Cloudland Cam - 5/30/03, 6:57am As you can see, the view is beginning to look the same every day, and it will most days, until October. |
|
Cloudland Cam - 5/30/03, 6:57am As you can see, the view is beginning to look the same every day, and it will most days, until October. |
5/1/03 Here is the photo of the elk that were grazing in the hay field yesterday morning. I will make a post later today. In the meantime, give thanks to all who have helped get the AMBER ALERT bill passed into law yesterday, and for the thousands of folks - including Steve and Kelly Zega - who have worked tirelessly for a long time to make it happen. And, as always, say a prayer for Morgan Nick, and for the other children who were not home last night...
5/2/03 We had some tremendous thunderstorms yesterday, and the sort of darkness that requires headlights in the middle of the day. In fact I had to even turn on the lights inside the cabin! Not all that much rain though - less than 1/2 inch in two heavy downpours. We'll take whatever we can get. The best thing that we could have is a hurricane blow up from the Gulf and soak us for about a week.
Last night the temp dropped into the low 50's and it felt like fall outside. Absolutely wonderful! This morning there is still a lot of moisture in the air, clouds hanging low in the valley, and it is completely still outside. Seems like every day now there are more and more birds in the trees singing. Layers upon layers of music, stretching far out into the forest. It would be easy to head out in search of a particular song and end up miles away. I guess it is a good thing that I don't know too many of those songs by name, otherwise it would drive me crazy all day just picking them out of the crowd! Right now all I hear is music.
The forest is just about all leafed out now. The dogwoods are mostly gone. The heavy rains yesterday knocked off what few white blossoms remained - the ground is covered with them in some areas - a pure-white carpet of pedals.
Sometime during the night Aspen went out on patrol and let out a wail. That got Lucy up and out and the two of them got all excited. Bob Chester has already reported one of his bluebird housed destroyed by a bear last week, and I suspect that may be what got the dogs all worked up. We'll be having a lot of that for the next few months.
We are going to kick it into high gear around here this month business-wise. Pam is going to hike about 50 trails in May for her new kids dayhiking book (I plan to tag along as often as she will let me), I've got to do a major update to one of the guidebooks, and we've got to get serious about putting together the 2004 Arkansas Wilderness calendar. I was in Barnes & Noble the other day and they told me calendar shipments have already started to arrive. I'm sorry, but I do not buy calendars in May! Ours will be available in the fall, when they should be. I've been working with one of our printers this past few weeks on another guidebook update that should be here in a few weeks, plus trying to figure out if we are going to be able to print the waterfall book in COLOR next time instead of black and white. Our printing costs would be much higher, but we may eat that cost just so we can keep the retail price the same. I'll let you know what happens with that one, but if you see me whining about having to spend 22 hours a day at the computer this month that might be a hint that the color deal is going to happen (I will have to go back to each original digital image and "process" them to get the files ready for the book printing - a very long and tedious process). And then there is that LIST of mine of projects that need to be done around here. See why I tried not to schedule a single thing this month? Life has a way of filling up your calendar, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Today was a MARVELOUS day in the wilderness! It remained cool and cloudy most of the day. It also felt like a Saturday to both of us (Amber was out of school and up in Missouri for the weekend), although the phone and e-mail alarm kept ringing.
We went on a short hike up to Aspen's meadow to check on something, and found a batch of mushrooms and dewberries along the way. I can't stand mushrooms to begin with, and even if I did the only ones I would eat would be morels, so I mainly notice mushrooms for their photographic qualities and not for eating. This one guy seemed to have mingled right on in with the flowers. How odd is must be to spend most of your life waiting underground, just waiting for the right amount of moisture to unlock your energy - then, in an incredible growth spurt you shoot up into the air, attaining full height in just a few hours - then you spend the rest of your existence just standing there, withering away...
Dewberry w/mushroom & cinquefoil (523-842)
Just before dark I snuck on down to Mom's meadow where I found a batch of primrose looking all pretty. The meadow is really beginning to green up, and yellow, and orange, and blue, and pink...)
Primrose in Mom's meadow (523-855)
(523-850)
Pam and I are so excited - we get to go HIKING for two days! We're heading out early tomorrow to do a number of state park trails in northeast Arkansas. By using a little automated software trick this afternoon I was able to convert, rotate, and re-size 140 photos that will go into the new color waterfall book - it would have taken me at least a couple of days to do all of that, but it only took about an hour or less with the automation. I still have a TON of work to do on each individual photo, but that took care of a lot of the misery of it all. SO, for me this weekend hiking is going to be like a mini-vacation for me - Pam will be doing all of the work (for her kids dayhiking book) and I will just be along for the ride. Actually, I think my job will be dog wrangler, which will probably turn out to be the tough job!
Speaking of tough jobs, Scott Woods from Knee Deep Ponds came out today and spent several hours scrubbing down our waterfall, creek and pond. This is a once-a-year process that really helps keep everything clean and great looking. After he drained all of the water out and caught all of the fish, he power washed all the rocks from top to bottom, then put everything back and filled it all up again. Sounds easy, but it really wasn't. Now our waterfall and creek will be fresh and clean for another growing and viewing season! By the way, you can mark July 12-13 on your calendar, which will be the annual northwest Arkansas pond tour, and include Cloudland. All proceeds will go directly to the Ozark Highlands Trail Association. I'll post more details when the time gets closer.
I am looking forward to visiting and hiking many new trails this weekend - I don't get too far east in this state much, but they do have some nice trails I hear. Look for another post sometime Monday. I hope I don't forget my camera!
5/5/03 We had quite a few anxious moments as the terrific storms passed through the Ozarks last night. We were fine, all tucked away sung in our cabin. But nearly ever one of Pam's family and friends was right in the middle of all the terrible damage around Springfield, MO. She spent quite a bit of time on the phone trying to locate people, and getting their stories of large appliances raining out of the sky, funnel clouds passing by, dogs and cars and roofs flying away. Luckily, all of her people were safe.
We had lots of wind here, but no damage, nor much rain. We got a total of less than an inch of rain all weekend. It was a great trip to northeast Arkansas to hike trails for Pam's kids dayhiking guidebook. We hiked nine new trails - some of them will be included in the new book, while others did not quite make the grade. Several of them will be really neat short, easy trails for kids and families to hike.
We got to camp in the middle of a stand of large pines, and fell asleep to that delightful sound of the breezes whispering through them way up high.
One of the trails claimed to have the "largest number of dogwood trees in the state" along its route. I saw only one dogwood, and it looked almost dead. The park is a very nice state park, and not too many folks know about it - great view of the setting sun over a lake. Another trail nearby goes all the way around a spring-fed lake and is "stroller accessible," which is a term Pam invented as a way to let parents know it is OK to take the very little ones on the trail. Oh yea, that same trail - which is paved all the way - is advertised as being "barrier free." This is a term that used to mean "handicapped accessible," and then "wheelchair accessible," and then simply "accessible." What it really means is that wheelchairs are supposed to be able to make it along the way. On this particular "barrier free" trail there was a concrete "barrier" right on the trail just past where the handicapped parking is - no way for a wheelchair to get onto the trail at all without having to go a long way around! Your tax dollars at work.
We found the state parks personnel to be about as mixed as the trails. One park would fall all over themselves to answer our questions and help us out (even offering to lead us on a hike of their trails on the spot); while at another park we felt like the folks behind the visitor center desks really did not want any visitors there at all, and seemed really bothered that we were taking up their time asking questions about their trails. Oops, I mean our trails. We have some very fine hiking trails in our state park system here, but many of them need quite a bit of work, as well as do some of the visitor center staffs! One hint - don't believe what you read in the park brochure about their trails! (This is why we go to great lengths to hike EVERY FOOT of trail and include ACCURATE information about the trails and the facilities.) I remember the very moment in my life that I decided to write a hiking trail guidebook. I was on a long backpack trip in the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming, on my last rations. I was tired, worn out, and sore from head to toe. And kind of lost. Just a little bit. FINALLY there was a trail intersection ahead that had a SIGNPOST - a very welcome sight at that point in my life. There were three signs on the post, and all of them had mileages to my destination. Only problem was, all three mileages were DIFFERENT! In fact, they were MILES apart! They all three pointed to the very same spot along the exact route! I was not a happy camper, and returned to Arkansas later that month and begin work on my first guidebook.
OK, enough of the sales pitch.
The forests here today are lush with full spring growth, and enjoying the recent rains. Most of the flowering trees are all green now, and many wildflowers have turned green as well. Two things that I noticed the most while hiking around today were the Virginia creeper vines which are EVERYWHERE and carpet the forest floor; and milkweed plants that have popped up all over the place. These are one of the main plants for monarch butterflies to munch on.
