Cloudland Deck Cam, 5/31/04, 7:27, cool, 1.5 inches of rain yesterday afternoon This is an infrared panoramic shot off the back deck at Cloudland (for those of you photo geeks, please pardon the poor stitch job)

5/3/04  The sun has not appeared yet, but I expect its arrival any moment now. There is a heavy bank of clouds covering the valley floor and half-way up the canyon walls like a sea of white. That sea is turning pink now, so I guess the sun is not too far off. All is still outside, and quiet, except for the distant calling of a whip-poor-will. There is a crispness in the air that we have not had in a good long while - 35 degrees, which is rather chilly for May in the Ozarks.

In the time it took me to type that last paragraph the sun has not popped up over the ridge to the east, and is beaming sunshine through the trees surrounding the cabin, and spilling down into the canyons below. That cloud bank has risen and is just about to overtake the tops of the ridges. The pink in the tippie-tops of the clouds is now yellow - the new day, week, and month is here! Oh, I guess the new month began for the rest of you a couple of days ago, but for me today is it - I've been in nearly constant motion since early Friday morning, and am just now getting to sit down and let my brain relax for a few moments. I know that I really should be outside taking pictures, but that will have to wait.

We had three very successful events since we last talked. First was the big program in Eureka Springs on Friday night. It was at the newly-refurbished city auditorium there, and we had quite a crowd. I expected about 10 or 20 folks to show up for my show, but there was a hundred or more. Of course, they were mostly there to see the world premiere of the Buffalo River Symphony, which was incredible indeed. By the time my part was completed and the music was set to begin the place was packed - not sure how many folks, but it was an impressive crowd indeed.

My girls remained out in the lobby handling the sales of two long tables full of books, posters and prints. We got to talk with a lot of Journal readers - it was GREAT to meet each of you!

It was a long time getting home that night. Seemed like just a few moment later the alarm was going off and it was time to get up and go meet the crew of digital photo workshop folks. It had rained during the night, but not all that much (they were predicting up to four inches of rain - we got perhaps a tenth of an inch). We did get rained on a little but in the morning while we were out shooting - we were all soaked to the bone. But the shooting was great and everyone came back with wonderful photos. It was very late in the night before the workshop crew had left and we were finished with other photo chores, which included printing up a batch of big prints for Glenn, my able assistant.

Sunday morning we were up early once again and back out the door to meet another group of workshop folks, then another hike out into the great outdoors for more photos. We had clear skies this morning, which is not good for our sort of photography, but we made the best of it and were able to figure out how to get some stunning photos. I have found that in general all of the photographers who come to my digital workshops produce some really fine work - across the board. In the old days of film, only a handful of the students produced really good work, and some of them were quite bad. But with digital it just seems that you can learn quicker, and be more effective with your time. One student told me she had learned more in this one day class than she had during a four-day workshop out in Wyoming with a really big name photographer. That's the sort of comment I love to hear! It might be nice to become one of those big name photographers, but you know, I kind of like being just who I am, and where I am in life.

Pam was up and out the door well before daylight this morning, making book deliveries and then the long trek up to Missouri to retrieve Amber (no school in Jasper today). We are down to crunch time now with Glenn's new guidebook, and will be spending nearly every waking moment this week and next getting it wrapped up and eventually sent off to the printers. Looks like there will be 87 different swimming holes in the book!  It will be great when we finally get it all wrapped up and sent off, although once it is out the door the next book project is looming and we will have to jump right in. Such is the nature of the beast.

The clouds are white now, and still rising slowly up towards the cabin. Soon we will be in a total white-out - at least I hope so - I need to grab the camera and run out into the forest and shoot a few photos - can't ever seem to get enough of that!

5/5/04 The sun came up early this morning, while Amber and I were on the way to the bus. The moon was just about to set - yesterday was the full moon. Looks like another textbook springtime day here in the Ozarks.

Yesterday morning was still a bit on the cool side, and in fact it felt sort of odd out there. Or rather it actually felt like an old friend. I knew I would be locked inside the cabin and glued to the computer all day long, so made a quick escape just after daylight to the woods to wander around for a few minutes. Something was not quite right - it FELT like fall, yet I knew it was spring. Everything from side to side was GREEN and getting greener if that was possible. Yet the smell of the air was all fall, I guess due to the temp, but there had to be something else at work there too. I stopped, leaned up against a tree, closed my eyes, and just took is all in. Yep, it was fall alright, the feel and smell, no doubt about it. Fall and spring happening at the same time - could it get any better?

A little while later Pam and I had an ambush waiting for Glenn when he arrived for a very long day of swimming hole guidebook work. We had set up a third computer nestled in between the two big computers at the cabin - Glenn got to sit in the middle of us, and played tennis with his attention for many long hours. Pam needed Glenn to help her fine-tune all of the Arkansas maps - road numbers and types, campground and picnic area and toilet and swimming hole locations; while I needed Glenn to place the exact swimming hole locations on the topo maps for all of Missouri. All at the same time. The questions continued non-stop all day long, and poor Glenn's neck was about to break off by the end of the day. We have never published material by anyone else before, so all of this is new to us. We have discovered that we want to make sure every single detail is correct, just like our own books. It is a long process, but I think one worth every moment of time spent.

Once the tree of us were all worn out, Glenn went back home to recover, Pam and Amber went into town for a scrimmage basketball game, and I headed out the door for some work. It was nearly dark when right in the middle of my moving stuff from one place to the next I literally got stopped in my tracks, had to drop my load, and ran for the cabin - the full moon had appeared and was rising quickly in the east - YIKES, I needed my camera! Couldn't get a view of it from any of the decks, so I went down into Mom's meadow for an open shot. By then it was getting pretty dark, and as I made my way into the tall grasses and other stuff, I wondered how many snakes I would be steeping right next to! I never did get a fully open view of the moon, but found this one spot where the moon was rising next to the top of a pine tree. Funny how such a thing as a simple moonrise that happens many hundreds of times in life, can garner so much attention. Guess I'm just a lunar sort of a guy.

The full moon was kind of yellow-orange last night

This morning the shadows down in the canyon are disappearing in a hurry, and soon it will feel more like summertime outside. That lush landscape is soaking up billions and billions of gallons of water each minute, and before too long we will be dry once again - do I dare ask for more rain? Yes, we need rain! You guys did a wonderful job with your rain dances this past couple of weeks, so could you get after it again? We've got one more digital photo workshop this coming weekend, and then will be finished with them until fall. The basement of the cabin remains set up as a classroom, with a large digital projector and screen. It has been fun working with everyone, and seeing how each person approaches the scene in front of them. Speaking of workshops, we are already beginning to get folks signed up for those fall workshops - if you or anyone you know is interested in them, please see the workshop page for more details - I suspect these too will fill up in a hurry.

More computer work at the cabin today, but I hope to be able to steal away for at few moments to run out into the gorgeous forest and get my spring fix. Pam is back in Jasper this morning helping Amber set up her science project - too much stuff for our little one to carry on the bus.

