. Roy, Norma, Jessie and I all spent an hour in the swimming hole, which was terrific. Ken and Terry stayed behind. Terry worked on a wonderful dinner dish, while Ken worked on - a nap?

We found a spot down near the river where a bear had dug up part of a bee hive that was in the ground. The bears are smart out here. They don't dig up the entire hive, but instead just get a part it, which allows the bees to build it right back, creating more good stuff for the bear to eat when he returns. If he got the entire hive, then the bees would move elsewhere.

By the time we all made the climb back up to the cabin, the blender was humming with cool evening party drinks. Roy and Norma took outdoor showers - I may have to set up some sort of official spot for that, perhaps at the base of a small bluffline just to the east of the cabin.

We had another feast for dinner, then fired up the movie theater again. Of course, we had to take frequent breaks to go out and gaze up at the black sky that was filled with a million stars.

9/6/99 Labor Day. It was another early morning filled with blueberry biscuits and gold finches and quiet conversation out on the back deck. There were a few clouds and steam vents dancing around down in the valleys below. Otherwise it was clear and we were in for a hot day.

We waited until the temp got up there pretty good, then began work to repair a large section of my rain gutter - the guy who put it up (me) did a poor job of getting the slope just right. After an hour or two, we finally got everything just right, and settled back onto the deck for more wilderness watching, and hot dog grilling.

Just as everyone was saying goodbye to Cloudland and heading out, a mass of Woods clan showed up - some on foot, others on four-wheelers, and still others in pickups. There were Woods everywhere! I hadn't seen one of the brothers in over a year - Spanky. Since I last saw him, he had become somewhat famous, as he was filmed playing guitar and bluegrass music for a segment that has aired on The History Channel many times.

One of the ladies had grown up down at the foot of the hill, in a cabin right next to the old root cellar that the trail passes by. It was great to see all of them and hear their stories.

As the last of the four-wheelers, pickups and cars disappeared, everything was quiet at the cabin. I looked around and remembered that a crowd of people can make quite a mess! But I didn't have the time to clean it all up, because I had to get back to town myself.

9/7/99 There were lots of dark clouds being blown about by a strong wind when I returned late in the day. It was warm, but felt great outside. I delayed the cabin cleanup while I went for a hike around my property, then dropped on down the steep hillside to the river. Once I returned and cooled down a bit, I got out the vacuum and spent an hour or so sucking up the remains of the weekend.

As I wrote after dark, the sky filled with bright flashes and thunder - boy, we sure did need some rain! But it held off, and stars came out.

9/8/99 Sometime in the wee hours the sky finally did open up and it began to pour. I always know exactly when the rain begins because there are two windows (usually open) right next to my bed in the loft, and they open out onto the tin roof of the back deck below. Ahhhh yes, the rain sounded terrific! And it was hard, very hard, and made a lot of noise. There was no wind at all, and after a quick check around I found that nothing on the back deck was getting wet.

The cistern filled up rapidly, and before long it had rained nearly an inch. I crawled back under the quilt.

There were clouds and steam vents everywhere, and they were really moving around after the rain halted. I sat out on the back deck and took it all in. Scores of goldfinch came out, and they seemed to be really happy for the rain - me too.

9/9/99 As is usually the case, the doomsday people were wrong - nothing out of the ordinary happened today in the world as a result of the 9999 date. The Y2K thing is a bunch of BS as well, as everyone who is spending a lot of money on junk to prepare for it will find out January 1st.

9/10/99 Nice and cool this morning, and a perfect day for cabin chores outside. I spent time up on the roof putting the final touches on the rain gutter repair, locating a site to build a storage shed for my books (up on the hill by the gate), and digging the pit for the new outhouse.

This outhouse chore was kind of fun, and a lot of work. I choose a spot where the outhouse would be visible from the cabin, but far enough away, at the edge of the woods near the east meadow trail. This is a different location than I had first planned on, mainly because it is easier to see it from the cabin, and the outhouse will really be more of a visual attraction than a functioning toilet.

I dug the pit down as deep as I could get it, then wrestled the heavy building into place over the pit. Good thing the pit was downhill from where we left the outhouse - this dude is HEAVY!

After I was satisfied that everything was secure and level, I got to work on the roof. First a layer of tar paper, then I cut several pieces of blue tin roof to go over that. This roof is made up of scraps left over from the cabin roof. How many folks have an outhouse roof that matches their house!

As the afternoon drew on it grew rather warm. The little roofing project turned out to be more than I could get done by dark, so I gave up and called it a day.