Oh yes, that is the third thing that I have noticed a lot of lately - butterflies. They are all over the place too - mostly tiger and zebra swallowtails, but also as many as a dozen other species, mostly smaller ones. They are quite active, and hop from dewberry flower to dewberry flower (can a butterfly hop?). Yesterday we saw this one huge swallowtail - both Pam and I got a good look at it, and while it looked exactly like a plain Zebra butterfly - with bold bands across the wings - it was definitely a swallowtail, yet not a regular zebra swallowtail. I'm not one for good identification, but this baby was indeed a new visitor to Cloudland.
The tree frogs have quieted down here, and I haven't heard a whip-poor-will in several days. The phoebe nest under Amber's fort is overflowing with babies. It is getting late at night here right now, and there is a crescent moon still hanging in the western sky - I can see it from right here where I am typing, out one of the tall windows up high in the wall of the cabin. I do believe that moon is getting fatter, and will cast more and more light in the night sky now for the next 11 days. Speaking of the moon, while doing the research for the 2004 calendar Pam discovered that we will have a BLUE MOON next year! I expect to be sitting out in the wilderness someplace when that dude rises.
5/6/03 It was hot and muggy all day here. I probably should have done this chore in cooler temps, but decided that it was time to get our wood cut and split for next winter. There have been a lot of trees on the ground of late for one reason or another, so we had plenty to pick from. Glenn Wheeler came out and helped, and he and I spent most of the day cutting and hauling wood to the splitter. We also spent a couple of hours hanging our heavy, metal Cloudland sign for a second time (we recently installed a log entrance gate area - big lodgepole pines from Montana, just like the cabin, set up in the vain of the ranches of Colorado - I've always wanted one of those). We had to attach the sign 13 feet in the air (which weights at least 200-300 pounds) with heavy steel chain - thank goodness for Pam's tractor! The sign looks great, and so does the pile of wood, although we still have a great deal of work to do on the woodpile, and now that Pam will be with us tomorrow, she can run the log splitter.
Just before dark the phone rang. It was a wrong number, but to give you an idea of how the people are in this area, they said - "sorry for the wrong number, but did you know there is a terrible storm heading your way?" The sky was beginning to take on a most peculiar texture and color. Then Pam's mom called and said to take cover! She had been watching the local radar and saw the storm bearing down on us. Another phone caller aid there was a tornado headed for Ponca. Pam was in Jasper on PTA business, but would soon be heading right into the teeth of the storm. I tried to reach her by phone, but our cell phones are car phones so we don't carry them with us.
Things were beginning to happen in a hurry here - the wind picked up a great deal of power, thunder and lightning exploded, and the sky turned green, and purple and bright orange. The trees thrashed back and forth, and the sky opened up and began to pour buckets. I gathered up Amber and we headed into the basement. We have this one spot with eight-inch thick concrete walls on two sides, and completely underground. I think that little corner would keep us safe in just about any situation. We prepared for the worst, stocking up on water, food, candles, flashlights, sleeping gear, and reading material. Even brought down the dog beds so they would feel at home.
All the while the storm raged on over our heads, and I continued to reach Pam on the cell phone - no luck.
And then Aspen was missing. He was NO WHERE to be found! I looked behind and under everything in the cabin. Nothing. The storm was raging outside - surely he wouldn't go out into that? Poor Amber. She was huddled down in the corner with Lucy, both of them shaking and fearing the worst. Finally, I went outside into the storm to look for Aspen. And son of a gun, there he was, on a corner of the front porch, in the spot where he goes when Pam leaves - he was going to sit there and wait for her until she came home come hell or high water! Yep, I've got myself one fine dog. It took everything that I had to get him to come inside and down into the basement without her. Of course, with both of the dogs and both of us, and all of our supplies, our little corner got kind of crowded, but no one seemed to mind.
I finally made contact with Pam, and she had not left Jasper - which was a good thing, because the storm was raging all along her route. She remained in town with the school librarian, closely watching everything on the TV radar, and checking in with us every so often.
Amber and I got into a pretty calm pattern in out little corner - you see, with all of that concrete, we had no idea what was going on outside because we could not hear or see anything - there are no windows down there. But we did come out ever few minutes and venture out onto the back deck to see what was going on. I remember one time when we went out the sky to the left was totally black, directly out in front of us it was purple, to our right was brilliant green, and far to the right it was orange - what an incredible photo that would have made!
Speaking of photos, I was in sort of an odd predicament for me. On the one hand I wanted so much to be out there in the thick of it all, with camera and tripod, shooting pictures, and even wandering around in the storm a little bit. Yet, this was the very first time that I had been all alone with my little girl in a serious situation like this one, and obviously my first and only priority was to make sure that she was safe and sound. She was a real trooper, and was anxious to come out onto the deck with me to see what was going on. I would go out and have a look myself first, then if it seemed OK, I would go back in and get her.
We got pounded pretty good with heavy rain (about two inches in less than an hour), and the light and color show was quite spectacular, but I never detected any real damage going on around us. Although after three different storms passed and the sky above cleared off, we could see incredible explosions going on to the south of us.
Pam called one last time to say that there was a break showing up on the radar screen, so she was going to make a run for it. She later said that as soon as she topped out on the hill above Jasper the sky opened up and she got dumped on - but she could see that Jasper was getting it a lot worse. "I drove to the light!" - the skies were already beginning to clear in the Boxley Valley.
It is a couple of hours later now, and we all are safe and warm and snug once again. Pam did not come across any serious damage along the way home. The temp has dropped about 25 degrees - which feels terrific outside.
About ten minutes after the last storm passed by - and after a period of utter and complete silence - the wilderness came alive with the music of whip-poor-wills and tree frogs, both near and far. That was a sign to me that it was all over, at least for a little while.
I had stepped outside about 30 minutes ago and there were a zillion stars out and that beautiful skinny moon. Now, as I am typing this, a lightning bolt just flashed outside and the cabin lit up once again. Seems like the temp dropped another ten degrees. And it is raining hard now. Oops, lots of thunder too. I had better sign off and see if I can get this posted before anything happens. Man, I LOVE WEATHER, and this wonderful RAIN!!!
In between the thunder and waves of rain, I can hear tree frogs trying to complete with all the other noise - they are really STRONG SINGERS! I think we are all going to be OK tonight...
5/8/03 We're in the same thick fog again this morning as we were yesterday. There is a strong breeze coming from the east, which usually means WEATHER. Man, we sure could use more rain. Seems like we have had a lot of rain of late, but really most of it has soaked into the ground. My main concern, of course, is for WATERFALLS, and while the creeks are running a lot better now than they have been, many of the waterfalls are not running at full tilt. We are also way behind on the total moisture for the year, so could use another foot or two of rain.
Yesterday began really foggy, as you can see from the photo below that I snapped while hauling a load of wood down to the cabin in the tractor. But the fog burned off quickly, and soon we had nothing but bright blue skies and hot temps.
Glenn came out and helped us gather more firewood. I found it quite ironic that while we were in the middle of the wood chores to help heat the cabin next winter, we received our highest electric bill ever - $274! Pam helped out a great deal, and supervised the log splitter activities. Before long we had two large piles of firewood - one made up of logs and limbs that would fit into the fireplace whole, and one of all split wood. No telling how long that wood will last us, but we at least have a good start on it. We've collected a lot of rejected logs from nearby timber cuts and have been using those as our main supply (it is amazing how much waste there is at a timber sale!). Some of the logs are nearly two feet in diameter!
By late afternoon I was one tired puppy. However, when Glenn walked out onto the basketball court to challenge Amber to a game, I had to join in and show them my prowess on the b-ball court. Of course I've never played a single second of the game in reality, and it showed bigtime - Glenn and Amber wiped the court with me. The only redeeming part of the entire ordeal was the fact that I got to partner up with my bride - even in defeat she is a great teammate!
The crescent moon was high in the sky late last night, surrounded by many stars against a black background. That moon should be getting larger, but it appeared quite small. One week from tomorrow is the full moon.
Today is CALENDAR day at Cloudland. I will go through the tens of thousands of images in my files and pick out an even dozen to include in the 2004 Arkansas calendar. I already have several in mind, and picking out most of the rest will be easy. But it will take me a good part of the day to find the final one or two. The files and images will be shipped off to the printer soon, along with the color version of the waterfall guidebook. Then we will begin the process of going through many sets of color proofs from the printer, correcting and shipping them back (all of our color work is printed overseas where the quality is the absolute BEST!). It will be the end of the summer before they do the actual printing, with delivery here sometime in late August or September. I'll keep you posted.