LATE NIGHT UPDATE. It is getting noisy outside - the frog symphony has been going since this afternoon, and they are really getting after it now! I guess that means the moon has risen, and they are all calling out to it - or to a potential lover.

Today was very tropical around here - warm and breezy and, well, I don't know, but it just felt like I was in Hawaii or the Virgin Islands or something. No bugs. No heat. Just lovely temp and a sweet breeze. Yes, perhaps that was it - the air was sweet. And later on I would find out why.

It was long after dinner when I strapped on my camera pack and tripod and headed out the door - "going off to work honey" I called back to Pam. I hiked on over to the East meadow where I found a bear had been up to no good. Benny had attached a 55 gallon steel drum to a tree and filled it with corn for the resident population of turkeys. Mr. Bear decided that he wanted the corn and could not get it out fastest enough to suit him, so he just grabbed the entire drum and headed out across the meadow with it - the chain around the tree didn't last long!

Beyond that meadow I dropped down into a land of lush green forest, towering trees high above, and huge white blossoms - the umbrella magnolia trees are in bloom up on Cave Mountain, and it is heavenly! Unfortunately, most of the blooms are high up in the trees and difficult to get to in order to photograph them. No matter, it was a glorious sight. I was on my way to see about wild orchids anyway.

And I found 13 yellow lady slipper orchids in bloom - nine in one bunch. These are always beautiful, and especially so because you can often find them blooming on Mom's day, which brings back memories of when I used to take my mom out into the woods on Mom's day in search of these flowers.

On the way back out - and after the sun had already dropped below the ridgetop to the west, I spotted several magnolia blooms that were down low to the ground - in fact it looked like a big beech tree had been blown down recently and the spindly limbs of this magnolia tree were laid flat on the ground, although in an area that was not too easy to stand on - spanning a small dry creekbed. I was thrilled to have such a grand view of them! I quickly set up in the fading light and shot a number of frames of the one blossom that was fully open, then turned my attention to one blossom that was about half-way open. I loved looking at the delicate white forms reaching up for the sky and the sunshine.

Magnolia bloom - nearly a foot across

When I got back to the cabin I found that Pam and Amber had been out collecting leaves for a school project - Amber needed 20 different species of leaves, and they had gathered 18. No problem - I knew exactly what kind of leaves she needed! We went down into Mom's meadow and grabbed a wild grape leaf, then jumped into the truck and drove over to the North meadow and parked. It was kind of fun skipping through that meadow with my daughter, hand in hand, but we had a job to do and it was getting dark. I wanted Amber to have the biggest and best leaf in the entire class, so naturally I headed for an umbrella magnolia, which not only has those wonderful giant blossoms, but huge leaves as well. We quickly found one and selected not the biggest leaf, but one that would fit in the two-gallon size zip lock bag we had brought along. Mission accomplished.

5/6/04 Just wanted to show you what the moon looked like at about 5:30am today. And for those photo geeks, it was shot with a 400mm lens on my full-frame Canon 1Ds, and the file was reduced one size setting in the RAW processor (to a size of 3072 x 2044). The exposure was 1/180th at f8 at 100 ISO. There was no tweaking of the image, only cropped down to this size - this is the actual moon size in the file at 3072 x 2044 with the 400mm lens on a fullframe digital camera at 72dpi. If you were shooting the 10D, Rebel, or most other 6mp camera, the moon would be much larger with the crop factor (1.6 times this size). The actual print size of this cropped photo if printed at 240dpi would be 1.6 x 1.6 inches. By the way, I never have seen the man in the moon...

GREAT WEB PAGE LINK: I wanted to pass along the following link (http://homepage.mac.com/mooremonkeys/apr_24_04_cloudland/index.htm) to a web page that contains some photos from one of our digital photo workshops here at cloudland a couple of weeks ago. John Moore is a great photographer, and if you go to the "home" link at the bottom of the page you will find all sorts of great places in Arkansas that he has visited and photographed this past year or two. Way to go John!

5/9/04 Just a quick note before I fall into bed. It has been an exhausting last several days, but we all survived and had a great time. I was in town all day on Friday, then we had a long and fruitful day on Saturday of photo work-shopping, with the students not heading home until late in the evening - we felt terrible because it was several hours after dinner time and we hadn't fed them since lunch! Not like you can just stop by the corner store on the way out of here and pick up something to eat on the way home either!

Today I was back up by 5-something am looking for a beach ball that Aspen had been dragging around. Felt a little funny doing that at such an early hour, but we really needed that beach ball. I was unsuccessful, but did locate a bright green plastic tube that would later be used in the cover photo for the new Swimming Holes of the Ozarks guidebook that we were to shoot today. A couple of hours later we had a great crew assembled at Falling Water Falls, and right on cue, the sun ducked behind a cloudbank and remained there for the rest of our shooting day - yippie! Sun is a killer.

We shot a number of different poses in several locations, eventually winding up at Richland Creek Campground. Glenn was the lead photographer, while I acted as backup. At one point we had three radios going (could not hear because of the noise from the waterfall), five models, and two high-dollar cameras on big tripods firing off at 5-6 frames a second, up to 20-shot bursts as our man on the rope swing swung into the waterfall, or jumped off of smooth sandstone boulder. While it was very nice outside today, the water temp was nothing short of FRIGID. I only managed to get in to about my waist before screaming in pain and backing out. Just can't handle that any more in my old age.

The above two photos of the old man are by Glenn Wheeler
And the shot below is Glenn working the models, both at Richland Creek.

When the day was over I think we managed to get a number of good candidates for the cover photo. One of the main contenders from the first round of editing is shown below. I also got to sneak back to Falling Water Falls and shoot some images for possible inclusion in the 2005 wall calendar.

Falling Water Falls (print available)

I stopped in Boxley Valley on my way back and hiked on over to one semi-remote swimming hole for a final shot that needed to get into the book. On the way out I came across this large hay barn at the edge of one of the giant hay fields down there - looks like a great year for hay in the Ozarks! I remember with great fondness (for the money) many long summer nights spent hauling hay in high school. Good grief we worked hard back then, but at least our crew chief had the good sense to realize that working all night long instead of in the heat of the day was the best way to do it! No telling how many incredible sunrises I witnessed out there in those hot, humid, and dusty old hay fields. Very nice memories - especially the fact that I actually survived it all!

Hay barn in Booxley Valley

When I arrived at the cabin my ladies were hard at work, as usual. I got to spend a few minutes of quality time with them while my memory card were downloading to the computer. Pam and I sat out on the back deck and enjoyed cool breezes and watching tons of birds all over the place from huge red-tailed hawks playing up in the currents, to our little bluebirds who had taken up residence in the house in the meadow. The male always perches on the same snag in the big pine tree in Mom's meadow.

Speaking of the meadow, HAPPY MOM'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU MOMS OUT THERE! I tried to call my current mom up in Missouri early this morning, but could not get a signal - not too many cell signals bouncing around here. My original mom has been busy this past few weeks, and her meadow is really beginning to bloom with a dozen or more brightly-colored species of flowers, both wild and domestic. My mom loved flowers, and she will continue to keep them blooming here and elsewhere for many moons to come. Thanks mom, for producing me, and for doing such a great job with me - I know it was tough!