I was determined to re-establish my Friday night tradition of Cloudland pizza, beer and blues music on KUAF. While I was out on the back deck enjoying the fruits of this tradition, the two-way radio cracked - it was Roy and Norma on their way out. I am going to put a base station at the cabin, and pass out handheld radios for hikers. Once I figure out what I'm going to put in, I will let everyone know what radio frequency and channel so that others can call in and stay in touch as well.

Later in the evening, Roy wanted to watch a movie. About the only thing on the dish was a bloody one, so we watched the last half of Pulp Fiction (the only scene that I can stand to watch is the great dance scene - I find the rest of the movie kind of stupid and gory). Then we watched part of another blood-batch movie. I soon had enough, and went up to bed. I have never understood why filmmakers, and the public, insist on blood and guts. I find most of those types of movies a waste of time.

9/11/99 We all got up early - no sunrise, but a nice layer of clouds and cool temps. Today was a hike day, and a ton of folks were expected to join us. As we drove on out to the trailhead, we passed Billy Woods and his son, who were squirrel hunting.

It was great to see a man and his son out in the woods, spending time with each other, and getting to know nature. While we were talking to them, a squirrel jumped from limb to limb behind us. Neither hunter bothered to make a move - they were really out there to enjoy the morning, not to kill everything in sight. As I have said before, the hunting tradition is a valuable part of our culture, and I would much rather see a man and his son out in the woods squirrel hunting together than a city boy getting up and heading off to the mall while his dad stayed behind watching TV.

When we arrived at the trailhead the parking lot was already full. Thank goodness the forecast was calling for rain, which kept most hikers at home - we ended up with 23 hikers, which was plenty!

This was an OHTA hike, and was going to be in three parts. The first part was an easy stroll out to Hawksbill Crag. We stopped several times along the way to look at interesting rock formations, gaze up at big black gum trees that were turning brilliant red, and talk about wilderness. It was cool and overcast and a great day for hiking. And we had a fine group of hikers.

Several folks turned around and went home after a stop at the Crag. The rest of us continued on for part two of the hike, which would take us along the bluffline and down the Ladder Trail to the river. Of course, we had to stop off at the cabin to admire the view of the wilderness.

The trip down the steep hillside was a slow one, but we finally arrived at the river and took time out for lunch. And some of the group jumped in for a swim.

A writer from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was along to do a story on the hike. (Buddy Geoff) It will come out in the NW Arkansas edition of the paper on September 23rd. He had a couple of cameras with him and got a lot of good shots.

There was a photographer from the Demo-Zette along too - Karen Vandonge - but she was just along for the hike, and not working (great photographer - look for her credit line - she is published a lot). Karen has been reading this journal for a while, and we have been corresponding by e-mail, but this was her first trip out to Cloudland.

After lunch a number of our hikers headed back to the trailhead, while thirteen hardy hikers took off on the third and most difficult part of the hike.

We made our way up Whitaker Creek, which was mostly dry. A lot of the hiking was easy, as the creekbed was wide and smooth. But much of the route was blocked with very slippery boulders, and a number of our group took spills. We ventured off the creek several times, once to visit the giant beech forest with the historical carvings.

By the time we reached Neil Compton's Double Falls (where I took my little spill back in April), I could tell the group was getting worn out. The falls were dry, of course, but the pool below had a lot of water in it, although it wasn't too pleasant looking.

Then the fun part of our hike began - the steep climb out! Actually it wasn't all that bad, and several of the group kept up with me pretty good. As the front group reached the top, we discovered that several others had been left behind. Roy had stayed with them, and helped one hiker who had gotten into trouble and was dehydrated and about to overheat. The sun popped out for a little bit, which didn't help matters any. We talked back and forth with the two-way radios, and eventually got everyone out and back to the trailhead. It was a splendid day in the woods!

Bonnie was having a surprise 40th birthday party for her husband Dean over at their property on Walker Mountain, so Roy, Norma, Karen, Ony and I rushed back to the cabin, cleaned up and ate a hurried dinner, then drove on over to the party. It was a grand affair, and Bonnie did a great job of getting a ton of people there. Lots of munches and drink. Our tired little group didn't stay too long though, and soon Ony headed back to town while the remaining four of us returned to Cloudland.

No movies tonight, but we did break out the Wild Turkey Liqueur and spent a couple of hours sipping this golden nectar and conversing about the topics of the day.

9/12/99 Karen had planned to camp outside, but ended up in the Aspen room downstairs. Good thing too, because sometime during the night the wind blew and thunder crashed and the sky opened up and we got some nice rain.