Pam will continue her work on the kids dayhiking guidebook in a quest to get the field work finished before Glenn does on his swimming hole guidebook. By the way, Glenn says THANKS to everyone who has sent him info about swimming holes. We've been having a lot of trouble find good ones in the Missouri Ozarks. Seems like most of the best ones are now too polluted to swim in, or are located on Missouri Conservation Department land - they only allow swimming in ONE location, which was a big surprise to us (they have many great parcels of land all over the state but apparently don't like swimmers!). I have talked with several folks who grew up in Missouri and have the same story to tell - "All of the places we used to go to as kids are too polluted to swim in." I'm not sure why this is such a problem in Missouri and not in the Arkansas Ozarks, where the water is generally wonderful.
I've been at the computer for a couple of hours now this morning - the wind is still from the east, and we still can't see too much. Although actually we can see a lot, or rather can see what we can see a lot better than normal. What I mean by that is that the fog is quite thick out in the valleys all around us, yet the air is clear enough that we can see everything between the cabin and the edge of the bluff - that means that the trees within that area really stand out against the pure-white background of the fog bank. It feels very moist outside - come on RAIN!
Well, we didn't get any rain today, but it certainly was a lovely day in the wilderness! It was cloudy and breezy all day long, although I only got to experience it from in front of the computer. Goodness, what am I saying! After spending most of the morning working on the new calendar, my bride insisted that I take a break and go on a hike with her. Boy, am I glad that I did.
The forest was lush and succulent - the leaves on the trees and plants carpeting the forest floor were so thick and full of moisture - heck, they were FAT! And then we broke out into the East meadow, and the fragrance of wild roses nearly knocked us down. The entire meadow is lined with wild roses - as is the lane connecting it to the Faddis meadow. Even out in the middle there are roses. Also lots of wildflowers, especially daisies, beginning to come out.
Some people say that since I hike so fast I there is no way I could actually see and enjoy the passing landscape - nothing could be farther from the truth. And the following photo illustrates that fact - I do indeed hike fast, but my mind has this incredible capacity to note and absorb so very much that is going on around me, even to the extent of seeing a flash of color somewhere down there in the weeds - a tiny lady bug inspecting a single blossom.
Both cats went with us on the hike, and it was fun watching them romp and play in the woods and the meadow. I know you don't get to see much of the Fat Cat (since he is normally back at the cabin napping somewhere), so I thought I would include a couple of photos of him.
As we moved on towards the orchard I found one of the wild plum trees simply loaded with young fruit - good grief, this tree is going to kill over if these plums get too much bigger!
Also nearby one of the "wild" peach trees that has been there for ages, yet is only a few feet tall, was covered with small peaches - all of the "wild" peach trees in this area remain stunted, I think because the heavy load of peaches always breaks their limbs. Our orchard peach trees are looking might fine, but we pinched all of the blooms off so there will be no fruit this year.
OK, ok, it was a great hike, and it took us an hour or longer to make the short mile hike around the loop - could have stayed out much longer, but there was work to be done.
Later in the afternoon my bride once again called upon me to accompany her out into the fresh air, this time down in front of the cabin to Mom's meadow. The wind was really cooking by then, and I didn't even bother to take my camera with me. We counted nearly 24 different types of flowers in bloom, including several species that we had not seen there before. The two main batch of flowers won't even be up and blooming for a while yet, but there is a great deal of color for sure.
The wind has really picked up this evening, and the trees are thrashing all over the place. The temp is warm - just right really - and I'm thinking of moving my computer out onto the back deck.
I made great progress on the calendar today - made all of the selections, and cropped and re-sized all but one of the images. It's going to be a very nice calendar, and the working title at this point is ARKANSAS WILD & FREE 2004. I figured that it takes us about 24 hours of actual work to put together a calendar. We've done about half of that now, so still another couple days of work left to do. I've been avoiding working on the waterfall book pending the results of yet one more test from our printers. We want to make sure everything is going to be perfect before we get this job ready to go. In the meantime, we'll get the calendar done and ready to ship off. Once I get all of that done I'll post a note here and on the online storefront about the calendars - should be September when they are ready.
It's getting spooky outside, and I know that our neighbors to the west have had some terrible today - send us the rain, but keep those funnel clouds up off of the ground please!
5/11/03 HAPPY MOM'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL MOMS!!!!! There are no finer people in the world than moms. I have had the extreme good fortune to have been associated with three of the best - my own mom, my new mom in Missouri, and the incredible mom to my daughter. Thank you all for everything that you do to make the world a better place!
My 48th year began this morning well before sunrise. I put on my hiking shoes, grabbed my beaver stick, and headed on down the hill towards the river. It took me nearly a half hour to climb down over the bluff and bushwhack the seven steep benches to the floor of the valley below. The forest was pretty noisy for it being so early in the day - tons of birds, squirrels, and several other types of critters that I could not identify making sounds. Lush, wet, GREEN, soft. The forest was all of these. My boots easily sank into the earth and kept me from tumbling head over heels. Only twice did my rump touch the wet leaves.
The river was up early and singing a lively tune as well. It is wide and shallow today - not swollen at all from the recent rains, but flowing from bank to bank, about normal flow for this time of the year. Looking around, I was unable to spot any sunlight, even at the very tops of the ridges, but the sky was quite bright, and it would not be long now before bright sunshine spilled over the ridge and filled this valley.
On the way back up the hill my pulse quickened, my breathing got heavy, and the sweat began to roll. The temp up at the cabin was only 49 degrees, and it was probably in the low 40's in the valley - a rather welcome chill for this month. My sweat was from the climb and not the temp.
These past few months sitting in front of the computer and not doing too much hiking have taken their toll on me physically. The farther up the hillside I hiked the more I realized that fact - I had grown into in the worst condition of my entire life. I wondered if I was even going to make up to the top of the hill without having to stop and rest, something I have always prided myself in doing. Yet with each step that seemed more unlikely.
I got to thinking about my life, how many miles I had traveled, people I had known, places I'd seen. Certainly my life has been a gift from above, and that gift has been much more than I ever expected, or deserved. Yet there is still even so much more potential, so many places to go and things to do with my brand new family. In order for me to make it through the next 48 years though (I promised my bride a Golden Wedding Anniversary) I would have to buckle down and shape up, starting today, this morning, on this very hill. I knew it would not be easy, nor something I could accomplish in a short time. But I thought that if I made it to the top of this hill, that would be a good start, so I kept on trudging up, step by step, bench by bench, breathing hard, and dripping.
I know my mom had something to do with this - she no doubt had reached out, grabbed my hand like she had done so many times in my life, and pulled me right on up that hillside - and before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of Mom's meadow, surrounded by flowers of all colors, and bathed with the fresh light of a new day, and a new year. Thanks mom - I made it without stopping.
Last night we had the strangest weather after dark. It had rained about 1/2 inch during a wild and wholly thunderstorm in the early evening, and then all was quiet. After shutting down the computer later in the night I went out onto the back deck. It was still cloudy, and there was some distant thunder and a few lightning bolts now and then to the south. There must have been moonlight up there above the clouds because the wilderness was lit up - lit up with an eerie quality of light that had been filtered through the clouds.
And in the middle of the night both dogs got real excited. We could hear some serious noises going on outside. Looks like we had a large visitor - one that wore a thick, black, hairy coat! No major damage, he just made a mess. I wish now that I would have gone out for a look, but I was too lazy.
Today has been a lovely day. Some friends drove out early from town and not only brought us Sunday breakfast but cooked it as well! Then my ladies and I worked in the yard a bit - the air was clean and clear and crisp, as was the bright blue sky above. Pam is busy putting together and installing a new hummingbird feeder that Amber got her for Mom's day - the hummers are getting pretty demanding out here of late. I've got some computer work to do, then will head into town to judge a photo contest and attend a couple of meetings. It will be clear and that moon should be bright enough to show me the way home. Hum, I wonder if I am going to get my birthday wish tonight?
5/13/03 Not much time to write these days, or hike for that matter - so much to do this month - good thing I didn't schedule anything! I just spent an incredible half hour sitting in the hot tub, mesmerized by a most unusual parade of clouds streaming by overhead. They were coming from the southeast - the weather never comes from that direction here. The moon was nearly full, and stood high in the sky, illuminating the clouds, and the large red oak tree that towers over the hot tub (the wind was blowing hard, and that old oak's limbs were thrashing all over the place). You know those time-lapse video sequences that are shot during the day that show the cloud formations moving across the sky? That was exactly what this looked like, only all of the clouds were coming in a line, and they were expanding as they passed overhead. It reminded me of a miniature jet stream, only down low, just above the hilltops. A very strange sight, and wonderful indeed!
Pam noticed the other night that there was not a single sound at all - I mean complete silence. We had grown used to the steady drone of the tree frogs (oops, I mean MUSIC!), day after day, night after night. But I guess the cool temps have kept them tucked away under a rock or inside trees because they have been nowhere to be heard in several days. I suspect they will return as soon as things warm up a bit.