There is no moon up at the moment, and the nighttime sky and the forest are very dark. But there is a lot of noise out there with the tree frogs and night birds calling out to mates. That breeze is still with us, and the temps are mild - really, really nice outside tonight! I'm beginning to drift off now - haven't had a nap in weeks and weeks, and you know I need to rest these old bones once in a while...

5/11/04 There is a wonderful sweetness in the air this morning, and it is cool and crisp outside. A little on the hazy side, with almost no breeze at all. Looks like most all the trees have leafed out completely now, or at least close to it, and we have already settled into that rather monochromatic shade of dark "leaf" green that covers the entire landscape. It will remain that way until late September/October, when the shades of green will begin to move towards the warmer spectrum of yellows, oranges and reds.

My bride and I hit the ground running this morning, and by 7:30 had already put in a couple hours of work up at the office. We are back at the cabin now getting ready for the normal work day (is there really one of those here, ever?). We'll be meeting with Glenn all day, working at a fever pitch trying to get his guidebook finished up - our goal is to get it DONE by the end of this weekend! (shhhhhh, don't tell my wife that)

While hiking up to the office and back I realized we were in the middle of an incredible display of milkweed - perhaps more of them are in bloom right now in the forest than in the past ten years combined! They are everywhere, instead of just one every now and then. This is a favorite food of monarch caterpillars, so we're hoping that is a good sign of an explosion in population later on. I have not seen any of them yet, but will be looking for them to appear sometime soon.

Milkweed

It was very late last night when I shut down the computer for the day and took a dip in the hot tub. The moon was beaming down on me from straight overhead. Everything was still, very still and quiet, if you ignored all the frogs that is. While a lot of folks don't care too much for the long, hot and humid days of summer in the Ozarks, I rather enjoy them these days. In the past I have fled to the cool mountains of Wyoming or Colorado, but ever since I moved into the cabin and was faced with the blast of summertime face-to-face, I have found ways to get a lot out of it. The key for me is to hike early and late in the day, and head down to the river for a dip in the hot afternoon. I will get into that pattern once we get this heavy crunch of work out of the way. Seems like there is SO much to be done right now, but that is the way we like here.

One other note before I sign off for the morning. This morning at 5-something while I was typing on the computer a book order came in through the online store. Within five minutes of that person hitting the "submit" button, that order had been processed, printed out, packaged (with book autographed), and was on its way to the mailbox - how is that for service! We do have a very well-oiled order processing machine here at Cloudland.

Oops, just one more thing. I stopped typing just for a moment, sat back and listened. That cool and sweet air is filled with at least a dozen different species of songbirds - man, there is a LOT of activity outside! The music goes on in layers forever out into the wilderness. Life is good around here, and I hope it is for you today too!

5/12/04 We got some rain overnight, although not too much, but things are wet and foggy this morning. Looks like we might get more rain over the next few days, and we sure do need it, so BRING it on!

We worked late into the day and night yesterday, but since it was my 49th birthday, I shut everything down early and quit about 10pm. We did take a break just before dark to go sit on the back deck and watch an approaching storm. It was quite a sight to see. At first, there was nothing, just a cloudy sky. But within a couple of minutes we realized that the ridgetop about five miles to the south was no longer visible. Then a minute later the next ridgetop had disappeared. Then the next, and the next. I got up and started shooting a series of photos of the approaching storm. It took only about four minutes to travel that five miles, and then it hit us right smack in the face - hard rain. And never a single rumble or flash from the sky, just hard rain. It was neat to watch the progression in real time, as the sheets of rain spilled into each canyon, one by one, getting closer each time. The trees around us were still at first, then got to moving around a bit, and finally thrashing like crazy just before the rain hit it.

RUN for cover!

The storm only lasted for a few minutes, and then all was calm once again.

Another day at the computer for us, and another day for Glenn to play tennis - he will be seated at the computer right in between Pam and I, and will have to field questions from both of us for hours and hours and hours as Pam tweaks the maps and I go through all of the text. It is a great setup, and Glenn is able to look stuff up on the computer text files, or go online to double-check phone numbers, road numbers, and other info. And I think we have finalized the cover photo - the same one that I posted a couple of days ago that we shot at Falling Water Falls. It has all the elements that we wanted to capture - a sexy young lady wearing cutoffs for that old-time swimming hole feel, several folks having a good time in the pool, and above all else, a very scenic spot. The goal of a cover photo is first to catch your attention from across the room, and then when you pick it up to look at it for you to say to yourself - "hey, that looks like fun, I want to go there!" Speaking of Glenn, it is already 7am and he has not reported to work here yet - some elk down in Boxley probably got in the way and he has to chase them away with his camera...(it is an hour drive for him)

5/13/04 Just a quick note while I can still keep my eyes open. It has been yet another long and exhausting day at the computer, but much was accomplished. All of the text for Glenn's new book is wrapped up and in place now, and all of the MAPS are the same - YIPPIE!!! I have been going through the maps with a fine-toothed comb since about 5-something this morning, and they look really nice. What a luxury it has been to be able to simply log onto a web site and find info that I needed for some of the maps - and even when the web page fell short, the phone number was there and within minutes I could speak with a live person with an answer. I've also been using several other guidebooks as reference, and am finding out that a lot of the info in them is wrong, or at least out of date. Glenn's book will be as accurate in every detail as we can possibly make it. But the main thing is - good grief, there are a BUNCH of terrific swimming holes that need to be explored! Can't wait for hot weather (shhhh, don't tell my wife that - I normally don't like hot weather at all, but there are so many neat places in this book that we will just have to go splash around some this summer). Tomorrow I will make the final tweaks on the photos and place them in the file, then transform it all into a big PDF file that will be passed around for editing. We have several editors that will look over the material during the next week while I put the finishing touches on the covers and a few additional location maps and other text inside. The end is in sight, at last!

My in basket is piled more than a foot high with important mail, and there are over 125 unanswered e-mails in my other in basket. I've tried to keep up, but it just keeps pouring in. We have been able to keep the book orders up to date, so no slow down there. Thank goodness my lovely bride can work as long and hard as I do, otherwise I would have to hire some help. Speaking of her, she is in Missouri tonight, and the cabin is rather quiet and lonely - just Amber and I to keep the turtle company. Pam's dad just retired, and Pam has been organizing a very large retirement for him this weekend in Springfield. Geeze, where did she find the time to do that?

I am sad to report that I did not set foot outside the cabin all day long, other than to go pick up Amber from the bus stop this afternoon - my feet never touched soil! And today was one of those days that I would have gone on and on and on through the wilderness, with camera and tripod in hand. It was a white-out most of the day, with heavy clouds hanging low around the cabin and all the way down to the bottom of the canyons. Some rain, and once or twice some heavy rain, but mostly just thick, wet air. It looked just delightful outside with all those clouds mingling with the bright green of the forest - really nice. I think the ground is saturated now, so if we can get some good rain in the next day or two, the waterfalls will probably be running well this weekend. Our weather station has been on the blink since the long power outages, so we have not been able to keep up with the rainfall, but I finally got it fixed tonight. The rain looks and feels and sounds so great.