While there was no sunrise, I heard footsteps down on the back deck, and the swing going. Karen was up early enjoying the day. The rest of us soon followed, and we spent the entire morning watching the parade of mist and clouds passing by. Karen even got out her camera to record the scene.

The fresh cinnamon rolls and Cloudland coffee were soon followed with grilled dogs for lunch. And several friends from the party stopped by with a video camera. It was a leisurely morning that didn't last nearly long enough.

By early afternoon the cabin was empty, and I headed into town for an OHTA meeting. It rained several times during the day, a total of about a half inch.

9/13/99 It was late in the day when I returned. The sky was filling rapidly with stars, and a silver sliver of a moon hung low in the western sky. The following note was left at the front door:

"Just wanted to say thanks for publishing the Buffalo River Hiking Trails Guidebook. It has been enjoyed by family and friends and me and my wife and kids. We were up here on our 17th anniversary just taking it easy. Read about Cloudland from a friend who brought me some copy from the internet page. I love to read about it - sounds so great that we just had to come by and say hi. Your cabin is truly beautiful - this is God's country!" ---The Whitfields from Benton, Arkansas

9/14/99 A bunch of hoot owls woke me early, and I was soaking in the hot tub when a glow lit up the eastern horizon. I cold see a single bright star through a hole in the tree canopy above me, and so I did a "star light, star bright, LAST star I see tonight..." I could hear a barred owl, a screech owl, and a rooster, which was crowing way across the valley. Before too long the distant hills turned orange, then yellow as their tips were touched by the rising sun.

It was a wee bit chilly on my wet and steaming body as I stepped out into the morning air - temp about 50 degrees. Few things in life are as wonderful as that first morning or two of crisp fall air!

I put on my tennis shoes and went out for a hike, past the new outhouse and up the trail to the east meadow. I realized that since Bob had given away part of his property, that I would have to build a new section of trail that would skirt around the east meadow and clear of this new private property. What a shame. I suspect the local wildlife will have to do the same once buildings start popping up.

Anyway, I tried not to think about all that, and did have a fine hike in the cool air. My first hike of the season with a long-sleeved flannel shirt on. It was clear, and the sunshine felt great, and looked nice as it creeped down the tree trunks.

Back at the cabin I fixed a big pan of hash browns with onions, tomatoes, little smokies, and cheese - hey, if it is going to be fall, I need to eat some fat!

It remained cool and clear all day. The sky was about as blue as it could get. I spent most of the day working at the computer, but did manage to sneak out into the woods several times.

On one hike, over in the east maple grove, I found a bright green caterpillar. Not one of the fuzzy ones, but with a hard covering of lime green with thin yellow stripes going the long way. I sat down and tried to have a conversation with this little guy, but he was intent on getting somewhere else, and didn't have a lot to say.

It was tough to work inside, not only because it was so terrific outside, but because the sky around the back of the cabin was filled with soaring birds of all shapes and sizes, and they were moving around a lot and grabbing my attention.

I made a pan full of Greek pasta for dinner, then went out for an evening stroll. Since I had my jeans on, I was free to roam through the brush. Seven years, I've owned this place seven years, and have lived on site most of the last two years. Yet on my ramble today I passed through an area on my land that I had never been to before, and it is a prominent spot too. At some point in the future, later this year, or the next perhaps, I will do something very exciting with this part of land. And I will let you know.

The nighttime sky was marvelous - a silver crescent moon hanging high in a deep blue sky, with an orange horizon and black mountains below. Later, while I was in soaking in the hot tub, I noticed a distant star that was acting strangely. Most of the time, the star was invisible. Every now and then it would flash, sometimes brightly, often much dimmer. The object stayed in one place and did not move around like an airplane would have. The only thing that I could think of was that it was a satellite in a stable orbit that was turning and reflecting the sun at a certain point in its rotation.

9/15/99 A thin layer of clouds turned bright purple while the sky behind on the eastern horizon glowed orange. It was an odd combination. Then the yellow sun popped up and washed all of the color away. It was another cool fall day, although not quite as crisp as the day before. And the sky was full of clouds. It didn't feel or smell like rain though, so the clouds were just for fun.

9/17/99 Breakfast today was a bowl of yogurt with Grape Nuts, peaches and bananas mixed in. Bright sunshine lit up a meadow below that was void of birds - none out anywhere, on the ground or up in the sky.

I put my long pants on and went on an afternoon ramble through the forest. I passed through a flat that was full of giant trees, towering way up into the blue sky. The underbrush was pretty clear, so it was easy walking.