Speaking of Pam, she created another work of art that I would like to share with you. This is a drawing of an old sorghum shed that she found on one of the trails she has hiked for the new Arkansas Kids Dayhikes guidebook (at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park). I kind of kept an eye on her progress and didn't really think too much of it until I came home one day and found the finished drawing propped up against the window - she did some sort of magic to the roof and walls that simply made the scene come alive for me! I think this fine lady has a future in this sort of thing, although it really is just a beginning hobby of hers right now - she has only done less than a dozen works total. I printed a greyscale print of this one on the new Epson printer (archival inks and paper) and was astonished at how great the reproduction and detail was. (FYI, prints of Pam's images are available through the online store - same sizes, prices, and ordering procedures as with my color prints.)
(5133-sorghum)
We spent the entire day today doing a bit of spring cleaning both inside and outside of the cabin. One thing we do a couple of times a year is wipe off every square inch of the logs inside the cabin with wet rags - all the way from the floor up to the very top of the highest wall - that's 23 feet tall! It takes quite a while to get the tedious job done, even with two of us working, but since the logs gather so much dust during the year we feel it is really needed.
The sky was so black this afternoon that we had to turn on every light in the cabin in order to see to work on the walls - another round of thunderstorms passed through, and we got about an inch of much-needed rain. I know a lot of folks are getting tired of the storms, but we still need a LOT more moisture, so COME ON RAIN, keep it up!!! The wilderness certainly does appreciate the moisture of late - the forest is absolutely lush, LUSH! And it is beginning to take on the monochrome summer green color, and you have to look close to find anything out there but green. More milkweed flowers than I have ever seen before - I hope that means a heavy monarch traffic season this summer.
For those of you who send me an e-mail now and then you should know that I am about to change my address. We are getting bombarded with so much of this filthy SPAM that we have to trash the old addresses. In fact I have been told that one way they get your address is by sweeping web pages and getting e-mail addresses that are embedded there. So I am gradually going to eliminate the link to my e-mail address on all of my web pages, and instead link to a single site where my address can be found. I certainly don't mind e-mails from you wonderful folks, and in fact look forward to them, but it is just getting too time-consuming and downright ugly to wade through all of that horrible stuff. A service provider guru that I know told me recently that the entire internet e-mail system might collapse if congress doesn't do something about this terrible man-made disease. The new address for me is - (tim) @ (timernst) .com - with no spaces or parenthesis.
5/14/03 Wonderful, wonderful rain at first light this morning - the soft kind that makes you want to snuggle in under the covers and miss an hour or two of work. We picked up about another 1/2 inch of rain, but it was the good, soaking kind that the forest really loves.
After a day of computer work and more spring cleaning, and a fine meal of grilled fish and candied carrots, my bride and I went out for an evening stroll. The sky had cleared off and we had a nice cool, sunny, delightful spring afternoon. We hiked through the lush forests and meadows around the mountain, accompanied by all of our livestock except for the fish. The Fat Cat really got into the hiking today, and spent much of his time running down the trail as fast as he could. I believe that cat got ahold of some spring tonic! I took my camera along and snapped a few photos - I just can't get of the flowers and other detail around here.
When we got back to the cabin my daughter beat up on me a little bit on the basketball court. Aspen went fishing, with Pam throwing things at him all the while. Lucy trotted off to find herself a rattlesnake or bear or some other critter. The cats never made it back to camp - I hope they are up at the tractor shed feasting on mice.
While we were playing b-ball the nearly-full moon rose up over the cabin - I have not figured out how to take a good photo of that yet, but one of these months I will do so and let you see it - a sight I never tire of.
That moon is high in the sky now, and a few frogs have come out of hiding to sing a love song in the moonlight. Oh if I could only sing that good!
5/15/03 Thought you might enjoy the view from the back deck this morning:
5/16/03 Happy FULL MOON to you! Of course, we never saw it rise, but somehow just knowing it is up there all big and bright helps to make things better. As I sit here at the computer tonight, with the windows closed, I can hear the roar of the river that is not quite as far below as it was yesterday. We got pounded early this morning - right after Pam got back from taking Amber to the bus, at what would have normally been daylight. One inch, two, three, almost FOUR inches of rain in less than an HOUR! Now that is what I call a frog strangler! I would guess that is the most rain we have ever had in one hour here. It rained some more during the day, but nothing compared with that. Man, we sure did need the rain, and while I know that type of rain is often more destructive than it is helpful, it was good to FINALLY have that much water on the ground.
Here is a view of the Buffalo River (5/16/03, 10am) from the viewpoint
down below the cabin.
We got almost 4" of rain this morning in less than an hour!
Pam and I had planned to spend most of the day in town, but just as we were getting ready to leave the basement sprung a leak. I won't go into all of the details, but the result was that we had about a gallon of water a minute coming in. I quickly set up a holding basin (holds about ten gallons) to catch the water, then got a sump pump into it and a hose over to a drain. Only problem was that my sump pump did not have a float valve - in order for it to work I had to plug it in and let it drain the basin, then unplug it. So what happened was that I had to stick around here most of the day and plug in the pump every ten minutes or so to keep the basin from overflowing and flooding the basement. Now that might only seem like a minor inconvenience. But the irony of it was that I have been waiting all year long for us to get enough rain for this one particular waterfall to flow - it is an 80-footer and really needs a LOT of water for a good photo. So today was the day, and here I was, stuck at home with my sump pump. Such is the nature of the beast!
At one point I realized that the sheets of water coming off of the hillside were washing up against the cabin, and also doing a good bit of damage to our gravel driveway. So I ran up the hill and fired up the tractor. I created four drainage ditches across the road, which diverted the water away from the cabin, and off of most of the road. While I was out on the tractor the sky opened up once again and I got drenched pretty good. All the while I was working on the tractor in the rain, I had to jump off of it, run into the cabin, and plug in the sump pump for a minute, then head out into the rain again. Man, I LOVE working in the pouring rain! I really do!
By the time Pam had returned to the cabin the leak in the basement was well under control, and I was only having to drain the basin every 30-45 minutes. Tonight that period is more like an hour or two. Thank goodness we noticed it before we left to go into town for the day!
I love watching movies, but seldom do we ever get into to town with enough time to go to the theater. So I get a DVD from time to time, but usually don't take the time to watch them either. But tonight I decided that by gosh I was going to watch one of my movies some heck or high water - oops, I had better back off of the last part of that a bit! So I turned the lights down, the volume up, and put Sandra Bullock on the tube.
Just about 3/4rs into the movie - at one of the most dramatic points - I heard both Pam and Amber start screaming at the top of their lungs - "Go outside. GO OUTSIDE!!!" I immediately realized what all the screaming was about - one of the most incredible rainbows I had ever seen in my entire life was blazing away just outside the window - this was a big one, a beautiful one, a marvel of nature that will make you stop dead in your tracks to stare.
And then I started yelling up at the girls - "Get the camera. GET THE CAMERA!!!" Rainbows of this magnitude seldom last more than a minute or two, and I knew I had to get a photo FAST. I met the girls on the deck between the two levels, grabbed the camera, and while I was running down the steps and across the lower deck I turned the camera on, took off the lens cap, and already had it focused at infinity and was beginning to adjust the exposure. By the time I stopped at the edge of the deck I was ready to fire away.
I don't mind telling you that while I had only really ran about 20 or 30 feet total, I was completely out of breath. No, it wasn't because I am so out of shape - this scene before me literally took my breath away - it was that incredible!
Not only was the rainbow large with bright, intense colors, but the lighting was quite dramatic as well - the sun has poked out from under the heavy blanket of black clouds, and there was only a narrow gap between them and the horizon. I fired away again and again and again. The light kept changing. I kept shooting. I was so focused on the rainbow that I never even noticed the girls, but I suspect they too were quite overwhelmed with this scene.
Instead of disappearing in a minute or two, the rainbow grew more intense as time went on. I shot a few more photos, and then a few more, and then more, and then more. I bet the rainbow remained for almost ten minutes, even after the sun dropped below the horizon. Heck, I gave up and went inside and back to the movie. (Well, I did think about it.) Even in the fading light of day the rainbow remained. Just one more photo. Whew, what a sight. I was exhausted. Too exhausted to see what ever happened with Sandra, so I shut down the movie and went up stairs to see what photos I had gotten. I shot nearly 100 images, and have four to show you here (prints available!).
Oh yea, I just want back out on the deck to see if the moon had showed up yet - nothing but black sky. I am going to try to take the waterfall photo in the morning - if we can only get some rain...
And for those of you that have been waiting for the waterfalls to run so you can go out with you ARKANSAS WATERFALLS GUIDEBOOK and look - NOW is the time! Happy hunting, and take lots of film...
Oh, by the way the Buffalo never really got much higher today - it remained near the same level as it was just after the big blow early this morning, and muddy and LOUD...