5/15/04 Got to sleep in late this morning, and didn't even look at the computer screen until nearly 8am. It was about midnight when we got back home from the big party in Missouri last night - the hot dogs were so great I could have eaten a dozen of them. Pam's dad had just retired, and it was a bash for him in their spacious wooded retreat. There was a large fire going, and about 40 chilled folks huddled around it - man that fire was as great as the roasted hot dogs! I've got the best in-laws in the world.

We spent most of today doing the three regional maps and an overall map for the swimming hole book, and doing misc. other chores associated with the book. We have printed copies of the book out to several editors now, and will finish up all of that editing process as this week progresses, then it will be off to the printers! Oh yea, while I was a Jasper school yesterday picking up Amber we found out about another great swimming hole - it will just be able to squeak into the book (Glenn has to make a run out on Monday to take a look at it, then write it up - we'll just add it to an existing map - he also has one last trip up into Missouri tomorrow to reshoot a photo that came up missing). Don't remember exactly what it was like to be free and without a major project hanging over your head, but I'm sure it will be great - once we get the project completed and out the door.

We took some time this afternoon to wander around down in Mom's meadow, pick a few flowers, and pull a few weeds. The flowers in that meadow are thicker and more numerous than I've ever seen them - I do believe it is going to be a great year for flowers all the way around. We were looking out into the forest from down there and realized that many parts of the woods were already so thick you simply cannot get through, unless you are a critter. We also discovered a wren nest up in the rafters of the gazebo - five tiny brown and white eggs. A wren got into the cabin yesterday and flew all over the place, trying to get out. It took Aspen and I nearly 20 minutes to get him out an open door.

Mom's meadow

Just before dark we headed out for a quick hike around the loop trail. Still just a little bit of chill in the air, but not nearly as cool as it was up in Missouri last night. The sun had already gone down, but we had plenty of light to see everything. In the summertime, once the sun goes down you still have plenty of good light for hiking.

We passed the area where I had my bear encounter just a couple of days ago, and it still seemed a little bit weird and spooky and mysterious. Oh yea, I never told you about that have I? The wild roses in the East meadow and all along the lane were bursting out like crazy - most of them nearly pure white, but one or two bushes were pinkish. All of them smelled wonderful, and the evening air was filled with sweetness.

The orchard is looking nice, and I think the plum tree will bear some fruit large enough to eat in another month or two. No sign of fruit on the apple trees, but the peach trees are doing well too. All of them are healthy - I plan to spend some time in this orchard in years to come, sitting at the base of the trees eating my fill. Good crop of wild plums this year too - one tree in particular has so many plums on it that I think some branches will snap off under the weight!

Wild plum

And wow, is it a great year for daisies! They seem to be everywhere out here. I can't hardly walk through a patch of daisies without stopping to photograph - today it was a little bug  right in the middle of one flower. I wonder if those bugs just like sitting there amidst all that beauty? I like to walk through the meadow of flowers when the wind blows, hand in hand with my bride. No wind this evening, but the rest of it was all there.

By the time we reached the cabin the next batch of 192 pages from Glenn's book had been printed - this stick went to Pam, and she will get to spend a good bit of her Sunday reading through all of them - backwards. That's right, she sits down and reads every single word backwards - seems to uncover all sorts of things that way.

The recent rains that we've had were not much, and the river far below is getting lower and lower each day. For once I am not yelling out for rain, and the rain gods can do whatever they like with their precious cargo for awhile. We are bound to have a hot and buggy summer, but that is just part of it all. I had a conversation with a world-famous nature photographer the other day (George Lepp - he is going to be in the area later this week, and wants to spend a day shooting up in our neck of the woods before his workshops in Little Rock next weekend). In talking with him about the likely weather conditions here during the week I told him that we could have a mixed bag from steady downpours and wind all day,  to calm misty days (the sort of days we photographers LOVE!), to hot and clear blue skies (the sort of days we photographers HATE!). He just laughed - "No matter what we get we'll make some lemonade!" What a terrific attitude to have, in life, but especially in work. (I happen to be a big fan of lemonade.) I look forward to getting to spend a little bit of time with him. (By the way, he has a special way of making lemonade photos out of dreadful sunny days, and I will be equipped with the same techniques to try out - so really, bring on the rain OR the sunshine!)

Speaking of bugs, it is going to be a banner year for them too, so if you have any spare bats you would like to get rid of, please send them our way!

5/17/04 Could not have had any better weather than we had today - and NO BUGS to boot! I got to spend a little while out on the back deck this afternoon/evening and it was just terrific - warm with a breeze, a sweetness in the air, and no bugs! We sat and watched a pair of bluebirds working for their kids in the martin house - first the momma would go up into the air and grab and bug, then perch for a moment in the big pine tree, then she would head on over to the house, go in, and reappear a few seconds later. Then it was dad's turn, and he would repeat the same thing as the lady, while she flew off to catch another bug. So nice to have them in the neighborhood.

We had another couple of very hectic and long days with the editing of the book - made more than 1100 changes last night and this morning in the text and on the maps. Most of those were things that needed to be tweaked in order to be consistent throughout all of the descriptions. You never really think about that sort of thing much, that is until you have to make a decision about how the simple listing of county roads is going to be - and it has to be the same for all listings. Is it County Road, county road, CR, C.R., or "Newton" County Road. So many choices, and once we finally landed on a single choice, then I had to go into the file and change a lot of them to whatever we had decided upon. May seem like a very small and insignificant thing to you, but it really is one of the things that makes a publication a professional one (by the way, this Journal is NOT edited in any way - I would be spending more time editing than writing). Even after all of these years of writing guidebooks, I still have trouble picking a standard for so many of the different things that need to be standardized. But that is just part of it all. We've got the new corrected text out to several more editors, and will go through one more layer of all that later this week, then make all of the final edits.

The schedule seemed to ease up a bit today, and besides getting to sit on the deck and do nothing for a few minutes, I also got to go on a hike. It was a couple of hours before dark, and I wanted to hike over and take a few photos of the Crag before the light went off of it. I got there just in time, and while I was shooting, the sun moved rapidly across the Crag and put it into shadow before I left. I wanted to try some shots capturing infrared light instead of the visual light, and just purchased a special filter that enables me to do that on one of my digital cameras. I'm new to all of that, so go easy on my as I post a few new photos in the weeks to come.

The forest is really green right now - all that summer green and mostly the same shade. But even though it is a monotone landscape, it is just about perfect outside right now (or perhaps the SPAM factor has kicked in since it has been so long since I was allowed to go out and just wander around). Still lots of wildflowers out though, and in fact the meadows are getting really filled with them. I happened to catch Lucy in a rare moment of rest in a patch of oxe-eye daisies up near the Faddis cabin on my way back from the Crag. She is a terrific dog, but nearly impossible to photograph since she is black, and doesn't hold still often!