There was a pile of bones - large ones - but no skull. Couldn't figure out what they were from, but I suspect a deer.

One of the giant oaks had been blown down by a storm during the summer. I jumped up onto the trunk and walked nearly a hundred feet. The tree made a graceful S curve. I'll be it made a rather large crash when it hit.

All of these big trees got me to thinking about something that the Forest Service told our hiking group last week. They said that their current plan was to cut about 80% of the oaks in the Ozarks (outside of wilderness areas - they can't touch those trees), being careful to take most of the old growth trees. They claim that there are too many oaks now, and they are growing too densely. And here is where the story gets really weird. They say that all of these oaks will soon die out and be replaced by maples - the Ozarks will become a maple forest if they don't cut down most of the oaks. What? The more I got to thinking about it, the more crazy that story sounded. In fact, it seems absurd. They say that Mother Nature is trying to convert the forest from oak/hickory to maple. They claim that oaks begin to die out of old age when they reach 100 or so (why kill them then?). It seems to me that we had a forest of giant white oaks two hundred years ago, dwarfing out big trees of today, and these trees were hundreds of years old, and did not all die out at age 100 at all. The Forest Service wants to protect us from big trees. And from maples. I am not against some selective cutting - after all, everyone in this country is dependent on the timber industry for paper, our houses, and a thousand other products that come from trees. But I just don't buy the BS that we have to cut down all of our wonderful big trees to protect us from these awful maples (I LOVE to see a forest of maples!). In the 1960's the Forest Service plan was to cut down all of the oaks and replace them with pine trees - the entire forest converted to pines! They now admit that was a bad plan. Same thing with this one.

9/18/99 A pair of squirrels shouting at each other woke me before dawn. They will do this sometimes when disturbed, but I never found anything (like a bear) that might had got them riled up. Just a domestic dispute I guess.

I went on an early ramble today, through the east meadow and out to the Faddis Cabin, where I found Billy and Danny Woods working on the drilled well there. I spent a couple hours helping them install an electrical pump and a pressure tank. The sky opened up and it rained pretty good for about ten minutes - felt great, but it didn't last nearly long enough.

As a test, I put a banana peel next to the trail. I want to see what happens to it, how long it lasts, if anyone eats it, etc.

No birds out today either. It was kind of strange.

It was two years ago today that my trusted friend Yukon died. I put my long pants on again, took a good slug of Yukon Jack from the bottle on the mantle, and headed out for an afternoon ramble to visit his grave.

There is no good way down the hillside over on that side of the mountain. The benches are VERY steep - I mean nearly straight up and down - and no trail of any kind. Plus, the way down through the 80 foot bluff is hidden, and I can never find it right away.

As I headed down the very first steep bench, my feet slipped out from under me and I shot down the hillside. I reached out to grab a tree that was going by at a high rate of speed, and while I couldn't get a good grip it to stop my fall, I got enough of a hold for the rough bark to scrape the skin all the way down my right arm. Ouch! A smaller tree below caught my arm and I finally stopped.

Lots of giant trees on this hillside - thank goodness they are protected from the Forest Service.

Soon I landed on the bottom and was sitting next to Yukon's grave. I added a mossy rock as I always do, and had a long conversation with him.

The large pool in the river below had lots of water in it, but the rest of the river was bone dry - I've never seen one it so low before. It was very interesting walking upstream through all of the deep holes - some of them twelve feet deep - all without a drop of water. There were a few tiny holes of water here and there though. But the dry creekbed was a joy to

You would think that these little holes would be full of fish, but I never saw any. The river doesn't actually dry up, it just goes underwater, and that is where the fish go too. There must be large pools down under there full of smallmouth and perch and all kinds of assorted fish.

I noticed a red and yellow tent next to the river upstream, and not wanting to disturb them, I veered off into the woods to go around them. My boots made a lot of noise in the dry leaves, which got the attention of a dog in the camp. Someone at the camp called out - wondering if I was a bear. I assured them that I was walking on only two feet.

Before long I was at the old swimming hole, and then soon was half way up the hillside. I took it slow but steady. The long pants (jeans) were a bit of a hindrance on the climb, but I like to hike in them, especially when rambling through thick brush. It won't be long before I will choose jeans for most every hike during the fall and winter months.

It was a great hike. I missed Yukon though. With all of the hiking that I have been doing out here the last couple of years, Yukon would have been a great campion to have had along. His spirit has been with me.