5/18/03 It is Sunday afternoon as I am writing this, the cabin is quiet, the light outside is quiet as well, as the day eases back into a relaxed state after a couple days of wild and wholly weather, wind, and water. Me too. It has been a fun and productive weekend, and now a little bit of quiet time is in order.
I spent much of Friday night getting up and draining the basement, and looking up the weather channel radar to see what the storm was doing. By daylight I was ready to get up and go. There had not been much, if any, rain activity over near the waterfall that I needed a photo of, and I got to thinking that I had missed my window of opportunity. I returned to bed with my tail between my legs, whining to my bride about the lack of rain (of course, the Buffalo River was still at flood stage just outside the window, so my "lack of rain" measuring stick might have been a bit out of reality). My wife is a smart one, and I have no idea how she ended up with the likes of me, but her comment was "Go, GO NOW!" And so I did.
Pam and Amber went off on an OHTA Otter Hike (led by Glenn Wheeler), and I sped off towards the Falling Water Creek drainage over on the other side of Hwy. 7. It actually rained on my most of the way over there, light rain. The closer I got to the Falling Water area, the less and less runoff I saw in the ditches and side creeks. My hopes of a thundering waterfall had begun to fade, and I really didn't have the time to sit around and wait for more rain. When I reached Falling Water Falls my interest was once again peaked - it was raging nearly out of control - there had been a GREAT deal of rain in this watershed the day before.
The target of my trip was Keefe Falls, several miles from Falling Water Falls, but still in the same general area. I parked the truck and put on all of my rain gear - it wasn't really raining, but the lush, tropical forest I was about to plunge into was soaked, and soon I would be too. The creek that flowed from the bottom of the waterfall and under the road where I parked was running pretty good - my spirits were lifted up to a good level. As I headed up the drainage towards the big waterfall, the creek moaned and yelled louder with each step - my pace quickened.
I elected to climb up to the base of the big bluffline and follow it until I reached the falls. There was a great deal of water running off of the bluff, and the thin raincoat that I was wearing did little to keep me dry. I didn't really care though, I could hear a WATERFALL ahead!
And then there it was - Keefe Falls in all its glory. Yes, it was running enough for a photo. In fact, at first glance I discovered that it was running way TOO much for a good photo! There was a great deal of spray coming from the falls, and the spot where I wanted to get the photo from was being constantly soaked. (There is a photo of this waterfall in the Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook, but I was not happy with it.) So I began a search for another location. I could get to a spot where the camera would be dry and I could see all of the waterfall, but I did not have a lens wide enough to get all of the falls in. And when I backed off, there was too much "jungle" growing everywhere, and seeing the waterfall was impossible.
I finally found a spot up high on a ledge off to one side where I had a clear shot of the falls, and could just barely get all of in with my wide-angle lens. The only problem was that the camera location up on the ledge was way to far away from the base of the waterfall for me to be able to run and get into the photo in the allotted ten seconds that the self-timer gave me. Oh well, I would get my photo of the waterfall anyway. So I shot a few frames until I was satisfied.
Then I remembered something. My little point-and-shoot digital camera had an interesting feature that none of my big professional cameras had ever had before - a built-in intervalometer. What that does is permit you to set the camera up to shoot a series of photos at specific intervals, unattended. It is designed to be able to photograph a sunset, or flower blooming, for example. I had never used it before, but what the heck. So I set up the camera to shoot five photos, each one minute apart.
I pushed the shutter and the camera took the first photo, obviously without me in it. Then I began to make my way down off of the dangerous ledge and around to the bottom of the waterfall (through a couple of heavy pour-offs along the way), counting to myself all the way - one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three...I didn't make it in time for the second photo, but was able to be in place for #3, #4, & #5. I felt kind of silly (nothing new to me) having to stand there and hold my pose for 15-30 seconds (since I could not time it exactly, I gave myself at least 15 fudge time on either end of each minute). Then I hastily scrambled back up the hillside and out to the camera position on the ledge to see what I had done. EUREKA! My plan worked, and I got the photo that I needed (I only wished that I had figured out this deal LAST year when I was killing myself trying to run and get into position!). Mission accomplished, I headed back to the cabin.
We had a cabin full of folks headed out for dinner, so I got to work with last-minute things to prepare for them. Pam and Amber arrived a little while later, and just about the time we got everything in order, our guests begin to arrive. Two interesting things happened during the evening. First, Aspen was spotted by several of the arriving guests - hiking up the road and through the woods with footwear in his mouth. By the time I was informed of this, it was too late - the missing boot was no where to be found. Although several of us spent a good bit of time scouring the hillside looking for it. To quote my bride, "What a good dog!"
The other interesting thing was while Pam was out on a hike with the group, it began to rain. Not normally a big deal, but no of these folks had any rain gear with them, and the raindrops were large and many. My job was tending bar and dealing with the tuna steaks, so I did not get into that one. They completed their hike and returned to the cabin a little bit soaked, but all smiles.
While the waterfall guidebook and slide program has been a great success, one thing that has gnawed at me about it all is something my wonderful daughter has mentioned several times. "Daddy, you named a waterfall after our dogs, after mommy, after the neighbors, after many of our friends, but where is MY waterfall?" That one sunk in, and made me stand up and notice. I really should have found a special waterfall for this very special little girl right off the bat. When I got up this morning, I decided that was going to be my goal - to find and photograph Amber Fall, wherever it may be.
We will be reprinting the Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook soon (because we are almost sold out of the first printing), but it will not be a new edition - i.e., it will not contain new waterfalls or different information, just the same info from the first printing (the info has not changed since last fall!). But the new version will be in color, with the new Keefe Falls photo that I shot yesterday. AND, I thought, it could include one new waterfall - Amber Falls - if I could find an appropriate falls.
I have actually given this a great deal of thought of late, and decided that I did have the perfect waterfall in mind for Amber, but I did not have a photo of it, nor had been to it in a while. Conditions were perfect today - and probably would be my last chance, since I have to get the book sent off to the printers in the next week. It was supposed to clear up and be sunny today - the kiss of death for waterfall photos - but I did have an hour or two this morning to get out and shoot it, I hoped. So I left our guests and headed out in search of the new waterfall.
It didn't take long for me to locate the waterfall (after a mile bushwhack through the dense jungle) that I had thought about, and it looked very good. I had beat the sunshine, and shot a number of photos, one that I could use for the book. But as I was standing there at the base of the falls admiring its beauty, I realized that I am not the one who should be in the photo - it should be AMBER! So I packed up my gear and hiked back up and out to the truck, then sped back to the cabin to get Amber.
We returned to the falls with friends Glenn, Stacey, and Beth Wheeler. The entire trip out, back to the cabin, and down to the waterfall a second time, my mind was racing - hoping to beat the sunshine that should have long ago burned off the clouds and fog that hovered overhead creating beautiful light. But it allowed me this one additional indulgence, and we were able to shoot the photos with the great light. So here is the shot that will go into the new printing of the book, and I present to you AMBER FALLS!:
Amber and Beth at Amber's Falls - both of them great troopers
Wild azela
Fern spores
It is approaching the end of daylight now here at the cabin, and all remains still and quiet outside. The forest and all the plants and critters who live there are just about to partake on an incredible growth spurt because of the recent rains. I expect Mom's meadow will explode with even more color once the sun spends an entire day overhead. I have my waterfall photos now, and while I hope the rain will continue to come at least once a week as long as Momma Nature will allow, I won't be doing a rain dance every day like I have been for the past number of months. THANKS to all of you who helped! The sun is easing on down towards the horizon, shadows out in the wilderness are getting long, the white light is beginning to turn pale yellows and pinks, the wilderness is at rest. I think I'll sign off for now and just go wander around in the evening woods for a little while. Maybe I'll even find that boot that Aspen so carefully hid somewhere...
UPDATE! After combing every inch of the hillside around the cabin this eveing, and carefully looking in every nook and cranny, I may have discovered Aspen's treasure, the toe just barely poking out from the earth:
5/19/03 HAPPY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY TO THE JOURNAL! That's right, this begins the sixth year of the journal as of this week - can you believe it has been that long? I had no idea that when I started writing some of my thoughts down that I will still be here at the keyboard five years later. It has been nothing but good for me, and I hope that some of you have also gotten a little bit out of my thoughts and photos all of these years. I would be afraid to go back and count how many pages there are, but I know it is up in the thousands. Good grief, can I really talk that much?
I have received hundreds and hundreds of wonderful comments from you Journal readers over the years, and I tried to post a few of them in the comments section - the file grew so large that it would no longer accept more text. I want you to know that I have kept and treasure each and every one of them in a special file on my hard drive. One of these days I may go back through and post a few more of them. There is another huge file filled with the sometimes weekly notes that I get from many of you all over the country and the globe - all I can say to you all is to KEEP THEM COMING! The cabin is filled with your good thoughts, and echos them back to you.