The rivers and creeks are low - it takes a great deal of water to create all of that GREEN! Birds are active feeding their young and protecting the unborn. Aspen and Lucy are restless, and I think there has been a bear making the rounds near the cabin - really drives the dogs nuts. Pam has been working on the book and other things from 5am-ish until after 9pm nearly every day. Not quite the "9-5" job she signed up for! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and then another tunnel, but we're not complaining, and look forward to each bend in the river. It's after ten tonight, and I'm about wore out and am headed for the hot tub. Time to work on that rain dance...

5/18/04 Another simply wonderful day in the wilderness today - perfect temps, a slight breeze all day long, sunshine and clouds and blue skies, bluebirds and martins darting all over the place, wildflowers swaying in the breeze.

I laid in bed a good while after the alarm went off and Pam had gone downstairs to get Amber up and ready for school. I was wide awake, but just wanted to float a little while, and listen to the sounds of the morning. The window next to my bed was open, and I could hear birds singing, calling out to each other. I closed my eyes and tried to count how many different species I could hear the distinct voices of. I could make out seven, plus several others that sort of mingled together. Some were close - one couple sounded like they were right outside the window - others were in the trees below the cabin, still others were way out there someplace, perhaps even in the air over the Buffalo River. They were all happy songs, the songs of hope and joy and freedom, and of new beginnings. I suspect most of them had chicks' in the nest, and they were busy gathering up food for them. Later in the summer the morning air will be filled with lonely calls, but for now it is all happy times!

I worked non-stop from about 6am until 4pm. Pam was going through yet another set of printed pages, making corrections. Glenn came by mid-morning and we spent several hours going through his set of pages and making corrections, plus he went through all the phone numbers and web pages listed in the book to make sure every one of them were accurate and up to date. Later Pam went in to town and Glenn wrapped up his work. And suddenly, I found myself with an empty cabin, and no one around to watch and see if I was working or not - time to run out and escape into the woods!

I grabbed a lightweight tripod and the little digital camera with infrared filter and made my way down the steep mountain to Whitaker Creek. The heavy rains had taken their toll on the trail, and it was mostly rocks, but easy to follow. I found myself looking at my feet most of the way down, and not really able to look around as I went. Kind of a shame to be in such great beauty and only be looking at my feet, but I really didn't want to stumble.

I was surprised to find flowing water in the creek, which greeted me with its music well before I could see it. The water was low enough so that I could pretty much walk right on up the stream - hopping from boulder to boulder. I stopped and photographed in a couple of places, but really wasn't too happy with the results. This infrared stuff is all new to me, and quite frankly, I really don't have a clue what I am doing! Some things out there will register on the sensor and other things will not, and I am just now learning which is which.

It was just a delightful trip on upstream, and the world around was in perfect harmony. The clear water spilled down mossy rocks into quiet pools where water striders cruised from edge to edge. The thick forest above was arching completely over the stream, cradling it all in a thick blanket of green. I could have just sat there and soaked it all up for hours. But I had photos to take, so I turned around and headed downstream towards the big river.

As I hopped and skipped my way along - half in the stream and half along the brushy bank - I came across a near reflection in the water. No telling what it was going to look like on infrared, so I stopped and shot a couple of photos of it. Later, when I got back up to the computer and took a look at it, I really liked it, and you really can't even tell it was infrared - just black and white. Hope you like it too.

Reflections in Whitaker Creek (print available)

One thing that I realized was that I should not have worn shorts - my legs got quickly shredded and were dripping blood from being scratched by briars and all sorts of misc. sticker-type bushes. Hiking on trail is fine in shorts all summer, but not good when you go off trail!

When I got to the river I found a place that had changed quite a bit during the floods. One small but deep hole of crystal clear water had been all but filled in with gravel. Another area of several narrow river channels next to each other had been filled in with gravel and now was a flat gravel bar over 100 feet wide, with a shallow river of several inches flowing across it. Later, when I ventured down to the old swimming hole, I found this one big tree that had been partially buried in the gravel underwater many moons ago had been completely washed away, while another, larger, tree trunk has been deposited just upstream - that will make for some new fish hideouts later this summer!

The sky above was filled with puffy white clouds, and they were moving, covering up the sun for some time, then nothing but bright sunshine. I am learning that the bright sunshine is good for infrared (although NOT for normal photos!), so I was glad to find the sun out, if only for little bits at a time. I quickly found a good spot just upstream and set up the camera gear. And, of course, as soon as I was ready to take the photo, a big cloud crossed in front of the sun! But no matter, I was standing in one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and didn't have any time schedule, so I got to just relax and enjoy! Imagine that.

At about the same time, Lucy jumped up on a flat rock out in the middle of the river. That was very strange for her - she normally spends her time out in the woods and really shys away from the water most of the time. I've never seen her up on a rock in the river! I quickly removed the infrared filter and pointed the camera at her. Of course, as soon as I did that, the sun came out! (Aspen spent the entire time in the water, as he always does.)

I remained at my post for more than 30 minutes, shooting various compositions in the ever-changing lighting conditions. Lucy remained on that very same rock the entire time.

One of the neat things about my view, and the fact that the clouds were moving across in front of the sun, was the fact that I could look far upstream and see the scene light up. As the cloud moved, so did the sunshine on the river, and I knew that eventually the sunshine would get to me and I could take a few photos. I had about a full minute notice most of the time. Sometimes, by the time the sunshine reached my part of the river the other parts were in shadow once again. I happily stood there and shot away, or did nothing but enjoy. It was a terrific break for me, while at the same time I was still technically working!

The Buffalo River (my favorite shot of the day - print available)

I turned around and shot a few photos looking downstream, and up at the big hill that overlooks this part of the river. While you can't see it because it is totally engulfed in the trees, somewhere up there at the top of that hill is the Cloudland Cabin - and what a fitting view of it - looks like CLOUDLAND to me!

Looking up at Cloudland (print available)

A "normal" shot looking upstream from the Skinny-Dipping Hole

With all of the rains we had and the high water in the river, the rocks and boulders were all polished and smooth and really nice. I've seen this sort of thing in the Cascades in Washington state, and in Glacier National Park in Montana, but, of course, that was different rock. We do have some might fine polished river rocks here in Arkansas too, although they did not lend themselves very well to infrared.

When it was time to pack up and go I realized that even though I had been standing in water about calf-deep, the water was very warm and my feet were not numb at all. I think we're going to have one fine swimming season here in the Ozarks this summer.

I really hated to leave, but I also wanted to hurry back up to the cabin and see what the photos looked like. There was a bounce in my step as I headed up. Oh yea, I almost forgot. In my wanderings around along Whitaker Creek I hiked through some stinging nettle - and paid the price for wearing those shorts - YIKES that stuff itches! But the warm waters of the Buffalo helped soothe. On the way back up the hill I made sure to stick to the trail.

When I reached the cabin the wind was blowing pretty good. It was a pure sort of wind, if that is possible to have. Once again I wanted to go inside and sit in front of the computer, but it just felt so great to be outside, out in the breeze that just didn't feel the same from behind the screens. I eventually cooled down and got all of the images loaded and processed.