9/19/99 My hike this morning took me through more trailless forest. And like I had been seeing all week, there were lots of overturned rocks and torn up rotten logs - bear sign. Yet there were no tracks at the pond, but it was obvious that one or more bears were making the rounds.

Just as I was sitting down at the computer to write, I heard gunshots. There were a couple of guys out on the Crag - I will call them hippie rednecks. I watched them through the tele for nearly a half hour. They were smoking dope (passing a joint back and forth), drinking Bush beer (I could see the cans good enough to ID the brand), and shooting a rifle out into the forest. I think they even tossed a lit cigarette over the edge - they seemed really nervous about it and kept crawling to the edge to see if they could see the object. And when they got up to leave, they stomped down all of their can, and then THREW THE CANS OVER THE EDGE!!! Rednecks. Stupid rednecks.

In the middle of all this, I noticed that birds had returned - lots of goldfinches down in the meadow, and there were five or six red-tailed hawks soaring around. It was great to seem them back again.

Long about dark clouds gathered and let go a burst of water, but it only lasted a few minutes. No visitors all weekend.

9/20/99 There was a peach orchard in the eastern sky before daylight - the colors were simply gorgeous! Then a red ball rose and washed all the peaches away.

While I was sitting in the hot tub greeting the day, I noticed a squirrel in a nearby dogwood tree. The mast crop is one of the best that I have ever seen this year - HUGE acorns everywhere and hickory and walnuts too. So why in the world was this squirrel crawling around in a dogwood? The little tree was full of bright red berries, but I didn't think squirrels ate them. Perhaps he was just attracted to the color.

The sky was cloudy, and the radio says it will rain today - a "near" 100% chance of rain all day. That sounds GREAT!

Lots of mosquitoes out. I had work in town.

9/21/99 Well, it only rained a tiny bit yesterday - six hundredths, but any is welcome. The air was clear and crisp with a slight wind blowing at mid-afternoon. The overall forest is still quite green here, but there are touches of red and orange in some of the understory bushes like sumac and sassafras, and of course, some of the black gums are really brilliant red.

The wind was moving some of the trees around, and every now and then I could hear one of them groan. That happens once in a while, but today there were a number of large trees making noise, in all directions. And something was going on deeper in the woods - lots of noise - but I couldn't quite tell what it was. Since I was waiting on an important phone call, I couldn't go out to investigate.

I guess that might sound kind of silly, to be out here in the middle of the wilderness, but unable to go explore because I was waiting on a phone call. Actually, I like having a phone out here. And in fact there is no way that I would be able to be out here in the first place without a phone. That is just the nature of the business, and I don't mind at all.

As evening approached, and I headed out on a hike, I realized that almost overnight the critters out making noise had switched from the cicadas and tree frogs that had been keeping me company all summer, to crickets - and entire forest of crickets. They were quieter, calmer than the summer bugs, and I rather enjoyed listening to them as I made my way up the trail.

It was about 50 degrees, and with the wind blowing it was chilly. Contrary to what you might read in Backpacker magazine, hiking in blue jeans, tennis shoes and a flannel shirt is great, and I love it. (Backpacker will not publish a picture of a hiker if they are wearing blue jeans or tennis shoes - kind of a stupid policy I think.)

There were quite a few deer and doves out in the meadows today - I have been seeing a lot of them lately. No bear tracks through, or other recent sign. Lots of those big, juicy orb weaver spiders across the trail. They always seem to hang out at about mouth level, which means if you are not careful (or follow another hiker), you will get a little extra protein as you walk. I have been carrying a sassafras walking stick with me lately, mainly to knock down the spider webs.

It was nearly dark when I returned to the cabin, and a 3/4 moon was already rising up into the deep blue sky. Later, while I was soaking in the hot tub under the bright moonbeams, a small flock of geese flew by, honking way up there in the moonlight.

9/22/99 It was 46 degrees at daylight - the coldest so far this season. The radio says that it will be even lower tonight, perhaps even down in the upper 30's. I suspect that it was close to that this morning down along the river - cold air sinks you know, and the coldest spot in any given area is usually down along the river.

There were lots of birds out this morning, and most of them seemed to be heading over to Beagle Point, which is about a half mile across the valley. And there were a number of butterflies out too. They would come flying over the top of the cabin, and then soar down through the meadow, hardly flapping a wing, and then land in a tree.