I went back a couple of days ago and read through that very first Journal entry on May 16th, 1998. What a hoot it was! I found it ironic that one of the very first things that I noted was the fact that I was going to make it a goal of mine to learn how to draw/sketch. Well, I've not exactly reached that goal, but I have married the most wonderful person in the world, and she has taken to drawing - I am living part of my life through her, and I revel at each new scene she creates. I have always said that all you have to do to take a great photo is to push a single button - the camera really creates the photo. But drawing/painting you have to create from scratch every single item on the canvas or page - THAT is what I call ART, and I am quite envious of all of you who are able to do it, even at the most basic level. I can push that button on the camera for sure, but I can't draw my way out of a paper bag.
Speaking of my lovely bride, I have been doing a lot of thinking about these past five years this last weekend (we had 23 folks here for dinner Saturday), and meeting her easily ranks as the most important thing that happened in that time period, indeed in my entire life. I was a happy camper before she ever arrived on the scene, but she opened my eyes to and brought me into a terrific new world that I had only dreamed of in so many ways. And, of course, our daughter is a peach, and while I would never have guessed that I would be a family man, I would not trade her for the world. Life continues to excite, challenge, surprise, and delight me at every turn in the trail.
My little cabin here at Cloudland has changed so much over the past five years, as I have. I built it first as a weekend get-away, with plenty of room for me to expand into if I ever wanted to live here full-time. Of course, it didn't take me long to realize that full-time was the way to go.
At one point we had important folks sign lampshades here as a way of noting their arrival. The late, great Neil Compton was the first one to sign a shade. Hundreds have followed, and we have quite a few lampshades that are filled with signatures. So many faces have come and gone. So much laughter. And a few tears.
There have been a few low points in the past five years, the main one being the passing of my mom. But I know she went to a much better place, and now is able to sprinkle her joy and beauty through flowers the world over - especially here at Cloudland. I went down into her meadow this evening and just wandered around through the flower garden and snapped a few photos for you to enjoy - just a little anniversary color from my mom to you.
As a Journal reader, I hope that if you can ever take anything from this web page, it will be a smile, and a warm fleeing in your heart, for that is what life is all about, and what I hope to accomplish in some little way through this Journal - to spread some of the light of life to another. THANK YOU for reading this Journal. I wish you the very BEST in the next five years! (I don't know how much longer I will write this Journal, but I plan to spend at least 48 more years with my bride, and I expect I'll be making a few posts here along the way...)
5/21/03 Just a couple of items to note this morning. As you can see from the Cloudland Cam shot at he opening of this journal it is a gray, dreary day outside in the wilderness, with a cool temp just above 50 - a PERFECT day if you ask me! It feels like late October, and I expect the trees to begin changing colors any hour now. It is the sort of moist, cool air that you can take deep into your lungs, and will pump a bit of life into ya. And the vies is easy on the eyes - no harsh, bright sunlight to fight. This is the sort of light that you want for outdoor photos (unless you will be including the sky in the photo - white sky will KILL your photo!). People, rocks, leaves, flowers, and waterfalls all look much better with diffuse light.
And speaking of waterfalls, they are still running great right now. We had a knock on our door late last night - it was a pair of photographers who had spent the afternoon and evening down in the depths of the wilderness taking pictures, and they came to report that both Compton Double Falls and the new Amber Falls were spectacular.
I went on a short hike last evening myself, just after the sun went down. The forest was dark and moody, and very quiet - not a sound anywhere, even from my boots, which sank quietly into the soft, moist earth. The forest is about as lush and healthy as it could ever be, and I know it relished every drop of the recent rains (we got about two inches yesterday morning). As I made my way back towards the cabin I was able to see up through holes in the canopy of the big oaks, hickories, maples, and gums overhead. There was a thin layer of clouds that were being illuminated by the last rays of the sun that were striking them up high. It was an odd scene, with all of those black tree trunks, branches, and leaves, and this bright orange glow beaming down into it all from above.
Sometime around 4am this morning our friend the whip-poor-will work up and began singing. His voice bounced off the cabin walls and echoed out across the big valley. A few minutes later a second voice joined his. It was really funny because the second bird's song was about a half beat off from the original one, and in the darkness and uncertainty of sleep it was hard to tell if it was one bird or two. And then a THIRD bird joined in! This one was way off the beat. All three of them together made a sound that was difficult to drown out into the background. Thank goodness our company who was spending the night was safely tucked away behind and eight-inch wall of concrete and would not be disturbed. (She later noted that she did indeed hear the birds - their songs can really penetrate!)
You may have noticed the opening shot in the Journal yesterday and today. I have had SO MANY requests for a "Cloudland Cam" camera to be set up on the back deck, and I have decided to make an attempt to do it manually. That is I will take a photo looking out into the wilderness as often as I can and post it right there at the top of the Journal. There will be many days when I will simply post the photo and not do any sort of update here in the text body. The photo will always be dated, as will any text update, so you will be able to tell if there is anything new. I won't be able to post this photo every day, but I will try to do so several days a week and we will see how it goes. I know that once we get into the monotone summertime scenes that photo will look exactly the same from day to day, so I may not update it all that often. Just wait until fall though - the entire scene will change dramatically from day to day!
Speaking of the fall, I suspect we will have one of the busiest ones on record around here. Both my bride and Glenn Wheeler are racing to get their respective guidebooks finished this summer (Pam's is a guidebook to easy hiking trails for kids and families in Arkansas; Glenn's is a guidebook to old time swimming holes in the Ozarks). They have a bet going on who will finish first, although they have not set the prize yet. Once all of the field work is completed, Pam will be drawing all of the maps for BOTH books (plus writing all of the text for hers), while I do the layout for both and put them all together and sent off to the printers. Our goal is to get both projects completed and back from the printers in time for the holidays, which is when we like to bring out new publications. That is a large goal for our small company, but one we think we can accomplish without sacrificing any quality in the process. I LOVE working hard, and my bride shares that vision of doing so and seeing a completed job well done. Both of these books will contain a wealth of info and will make for some great outdoor adventures for everyone! Me? I'll probably just lay around here all summer napping...
5/22/03 Beautiful, thick fog has engulfed the cabin this morning, and the view off the back deck is a near total white-out. As I was taking Amber up to the bus a while ago the sun was already up and beaming out on top of the fog up at the top of the ridge. Nothing but blue skies up there, which will soon reach the cabin. My lovely bride is out of town much of this week working on her kids hiking trail guidebook (she did six or eight new trails just yesterday alone - darn hard worker that girl is!), so I get to make the early trip up to catch the bus each morning, which is a chore that I rather enjoy (don't tell my wife though). That time just before and during sunrise is often the most magical time of the day.
The fog in the trees here has been wonderful this morning, and I spent 30 minutes out wandering around in it with camera in hand just now. What I really want is the sun beaming through all of that fog, spilling in through the leaves and tree trunks. So far, it has just been fog, and I retreated to the cabin to get some work done. I am keeping a sharp eye out from my computer desk for sunbeams, and might have to get up and rush out the door and into the woods to get a photo - fortunately, the best pictures are only a few steps away!
(5223-1260)
(5223-1279)
I forgot to relate a moment that I had here last week. It was during one of the big rainstorms. I had gone out to do something and happened to stop by and check on the baby phoebes that were under Amber's fort. They had gotten so big that they were all about to spill out of the nest. There were six or seven of them all crowded into that little nest, and each one seemed to look up at me with this "Hurry up and teach me to fly so I can get out of this tiny apartment and move uptown!" look.. It would make a great photo, I thought, and I vowed to return once the rains quite and snap the picture. It was the next day before I remembered to go out and take that picture, and son of a gun, ALL of the birds were GONE! Literally flown the coop - they were nowhere to be found. And I don't think that a critter got them because there were no little feathers that I could find, other than right in the nest itself. So there you have it - the old saying "Snooze and you Lose" holds true - I missed a great baby bird shot! Next year, there will always be next year, especially with these guys because they always return to the nest site to build again for their new brood.
OK, I got hungry while waiting for the sun to burn into the fog, so I started to create a bacon sandwich. I know, I know, bacon is terrible for you, but it just happens to be a weakness of mine, so I caved and made one. It is SO easy these days with that pre-cooked bacon that you just microwave, and the taste is wonderful! And I can get it exactly the way I like. Just as the toast was browned and my sandwich was all pressed together and cut into quarters, I happened to look out the window and saw sunbeams - oh no! Man, what a dilemma I was faced with - to eat, no SAVOR my warm bacon sandwich and let the sun do its thing without me, or abandon my little feast and run out the door to get a photo? Man, what a tough choice!