When the ladies got home Pam sat down and worked a couple more hours on the book while I worked on the photos. Then we all sat down and watched the last episode (for the season) of our favorite show - Gilmore Girls. Used to be that Amber and I watched this show while Pam was off to class in town on Tuesday nights. Once I finally convinced Pam to watch one or two shows, she enjoys it too - I think there is a lot of things my girls have in common with the ones on TV.

Every one has retired now and it is just me and the dogs and the computer. And that breeze is still coming on it just fine. Think I'll put this Journal to sleep and go sit out in the darkness a spell and see what nighttime sounds I can hear.

05/19/04 The first time I saw sunshine  this morning was at my feet - or actually it was a shadow of my feet - and those shadows moving along the trail first appeared about a mile away from the cabin (the sun soon disappeared into the clouds and I did not see it again). Few things in life are finer than being out in the woods at daylight. That is when the world comes to life, and fills with sights and sounds and smells. My route this morning was lined with wild roses, all popping out and filling the air with a sweetness that was just incredible. That sweetness, and the ease of the trail and the mild temps nearly lulled me to sleep and as I wandered on along. Every now and then the fragrance would change to that of fresh vegetables - still don't know what that tree or bush is (or did I figure that out last summer once?) - but it is a very specific scent that reminds me of cutting up fresh veggies in the kitchen.

Speaking of veggies, I have grown fat and out of shape over the long winter, and my body is in serious need of exercise and some good food. I tend to favor junk food, and eat way, way too much of it. I was getting into pretty good shape at the end of last summer, and then I spent about a month sitting on my broadening fanny while working up Pam's kids dayhikes book at the computer. I never recovered from that, and grew and grew the rest of the fall and winter. And, of course, these past few weeks have found me back at the same place, with my fanny glued to the chair at the keyboard. But I am beginning to break free from that, and plan to get back into shape and condition over the next several months. I hope to be in training for a backpack trip up into the mountains later on. Veggies will be a big part of all that (and convincing my family to eat more of them). And if you see me in line at McDonalds, please remind me to order the salad!

(Of course, once I finished the hike, I sat back down here at the computer, where I will spend most of the next 12 hours.)

I took my camera with me this morning, but spent most of my hike simply enjoying being out in the woods and not looking for photos. But there were a couple of macros that I just couldn't pass by, so I present them here for your inspection.

Little mushrooms pushing up through the soil.

Horsemint

Hiked about four miles on my little loop - the dogs probably did more like 20 miles. It felt great, and will get me started off on the right foot today...

05/25/04 Quiet, still, and sultry outside this morning. Very high humidity. From the looks of the radar last night and this morning, you would think we had gotten another foot of rain, but we've not had a drop of rain in a good long while. The Buffalo below is just about out of sight, although I know our swimming hole down there is full and ready for a few splashes.

The past several days have been hectic, and I've been out of town most of them, down in Little Rock with George Lepp. We got to judge a photo contest together (more than 1300 entries), and were happy to give prizes that included $1000 cash first place, a bunch of $100 cash prizes, and another dozen $25 cash awards. Some really nice stuff, but some really terrible stuff too! And just a hint for you budding photogs - three of the categories hardly had any entries at all, including fish, wild turkeys, and large mammals. ANY good fish photo could have easily won $100! (I cannot say enough about the wonderful folks at BEDFORDS CAMERA who sponsored the contest, and Lepp's visit - there is NO question where you should go to purchase any camera gear in Arkansas - you can find them in six towns and they are the BEST!)

It was a terrific honor to get to spend some time with one of the really great nature photographers of all time. George Lepp has been "photographing seriously" now for 47 years, and is on top of his game for sure, and has a following around the world. And while his work is second to none, it is always refreshing to find out that he is indeed just regular folks like us, and always willing to take the time to speak with you and answer that stupid question for the thousandth time.

It was also great to see so many Journal readers and folks who have attended my own workshops at George's seminar. The world is indeed getting to be a smaller place, and I'm happy to be in it! ALSO got to spend some time with our good friend Greg Heinze, who is still recovering from his terrible plane crash back in February. He is now able to get around some on crutches, although is still badly crushed inside and out from the accident. I am happy to report that this die-hard film shooter and anti-computer guy now has a digital camera and has a MAC laptop next to his bed - way to go Greg! Greg and I have shot more photos together than anyone, and we have taken a number of extended shooting trips to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas, not to mention here in Arkansas. We wish him all the best and continued recovery.

I have turned into somewhat of a city snob - just can't stand to be in them for more than a few moments, even Fayetteville or Harrison. So as soon as my official duties had ended each day in Little Rock I fled to the woods, to the mountains, to the fresh air just outside of Little Rock. It is great that there is so much of all that within a hour's drive.

I headed to Flatside Pinnacle at the edge of the Flatside Wilderness Area Friday afternoon to shoot a few scenes from on top of this unique vantage point that looks out across the wilderness area. On my way I ran across a giant critter that was running down the middle of the road towards me - it was a large black bear, and his head seemed to be as wide as his body - really looked strange. Nope, didn't get a photo, which is normally the case with bears - they don't tend to stick around too long (unless you are Mark Hardgrave, so has some of the most amazing bear photos I've ever seen - mostly grizzly bears from Alaska, although he lives just outside of Russellville, Arkansas, so I am expecting a few black bears to show up on his web site too!).

It was hot and humid was I felt really great when I parked the rig and started up the trail to the top of Flatside Pinnacle. There was still plenty of bright sunshine - not normally the time of day when I like to photograph, but I had planned to shoot some infrared photos, and you really do need lots of sunshine for that.

By the time I reached the summit (about a half mile hike, but it is all UPhill), I was already soaked to the bone with sweat. The view from up there was just terrific, but I discovered right away that I should have brought my TRIPOD with me! Normally with my little point and shoot camera I would not need a tripod for such a shot, but with the special infrared filter on it (which soaks up eight stops of light for you photos nerds like me), my exposures were in the 1/2 second range, so I had to have my tripod. So I reluctantly headed back down the hill to the truck, grabbed all of my camera gear, and trudged back up the hill again.

The wind was blowing probably 25-30mph, which felt great, but also played havoc with the high-bush huckleberry bushes that lined the top of this craggy outcrop. I set up the tripod and shot a few exposures with both cameras. When I do any sort of serious photo work, normally the photos get better and better as I go along - I am tweaking my position and technique with each series of photos. Often the very best shots are the last ones that I shoot. That was the same thing on this day, and while I got some nice generic shots at first, it took me a while to find just that perfect composition. Then I set up the camera and got ready to fire away. And, of course, the batteries in the camera went dead. One thing with digital is that these cameras use a lot of juice! No problem, I had packed a spare set of batteries before I left the cabin, as always. Only problem was that I had left them back down at the truck! So once again I ran on back down the trail, then climbed back up to the summit, and was able to get the composition that I had wanted. Only problem was that the wind never stopped so I could not capture exactly what I wanted, but there will be other days.