The meadow has taken on a new hue of yellow. It has been full of the bright yellow wild sunflowers all summer, but now they have mostly dried up and died out, and are being replaced with goldenrod, which has a softer yellow color. Last summer there was this incredible stand of goldenrod in the east meadow, and Benny even left a large patch of it when he did his annual mowing there. But this summer Bob has mowed down the entire meadow, plowed everything in, planted it with something (I think wheat and rye), then rolled it all flat. There probably will be lots of winter wildlife there this year, although there hasn't been too much activity this summer, mostly because the garden never produced anything.

As I sat down to write this morning, I put a new CD on the stereo. It is called "Ozark Mountain Homecoming," and the picture on the cover is mine. It is filled with upbeat mountain music, featuring guitar, dulcimer, mandolin, autoharp, and fiddle music. This and a second CD called "Ozark Mountain Blessings" (which also has a picture of mine on the cover) are produced by a record company in Nashville - Maple Street Music. Pretty nice stuff, and it really gets you up and moving in the morning!

There were two dead trees out in front of the cabin. One needed to be cut down ever since the cabin was built, and now was leaning out over one of the parking spaces. The other died as a result of us digging the water and powerline ditch, and it too would eventually fall onto a parking space. Since there will be a number of folks out to the cabin this weekend, I decided today was the day to drop them.

I didn't have a good chain saw blade in the house, and my efforts to sharpen a couple were in vain. When I tried to put on a new blade, I discovered that it was the wrong size. I had to get the trees down, so I did the best that I could with the larger saw and a dull blade.

The first tree turned out to be very hard and weathered, but it dropped right where I wanted it to - and smashed into a hundred pieces. The second tree was more difficult, as it was still somewhat green, having only died this past year. I cut the sucker all the way through and it just stood there. I was hampered by the dull blade, and had to make a very strange cut both in front and in back. After a little more convincing, it too fell right where I wanted it to go.

The second tree remained intact, right across the driveway. I was unable to cut it up with the bad blade, so I had to leave it where it fell. It would have to wait for a new blade that I would bring out in a couple of days.

While on my evening ramble, I ran across several vehicles up near the Faddis place. It seemed like a lot of traffic for the middle of the week. Later, while I was cleaning up my dinner dishes, a whole herd of folks stepped out of the woods next to the outhouse. Bob had taken all of his dinner guests on a hike, and they had just come from the east meadow on the trail.

It was a group of folks that included Charles Thornberry and his family (our bulldozer man who lives over on the King's River). We all had a nice visit as they enjoyed the view from the back deck. One of the younger ladies' father had grown up down on the river below, and used to use the ladder trail to walk to school ever day. And she was born in Bob's cabin back in 1943. I love meeting all of these folks, and hearing their stories of days gone by.

One of the men noticed a bunch of trees down along the river that were getting a lighter shade of green in their leaves. "Must be sweet gums - I'll bet there was an old field down there." Sure enough, he was right on. Those same gums will be among the first to turn color in a few weeks.

After the hikers left, I spent some quiet time enjoying the view myself. The setting sun was lighting up the hilltops and poking down into some of the valleys, but it had already thrown Beagle Point into shadow.

A butterfly spilled over the top of the cabin, coasted across the meadow, then headed on over towards Beagle Point. It's bright orange color, lit by the sun, continued to shine as it soared on over towards the dark hillside. I got out the binocs and watched him for several minutes as he glided in the silent air.

Just as I lost sight of him, I looked up and discovered that the air was filled with orange butterflies, all illuminated by the sun, and all heading over towards Beagle Point. There were a couple dozen of them, and they were just incredible! This morning it was the birds, and now butterflies. I wondered what was going on over there?

9/23/99 FIRST DAY OF FALL! While I have enjoyed summer here, it is always great to see autumn arrive, and today is the autumnal equinox. I got up long before daylight, sipped a cup of hot chocolate in the tub, and watched the stars fade away until only a couple of planets remained. It was cool out, and the air was clear and very still. Hardly any bugs singing at all. But there were a couple of barred owls hooting, and even a screech owl.

After a bit of writing, I packed up and headed into town. My mom's brother and sisters from Minnesota are arriving today, as well as my own sister. Tomorrow my brother and the rest of our clan from the St. Louis area will arrive. Everyone will be out to the cabin on Saturday, when a special treat will happen.

My aunt Kate is a retired Catholic nun. She will be having a service out on the back deck, in the evening, when the sun is painting the hills with Ozarkglow. That will definitely be a first out here at Cloudland!