After several seconds of deep thought on this issue, I decided that what the heck, I would take the sandwich with me, and so I grabbed the plate with one hand, the tripod with the other, and rushed out into the woods. I had to tweak my camera position a bit, but finally found the exact spot that I wanted, and began to fire away. I think I got a good photo of the scene that I had imagined in my head an hour earlier, AND got to munch on my warm bacon sandwich at the same time - thing just happen like that here at Cloudland...I am one lucky dude. Now, back to work!
My bacon sandwich photo (5223-1288)
5/25/03 Wow, the last couple of days have been quite a blur. I got into major book production mode, and have spent most of my waking hours (and many half asleep ones) here at the computer, working on the photos for the waterfall guidebook reprint. I got a late start on Friday, but still managed about a dozen hours at the keyboard. Yesterday it was more like 16 hours. There were times when I would look up and notice that it was two or three hours later than it had been the last time I looked up. Someone on the phone mentioned something about a holiday weekend - huh, what holiday was it? Around here every day is a holiday, but often every day is also a work day. No complaining - that's just the way I like it!
I spent a few hours last night in bed - most of them wide awake and thinking, worrying about one thing or another. I'm a perfectionist, and it is tough to get any sleep with there is a book project on the computer! When I went downstairs this morning I realized that I had to make yet one more road trip - partly to check out some road number that had recently changed, and partly because I wanted to photograph another waterfall that I only had a black and white photo of. Poor Pam - how many times has she heard "Honey, did I mention that we might go to the woods all day today and hunt waterfalls - can you be ready to hit the road in five minutes?" She is a real trooper, especially now because she has been spending so much time on her own book project, but is always happy to change plans.
It was an interesting trip this morning up into a narrow canyon, one that held towering sycamore trees and was lined with carpets of ferns and moss-covered boulders. At first when we headed up the drainage the creekbed was bone dry, yet faith kept up moving. Soon there was a small pool of water. Then a larger one. And two pool connected by a small trickle of water. I had never been into this little canyon at any time of the year other than in winter, so I had not seen the lush jungle ferns and moss and umbrella magnolia trees. I could hardly contain myself, and wanted to stop and take pictures, and sit and look, and smell, and dream a little. But I was on a mission, and I just knew there was a waterfall up ahead that needed to be photographed.
The farther we trekked the more water we found heading down our direction. A lot of folks don't realize that you will often find MORE water UPstream than downstream. In this country a lot of the water that gathers in the bottom of a canyon like this one today will eventually find its way into the porus underground before it runs in the steam too long.
After scrambling up this difficult passage to get to the waterfall before the sun burned all of the clouds off overhead (I need CLOUDS for good waterfall photos), we were rewarded with the scene that I needed - the last one to be photographed that will make it into the new color guidebook. On the way back down I was a bit more relaxed and able to enjoy the surroundings. Back at home later in the day, Pam asked it that was a large smear of mud or a gash in the back of my leg - it must have been mud because I did not recall getting any injuries, even though I did slip and fall a time or two. When I stepped out of the shower after washing all of the mud off, sure enough, there was a three-inch gash down the back of my leg. Hum, I wonder how that got there?
The temp at the cabin dropped about 20 degrees this afternoon in less than an hour. No rain, although it sure did fell like rain.
The only other time I had been out of the cabin these past few days was a short hike that I took just before dark last night. I had to go up to the office to find several color slides that I had to scan to put into the book, and taking the opportunity of being outside I went the long route up to the office. It was cloudy and cool and very still out, with hardly any noise at all. What I heard most were drops of rain hitting the ground after making the long trek from the top of some nearby tree - it had not rained in several hours, so the drops coming down were off of the trees. Stand in the forest sometime after it has quit raining, close your eyes, and listen to water droplets that come down - they make an entirely different sound than when it is raining.
Another thing that I noticed was that I could see farther into the forest than I ever had before - could that be possible? I'm getting old and my eyesight is beginning to waver just a little bit (only on the close end though), but I can still count the hairs on a fly at 100 yards. Can I see better now in the woods, and if so, why? I think most senses improve when you spend a lot of time outdoors. But heck, most of my time of late has been in front of the computer! It was a delightful hike, and I spent entirely too much time out there, but I think I needed to breathe a bit of that air and stretch my eyeballs out for a little bit. Then it was back to the monitor, and another several hours of bookwork.
When I got back to the cabin Pam was on the phone with another reporter. She is quickly becoming the regional expert on kids hiking, and this newspaper guy was from another state doing an article on hiking and camping with your kids in the Ozarks. That's my girl!
It's just after 10pm now, and I've been working since about 5 this morning. I think I'll shut it down a little bit early and go sit out in the darkness and see if I can strike up a conversation with my friend the owl who has been coming around of late. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the book project, and I want to get an early start on it in the morning!
5/26/03 First off, let me say HAPPY MEMORIAL day to all veterans, families of fallen veterans, and to everyone else too! No doubt none of us would be free without the ultimate sacrifices that have been made on our behalf by millions of brave souls that came before us. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!
And just a note to remind you that the war in Iraq is far from over. I know that since so many of our soldiers have been coming home it is easy to think that it is all done with. We have several close friends who just now, in the past week, have left their loved ones behind and landed over there in the sand - it will be their job to continue with operations for the next however long. For those of you who pray, please keep these brave souls in your prayers.
My day began well before dawn this morning, back at the computer. But after an hour or two I realized that I needed to get up and go outside - it was breaking day, and the cabin was engulfed in thick fog. I grabbed my camera, tripod, put on a sweatshirt, and ran into the woods. For the next two hours I remained with the fog, shooting one scene after another after another. Every time that I thought I had the photo that I wanted, the fog or the sun or both moved around just a little bit, and I was forced to keep shooting. I used up every single bit of memory that I had (in the camera - mine is already mostly gone).
It was and incredible feeling being out there in it, and reminded me of the coastal redwoods in northern California - they often get an hour or two of fog each morning too. As the sunshine began to beam into the forest, each movement brought new visual delights as those shafts danced all over the place. No way a photo could ever capture that magic. Magic it is. Man, I just can't even begin to describe the feeling of it all. There were several waves of the fog this morning - it would get thick and block out the sun, then thin out and retreat, causing sunbeams to fill the forest. Just about the time the air got nearly clear, the fog would return again, to start the process all over again.
At some point in the middle of all this, I became aware of movement across the scene. It was my bride, who had been lured out into the fog too. Funny, but even though she was passing within 20 feet in front of me, I did not see her until she was almost out of my frame of vision, nor did she ever see me until I moved. It was SO quiet out there, and you expect for a person hiking through the forest be make some noise, but not this morning. Everything was soft and delicate and, well, just beautiful.
It looked like the sun had arrived to stay, so the two of us continued on into the wilderness together, walking hand in hand in the gorgeous morning light. The temp had been down in the 40's at first light, but was warming up nicely in a hurry.
We spent the next couple of hours wandering around, not really going anyplace in particular. One direction was just about as amazing as another. And, of course, no matter where we went, I had to get down on my belly and take a few photos. Pam learned a long time ago that once I turned on the camera, it would be awhile before I was up and hiking again. She takes these times to go exploring on her own, knowing that I would eventually catch up with her. However, today, just about every time that I did catch up with her, I found her bent over one thing or another, motioning me to come take a picture. I don't know if it is her art talent beginning to come to the surface, or simply that she is seeing a lot more out here, but she has been spotting and pointing out a lot of great compositions.
It wasn't until we had been hiking for a good long while that Pam made note of the fact that I had not bothered to actually get dressed before leaving the cabin - I was still wearing my underwear! Good thing the trails around here are not crowded...
When we finally did reach the cabin it took me nearly two hours just to download the photos to the computer, pick out some of the ones that I liked, and convert them for viewing on the web. It is a tough job but someone has to do it.
So here, in no particular order, are a few of the images that we found this morning while on our hike. Note that I do not use any sort of lights or backgrounds, but I do utilize the low angle of the light and naturally-dark backgrounds of shadows (sometimes I have Pam stand at just the right location to cast a shadow too). All of these are available as color prints (as is everything posted on the Journal since March 1st). Enjoy!
5/28/03 Just one more day, that's all I needed. Today actually started yesterday, and I worked right on through the night, at least most of it. Or was I just dreaming that I was working? When I worked for the forest service as a tour guide at Blanchard Springs Caverns I would dream about giving cave tours - that was another job that I loved.
I hardly even noticed sunrise, or the first half of today. I was in final approach for both the color waterfall book and the 2004 calendar. After some long and hectic hours, all of the CD's were finally burned and I was loaded up to take them to my print broker in Fayetteville - FINISHED AT LAST!!!