While I was moving around up there on the narrow edge of this outcrop, I discovered a large copperhead snake in the rocks - he took one look at me and quickly disappeared under one of the large rocks. The feeling was mutual. Every time I passed through this particular area that afternoon I looked and looked for that snake, not wanting to give him and excuse to bite my because I had stepped on him. So many of those rocks look alike, I never did figure out exactly where he had gone to. Later on, as I was straddling this one particular boulder with the tripod spread out to the very edges of the rock, and I was standing up on one foot trying to get the correct composition with the camera, I happened to look down and discovered - much to my horror - that I HAD found the right rock - I was standing on TOP of the snake's home, and he was peering out from under it and did not seem to be too happy! Sorry Mr. Snake - I went ahead and shot the photo, then quickly hopped on over to another rock.

The view from Flatside Pinnacle, looking over Flatside Wilderness, with Forked Mountain in the distance (infrared above, normal below)

I was hoping for a grand sunset from up on that peak, but the sun had other ideas, and it just sort of faded away into a cloud bank. I sat around for another hour or two until dusky dark, then hiked on down to the truck. It is a terrific view from up there, and this spot will be included in the upcoming Nature Lovers Guide to Arkansas book (which has now been delayed until 2005). When you go up there, but sure to watch out for that snake.

On my way back down the mountain towards an area where I had planned to camp, I stopped and took a dip in Brown Creek. The water was only about a foot deep, but you would be surprised at how much fun you can have in shallow water when you are hot and pitted out and ready to be clean. It felt wonderful, and at one point I simply sat down in the water and just soaked it all up.

After another long day in Little Rock the next day I once again returned to the mountains to camp, but didn't get to take any more photos. However, I did find a great spot along the road to photograph the sun rising up in the Arkansas River Valley over Lake Maumelle, with the Ouachita Mountains rising all around - this spot too will be included in the new guidebook, as part of the Winona Scenic Forest Drive, which has a number of great viewing locations.

A quick sunrise shot in the Ouachitas on my way to work

I was back at the cabin on Monday, and spent nearly the entire day at the computer putting the finishing touches on the swimming hole book. Or as least on the text of the book - still have not completed the cover yet, but that will be my job today, so as of tonight, the book will be FINISHED and off to the printer - YIPPIE! There will be a tremendous mental satisfaction once that is done, although the plate is still full and overflowing with chores that have been piling up and I am way behind on, so there will be no rest for the weary. I really wouldn't know what to do with a day off if I had one anyway.

05/26/04 Very windy tonight, and warm, and humid, but it looks like all the weather is going around us and we won't get another drop once again - we seem to be missing everything. That's OK - we'll probably get another foot of rain one of these days.

As I was coming home from a trip into town yesterday I saw a coal black bear running across the road right in front of me near the Faddis cabin. I turned and went down the road to Bob's cabin, hoping to see him again. I did get to see him - he was standing right out in the open, in the tall grasses that are nearly waist-high on me now. Bears have terrible eyesight, and this guy stood on his hind legs so that his eyes could be pointed right at me. What a beautiful beast he was! Shiny, thick BLACK fur - as black as the coldest winter night you have ever felt. And right there in the middle of his chest was a bright white spot about the size of a soccer ball.

He stood there, as if frozen in time, for several seconds, until he either got a good focus on me, or gave up, then dropped down on all fours and began to move slowly through the field. He was no in any hurry, and must have decided that I was not a threat.

Another thing I noticed besides his white chest, was his ears. If you get a good look at a bear, you can tell how large he is by the relationship of his ears to the size of his head - if the ears are large, he is a young bear, if the ears are small, he is a big bear. You see bears grow into their ears, and the ears really don't grow too much, so they will appear smaller as the bear gets larger. When I first saw this bear running across the road I thought he was a pretty big bear. But when I got a better look at him standing still in the opening, I could see that his ears were actually quite large in relation to his head. He probably was a two-year old male that had just recently been kicked out of the nest by momma - time to fend for yourself little guy!

Later in the evening, right before dark, the girls and I went on a hike around the loop to see if we could spot this young bear. We left the dogs back at the cabin to increase our chances of seeing him. It was dusky dark, very quiet and still in the forest, and rather eerie out there. The three of us moved silently and without speaking. Slowly we made our way along the trail towards the East meadow. Shhhhhh. We were very quiet. Step by step by step. Looking around in all directions. Carefully putting our foot down, actually placing each step. Not too much noise now. Stop and look, all around. Three pairs of eyes covered a lot of ground. But it was very dim in the thick forest.

Then we eased on out into the edge of the meadow, moving and making progress, yet almost still. Straining our eyes to find anything out of the ordinary, a motion, a tiny bit of black fur, anything. I'm sure some of us really wanted to see this bear, up close and personal. I'm sure some of us really didn't want to see this bear up close and personal! And then there he was, right out in the middle of the meadow - it took us several steps into the meadow before any of us even saw him, but then there was a movement and that fur, and we all saw him at the same time. And, of course, he saw us at that moment too! It was a beautiful white tailed deer, standing out just above the top of the tall grasses, and staring right at us. Shhhhhh, don't make a sound or move a muscle. And then the deer moved, and started right AT us! We all three laughed just a little bit, and the deer turned and bounded off into the forest - about three hops and he had covered 100 feet and was gone. He was gone, but his high-pitched blowing remained in the air.

We would see this deer several more times as we made our way around the loop in the fading light of day. We could here him blowing the sound of alarm, and hear his hoofs as he bounded off to yet another hidden location. Sorry Mr. Deer, we didn't mean to disturb you. But it was nice to get such a close look.

Amber is out of school for the summer now and was home today. I was busy setting up a new printer that I brought home last night. Pam worked in the yard, and in the office, and in the kitchen. The girls baked a cake - actually it was a belated birthday cake for me - things got sort of hectic and we skipped all of that then. This evening, just before 9pm, Amber came over to the computer where I was working and the two of us went through "the books" for the last year, comparing book sales from month to month. We've done well in some months, not so good in others. She had her calculator and was taking notes. It would be great if she took over the business one day, but she will be free to pursue whatever career path she wishes - my only recommendation is that she does something she really enjoys. She has already started saving for a small pickup truck. Of course, I informed her this evening that the driving age here at Cloudland was 28! At one point I gave her a string of numbers to add up - came out to 22. That was the number of pets that we have here and feed each day. Let's see, we have dogs and cats and fish and crabs and a turtle. The Cloudland Arc.

05/27/04 Seems like the cabin is going to blow away tonight. We've had constant and heavy winds here since last this afternoon, along with a few sprinkles, but no actual rain. Just before dark a cool front moved through - felt really quite nice, although it has been fine all day - overcast and breezy.

I've been up and at the computer since 5:15 or so this morning, and now know that I won't be able to sleep much with all this wind so I figured I might as well continue working tonight - it is getting towards midnight. Spent much of today working with the new large-format printer that I got set up yesterday. So easy to set up and print these days with the correct paper profiles and the Macs. And the prints are quite delicious.