9/24/99 A huge, bright, nearly full moon was already climbing into the sky when I headed out after dark for a little stroll. It was very dark in the woods, except for where the moonbeams broke through the leaf cover, and there it was really bright. Very high contrast of black and white. A smaller moon is really better for hiking in the woods, but this was nothing short of incredible too. The moon shone through way up in the treetops like sunshine.

The sweet fragrence of ripe pawpaw fruit filled the air. A splendid perfume!

As I crossed the east meadow, the entire world lit up - it was nearly as bright as daytime! There were a few stars and planets out, but not too many, since the sky was so bright.

I took a seat under one of the big hickory trees over in the Faddis Meadow. I was illuminated by the moon, but there were these large sagging limbs that bent down low and sort of cradled my position. I was sitting under a giant umbrella, looking out onto the bright meadow.

While life out here at Cloudland is generally very special, there are moments every now and then that are even more incredible. This was one of those. I don't know, the breeze, the moonlight, the meadow, and the hickory tree, all combined to create some sort of magical world beyond description. I laid back against the rough bark of the hickory and took it all in for an hour or two. Simply amazing. Few times could anyone ever reach such a level of peace and contentment. In my mind I kept seeing a dog bounding around in the meadow. Hum. The moonlight was trying to tell me something.

When I got up and hiked into the woods again, the lights went out - it was pitch black! And then bright white. Very contrasty once again. The hiking was easy along the trail, and I never worried about limbs poking me in the face like I would have if I had been walking through the open woods. A nearly-smooth walking surface was nice too.

When I reached the edge of the bench where you look down onto the bench below, a large animal bolted out into the night woods. This dude made a lot of noise. I'm not sure if it was a deer or a bear, but it had to have been one of them. Normally, even during daylight hours, my heart would have skipped a beat when a large animal startled me in the woods. But tonight I was as calm as a reflection pool, and never even got too excited.

A little further along the trail I took a seat at this little rock formation that the trail goes through the middle of. There was a slight breeze blowing. I sat back against the moss-covered boulder and gazed up into the moonlight.

For the first time on this hike that I could remember, I noticed the night bugs singing. The main chorus was made up of cicadas and tree frogs - a TON of them! And the second level was being made by crickets. They complemented each other quite well.

Soon I was moving again, and the warm glow of the cabin lamp light shown the way home. I tried to sit in the hot tub and soak up a few more rays, but the mosquitoes drove me inside. They have been much worse this summer that I can ever remember. So were the ticks, but they got burned up, and I haven't seen one since early August.

9/25/99 FULL MOON DAY. The entire sky in all directions was lit with multi-colored clouds at daylight. I got up and fired up the chainsaw and cut out the two big trees that I had cut down across the road a couple of days ago (had a new chain today!). Then I stacked the logs in a neat pile, ready for a cold snap and a tad of snow to fall so that I could get out and do a little splitting.

I cleaned up the cabin a bit, put out a jar of sun tea, and made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The cabin smelled great. A breeze was blowing, the sun was playing hide and seek with cloud formations, and the temp was about 70. My guests would be out soon, so I headed to the hammock with a small pile of warm cookies.

One, two, three carloads of relatives arrived. They quickly unloaded about a half ton of food and drink. For lunch we had five different kinds of meats from the Ozark Mountain Smokehouse, B&B BBQ sandwiches, pies, cake, cookies, and a soon-to-be-world-famous pasta salad made by Bill, one of my mom's caretakers. Oh yea, and the crew from Illinois brought a cooler full or dry ice, and about a dozen containers of STARBUCKS ICE CREAM! Oh no, and I was trying to lose weight.

Besides my sister and her family, and my brother and his wife, and my mom and her care givers Bill and Gene, my mom's sister Kate from Wisconsin (she is the Catholic nun), mom's other sister from Minnesota Mary and her husband John, and my mom's brother Jim from Minnesota. Jim, more than anyone else, has been the inspiration behind my wanting to write about the outdoors. He has long been a famous conservationist in Minnesota, and use to write an outdoor conservation column when they weren't cool. Pretty much all of my blood relatives were here, except for cousins.

And I brought a little something out to the cabin myself - the painting that 39 years ago inspired me to become a wilderness type of guy. It is the one with the cabin and the trail and the full moon and the mountains. It now hangs on the wall in my office, and is right over my shoulder as I write all of this. It came from my mom's parents house on the big farm in Minnesota.

After the lunch feast, my aunt Kate and my niece Sarah and nephew Matt took off on a little hike. We made the usual loop, and went down to Hawksbill Crag too. My aunt, the nun, who is in her late sixties, has always been quite the outdoorswoman. On her 60th birthday, all guests had to compete in a triathlon - swimming, cross-country skiing, and bicycling (or running, I don't recall which), and the mileage had to add up to 60 miles. She won.