There have been several critter notes of late to pass on. First, Danny Woods stopped by today and reported that he has seen a very large bear in the East meadow yesterday. Pam and I had just spent a good bit of time there the day before. Danny said that it was a large bear, and he knows his bears. This afternoon I heard a strange noise near the window behind the computer, and it turned out to be a hummingbird that has somehow flew into the cabin. Hum, I guess that is bound to happen since we often leave all the doors wide open so that the real air can get inside. Early this morning I hiked up to check on our water storage tank - we've been having trouble with the float switch again - and I swear that I saw a snake under the lid. Being pretty sleep deprived now for some time, I passed it off as just me being delirious.
OK, free at last, free at last, my book and calendar were done, and I was FREE AT LAST! When I got home from town I locked the dogs in the cabin, grabbed the camera, and headed out into the woods, the deep woods, where it would be just me and the forest and the moss and the rocks and the breeze and the sunshine (and no dogs to make a disturbance, as they are prone to do). The afternoon air was sweet, and I felt like I was being reborn and revitalized with each step - I had worn myself down quite a bit these past long days at the computer, and really needed to renew the soul and the blood.
The deeper I got into the forest the darker it became - not black dark, but dark green dark. Almost spooky. I pulled over to the side of the trail and took care of some business. When I was just about finished I looked up and saw a pair of eyes looking dead center at me - right up on the hillside about 75 feet away. I had not seen this critter, but he sure was had been looking right at me - probably had me in his sights for several minutes. It was a deer, a beautiful doe. One thing I can say for sure, a deer staring right at me always sends a chill up and down my spine - not a chill of fear, but one of sheer excitement and exhilaration. I believe my breathing stopped for just an instant, then I started breathing again, zipped up, and started speaking softly to her. Very few deer understand English - or perhaps they do - but as soon as I started speaking she bolted and was half way down the hillside in a flash. This particular part of the forest was maple trees, so the understory is wide open, and I got to see her running for several seconds before she was out of sight. Boom, just like that, she had covered two or three hundred yards or more. What a magnificent animal.
I spent some time wandering around the edges of meadows looking for ripe wild strawberries, and I found a handful or two. The meadows are getting really lush now with wildflowers and tall grasses, and the sumacs and young dogwoods and plums are all crowded in close, lining the edges like spectators at a football game. In fact, many places along the open areas are nearly un-penetrable by humans. I had to fight my way into the forest a couple of times. I rather like being right in there up close and personal with the trees and bushes, although I could do with a lot less of the sticker bushes, although they generally will produce nice flowers and berries.
I cut across the hillside and eventually made it up to Aspen's meadow, which is filling in nicely with daisies, my bride's favorite flower. Funny how those wildflowers will come up on their own, and cover the landscape.
I went on over to check on the water tank once again and son of a gun, I had not been dreaming - there was a SNAKE in the tank! This is a 1,000 gallon concrete holding tank that is all sealed up to keep bugs and debris out, and with a special locked cover. Yet there was a snake INSIDE the darn thing, all curled up inside the outlet pipe. What sort of snake was it? I had never seen the color pattern before in real life, although I knew there were many snakes like it in the guidebook. I reached in and grabbed him and tried to get him out of the tank, but he would have no part of that, and managed to get away. I got one photo of him before I disturbed his nap. Turned out that he is some sort of scarlet snake - I don't know which one - there are at least six different species of snakes in the guidebook that all look exactly alike to me. Quite striking and beautiful, and a brand new species for me that I had never seen before (no matter which one it was).
I want to begin doing bear patrols in the evenings now, but also want the dogs to have a good romp in the woods with me - the two don't mix too well because the dogs would chase off any bear long before I could get a look or photo. I may have to just settle for having a great evening hike, that wouldn't be too bad.
It is getting late now, and I can hardly keep my eyes open. I need a break, or at least a few hours sleep. The tree frogs have returned, and are singing at the top of their lungs outside. We now have three or four resident whip-poor-wills here, and they strike up around 3 or 4 in the morning. I have not seen their nest like I have in previous years, but I bet there is one out there, right on top of the ground. Perhaps I'll go look around tomorrow. Ah yes, tomorrow - I don't have any books to do tomorrow, so I can get back to that to-do list that I made up at the beginning of this month - there are only 68 or 70 things left on it!
5/30/03 I awoke to the sound or raindrops - is there any better music to listen to while in bed than that? Seemed like it rained for an hour, but when I got up discovered we had only received about 1/4 inch of rain - not a lot, but certainly welcome. You would think that with all of the rain we have had this month (more then 12 inches here at the cabin) that would be enough, but we are still way behind and could use a good rain or two a week for the rest of the year. I'll dream on.
This morning was one of the most delightful ones here in a long time (out in the forest I mean - every morning at the cabin is wonderful!). The rains had dropped the temp down into the 60's, and brought fresh smell to the wilderness. The girls left to run errands in town, so it was just me and the dogs. (One thing the ladies did was to package up several boxes of goodies that they mailed to the troops in Iraq - all of that stuff has to be delivered to the post office in person and forms filled out.)
I got up and sort of drifted out into the forest, rather like one of the new clouds that had been born with the rain. They seem to move effortlessly, and wander around without any obvious plan in mind - sort of like my rambles here on the ground. At one point both dogs came to a complete halt, sniffing the air, and looking up at me like "do you smell THAT!" There was nothing but silence. Silence, and an uneasy feeling that some force was watching us, lurking just behind the next tree - a bear perhaps? No doubt that big one that was spotted nearby was not too far away. All of us felt it, and the frozen moment seemed to last for minutes. You know - it was one of those times when the hair on the back on your neck stood straight up. As I moved my head around to scour every inch of the landscape, a flash of color caught my eye - it was right there next to me, on the ground. In all the sea of summer green that extended as far as I could see, there was a single wild rose that had opened to greet the day, purple and yellow and just gorgeous. While that certainly was not what had caught the dog's attention, it would claim mine, and I forgot all about the potential bear. Why had this rose chosen this specific spot to live - out in the middle of the deep forest? I had walked this trail hundreds of times before and never seen it. I will indeed keep a more careful eye in the future.
What a statement the little rose made to me - I had been worrying about and nervous for the moment when I would come face to face with old Mr. bear, yet what I found in the woods was an unexpected, and quite beautiful sight. Life is, of course, a lot like that - many of us spend a great deal of time worrying about the bad things that never happen, when we probably should be paying more attention to what good and beauty there is to be found all around us.
As the day wore on the temps rose, but a stiff breeze kept things nice and cool. I wanted to share a photo of our Fat Cat with you. He seems to enjoy napping on the roof of the workshop - right out in the bright sunshine. There is a translucent panel in between the metal ones, and that is where he naps. Here is what he looks like from inside the workshop.
Even though I was here all alone most of the day there were lots of people around - on the phone, fax, e-mail, and in person. And folks seemed to want to talk forever today. But that was OK with me - my two big projects for the month were finished, and I only had my list of 68 things to do by tomorrow to get done (I got to several of them today - yippie!). Aspen and Lucy greeted a hiker that wandered in. He and his German girlfriend have been hiking around Arkansas for the past six weeks - covering 500 miles! They had just done the Buffalo River Trail and were up on the mountain doing the Hawksbill Crag Trail (they HIKED up Cave Mountain Road to get to it from the BRT trailhead in Boxley - a hike of about 9 miles in itself). They had also already hiked the entire Ouachita Trail and Ozark Highlands Trail on their trip. I did not get to meet the lady - he told me she choose to remain back up the driveway because she was afraid of being shot by some "redneck hillbilly." The movie Deliverance did so much for the reputation of Arkansas (even though it was shot and set in the East and not in the Ozarks!). We'll never live that one down.
Speaking of tomorrow, I will be leaving early in the morning to lead a National Trails Day hike at Petit Jean State Park - that means there will be no Cloudland Cam photo for Saturday. I hope you have been enjoying them. In fact, I hope you have enjoyed the photo-rich Journal entries for the past couple of months. I will continue to include them as long as there are things to take pictures of. This will be my last post for May as well, so THANKS for reading! I'll leave you with one last photo for May:
January 2002 Journal | February 2002 Journal | March 2002 Journal | April 2002 Journal | May 2002 Journal | June 2002 Journal | July 2002 Journal | August2002 Journal | September 2002 Journal | October 2002 Journal | November 2002 Journal | December 2002 Journal | January 2003 Journal | February 2003 Journal | March 2003 Journal | April 2003 Journal | June 2003 Journal
|
Go here to order guidebooks, picture books, calendars, posters, & the Search For Haley book |
Cloudland
Home Page | Cloudland
Pictures Page | Cloudland
Comments Page | Cloudland
Recipe Page | Tim Ernst Home Page
Copyright 2003, CLOUDLAND.NET
This page is courtesy of Arkansas USA, The Net Connection