After the hike Kate spent a couple of hours organizing the details of the service that she would say later on the back deck. Others took a driving tour of the Buffalo valley, while the rest of us listened to the radio as our football team got beat by Alabama. Matt and Sarah hiked down to the river and back.

I learned from Jim that many of the monarchs that were flying by had come down from Minnesota, so it was possible that some of them had been hatched on his farm, and were finding their way down here to my place. Quite a connection!

It had been very windy all day, which was great because it kept the temp down and the bugs away.

We moved most of the chairs at the cabin down onto the lower deck, all gathered around a table draped with a butterfly tablecloth. Everyone took a seat and Sister Kate began the service. After a few opening remarks and a song, Kate blessed the cabin with holy water from the river and a sprig of cedar that she got while on our hike. What with the incredible light show going on (it was late evening), the scenery all around, butterflies flying overhead, my mom and most of my blood relatives there, it was somewhat of an emotional experience for everyone. It was one heck of a service.

I don't go to any formal church, but am very spiritual, and do kind of live and work in the greatest cathedral in the world. While the service was going on, I had to slip away from time to time to tend to the grill, which had about $60 worth of salmon filets on it grilling slowly.

Once the service was over, and all of the chairs were returned to their proper spots, the feast began. Just another typical Saturday night meal at Cloudland. Then a slide show.

Oh yea, I almost forgot. There was another very special guest. My guard dog Stable, who had not been to the cabin in over a year, was here. He has been busy keeping an eye on my mom at her place all this time. He was in heaven - people running all around and dropping morsels of food everywhere (he is the official floor sweeper).

The entire day was filled with high energy, lots of movement, and emotion. And then, all of a sudden, everyone left, and an eerie still silence fell over the cabin. I was left all alone, which seems to be the place in the world that I have chosen for myself.That missing link in my love life is more noticeable at times like this. And when there is a party going on. And especially when the moon is high and bright and the warm bubbles and night bugs are making music. The important times seem like such a waste without someone in my life to share it all with...

9/27/99 I got up long before daylight. As I eased back into my watery lounger, I noticed Orion beaming high overhead. Lots of work to do today. Frances Thacker, my backhoe man who lives near Pettigrew was coming out to dig out a spot for my new office/warehouse building.

I decided recently that it was time to move to Cloudland, once and for all, but first I have to build a place to put all of my books, and a real office spot. So that is what got started today. It will be located up on the hillside away from the cabin, on a fork off of the main driveway. I'll have to build a trail up to it - over the hill and through the woods to the office I'll go... Lots and lots of prep work and building to do. It will be a fun fall.

Fayetteville has been my home for all of my 44 years, so it will be interesting living somewhere else for the first time. I will still return there at least a couple of times a week to visit my mom and to shop and stuff. But once I sell my home, there won't be anyplace for me to sleep there. Living in two places has been a strain at times, but not too bad. This will simplify life.

I spent all morning wrestling with downed trees - cutting them up with the chainsaw (after the backhoe guy knocked them over), and moving the logs out of the way. By noon I was a mess - filthy and exhausted. Man, the dust right now is everywhere!

Most of the afternoon found me sitting on that big pile of logs, directing traffic. The power company come out. The phone company. And so did my rock mason, Clyde Sparks. He hasn't been here in over a year. His rockwork is some of the best that I have seen in these here parts. Or anywhere. Very good. A part of the skirt around the north end of the cabin has settled though, and Clyde is going to have to redo some of it later this winter.

It was after 7pm before we finally quit for the day. There was leftover salmon and a ton of other stuff from the weekend for dinner. In fact, I had been slipping away and back down to the cabin all day and grabbing snacks. Every time that I did, I would spent a few minutes out on the back deck. It was warm, the wind was blowing, and there were about a dozen red-tailed hawks flying around. And many butterflies too.

The afternoon sun lit up a number of trees across the way that had just popped - bright yellow, orange and deep red. I have been seeing a lot black gum trees popping now, little ones as well as the large ones. I saved one big black gum that will live right outside my window at the new office, and it was bright red today. Lots of nice maples around there too, including several very large ones.

As I am writing this, it is late, the night bugs are calling me out, the breeze is whispering softly, and this most incredible deep orange moon is rising above the far ridgetop. A sight that continues to leave me breathless. Looks a lot like the moon in the painting that is just over my shoulder. And like the one on the front of the Cloudland t-shirt.