Late last night I popped up in bed with the solution to a printing problem that I had figured out somewhere in my dreams. I got up early and tried out the fix - sure enough, it worked perfectly. It didn't have anything to do with the new printer, just a new technique I had never used before. Came up with another one today that I had heard or read about sometime in this past year of research, tried it out on a print, and worked again. I'm keeping a list of all these things now so that I can use them in future workshops and seminars. There is so darn much to learn about all of this, and so much to forget if you don't use it every day.

We all spent some time working outdoors around here today. The air was sweet and moving around quite a bit. Aspen spent a lot of time with his nose in the air, sniffing intently, and then rushing off into the woods with a snarl - I suspect there was a bear in the area, and his scent was in the air.

We got two small book orders from dealers around 5:30 this evening. I rushed up to the office to package them up - the UPS guy showed up around 5:40. He said it would be 8pm or later before he got back to town - glad to see someone else is working late!

After dinner and a glass of bourbon and coke I took off for a hike around the loop. It was nearly dark, and the wind was whipping up pretty good. A few bits of moisture in the air as well. The dogs went with me today, but I kept them at my side. There is just something magical about hiking around in the deep woods when a storm is approaching and the light is dim. My mind races with the possibilities - am I going to get caught out in a big rainstorm, run into a big bear charging down the trail as he runs for cover, or just have a nice peaceful stroll through the woods. It was the latter today.

Sometimes when I hike these days I will pick off several; ticks, while on other hikes I don't see a single one. We are trying to increase our garlic intake around here - that might help with the little flying bugs for sure, but I don't know about ticks. Since I wear shorts most of the time in the summer, I just reach down and pull them off when they appear.

I forgot to talk about this mockingbird while I was in Little Rock the other day. I had arrived at the seminar building early the first morning, and was walking around down next to the river and talking with my bride on the cell phone. There were several birds singing in the background, horns honking, and boats flying by on the river. Pam could hear all of this on the other end. And then I walked under a small tree where a mockingbird was perched, and he immediately began to sing. Of course, these guys will emulate just about anything, and this guy was a master of it. At first I told Pam there was a siren going off somewhere, but the closer I got, the more I realized it was the mocking bird that was singing like a siren! Where else but in the city do your mocking birds sing like a siren they have heard hundreds of times before!

5/30/04 HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND! It is four-something Sunday morning, and the wind outside has been howling all night long. We've heard furniture and other things banging around. Pam loves the wind, sometimes I curse it, but mostly because I am a light sleeper - otherwise I rather enjoy standing out in the wind.

We had a real plan for this weekend (Amber is away up in Missouri) - do business work all day Saturday, some major cabin chores all day Sunday, then do something wild and crazy and take Monday OFF! Our plan began just fine, and we put in a 12-hour work day yesterday processing 14 large prints for a new bank in Eureka Springs (Community Bank). We have worked out a great system - Pam does the high-resolution scans and initial computer calibrations, then she send them over to my computer where I do the final optimization of the images and send them to the printer. A typical print will take us about two hours of work from start to finish.

The digital darkroom at Cloudland is laid out along our 20-foot workspace, which houses three computers, a high-resolution Nikon 9000 film scanner (with a special fluid-mount setup), daylight-balanced light table, large-format Epson 4000 printer, inspection area, and a print drying and storage cabinet. Once a print job is complete and the prints have cured a bit, we move them down into the print room in the basement for final curing and packaging. It is really great to be able to do every bit of this from start to finish right here at home.

You might wonder why we have the light table and film scanner if we are shooting digital these days. The reason is that fully 99.999% of my images were originally shot on film over the past 28 years - I've got more than a million film images on file. So when someone orders a print, it is most likely film, and so Pam has to find the original image, clean it up, then scan it in to the computer before I can take over. She is worth her weight in gold, and is becoming quite a valuable member of the team (and very good at it too!). In the past the scans would cost me about $100 each, and take a week or more to have done at a lab in California. Being able to do it right here in house is one of the reason why our print prices have dropped so much in the past year.

By the end of the long day yesterday we managed to complete the order of big prints for the bank (which we had started working on a couple of days before), and we were making plans for our work day at the cabin on Sunday. Just as the last print was coming out of the printer, another print order came in - 25 prints for another bank! And they needed their prints in a hurry (another advantage to our setup - we can do that!). And while I was willing to stick to our plan and put off getting started on these prints until next week, my slave-driver wife was ready to jump into the work, so after dinner of Banff Pasta and a movie, we were both back at the computers, getting things organized and ready to go with these prints. It was pretty late when we finally shut down for the day.

We did get to spend a little bit of time outside yesterday - had to make four or five trips up to the office on the hill to sort through and locate some of the transparencies. While I do enjoy just about every moment of my work inside on the computer, I really love being outside, even if for short bursts at a time - that sort of renews the spirit and freshens up the lungs.

Everything is so lush and green right now - from the nearly solid carpet of Virginia creeper vines covering the forest floor, to the lichen-and-moss-covered tree trunks, to the towering canopy above of the hardwood forest. And I must say that we seem to be having a explosion in lizards this year - the normal ones as well as blue-tailed-skinks. One member of our family simply adores lizards, and would rather spend his time chasing after them than just about anything else (the Superdog, of course). Have you EVER seen a dog enjoy life so much!

Must have been a bear on the prowl during the day and into the night too - the dogs got stirred up several times while patiently waiting for us to get finished with work and go out and play - they would both jump up, sniff the air, then get their hackles up and charge off into the woods, growling and snarling. I suspect without the dogs here we would be seeing a lot more bear activity at the cabin - something we don't care to have here.

The winds were blowing hard all day, chasing clouds around and keeping the trees on the move back and forth. Buzzards seemed to enjoy the wind, and would often make close runs over Mom's meadow, sometimes coming within a few feet of the cabin. Even though they are after all, buzzards, they are indeed interesting to watch as they maneuver around the trees in the high winds - just a twitch of their wings is all it takes to soar around something. I wonder if these guys were hunting something - like a snoozing cat - or were just coming in close to see what we were up to and say hi?

Tried and tried as it could, we never got a single drop of rain. In fact, I can't remember when we last had any real rain. Going to be along hot and dry summer if we don't get some storms pass through.

The evening air seems to be more quiet than usual this year. Lots of frogs singing, but not nearly as many as last year. And the other "night bugs" are there, but not so loud. I did hear a hoot owl yesterday morning, and expect to be hearing many more of them as the summer draws on.

Of course, last night and this morning there were not sounds that could be heard over the noise of the wind! Oops, I mean music honey.

One program note for fall - I finally broke down and purchased a high-quality digital projector. It is one of the brightest ones on the market, high resolution, and I think will do a great job of projecting my slide programs. Only problem now is that I don't have any actual digital programs built yet! Each one will have to be built from scratch, including scanning each image (if from film) for the optimum size, laying down a sound track, then putting it all together. One of the missing links has been the software to make it all happen, but I think I have finally found one that will work, and a copy of it is on its way to me right now. I actually have a small program to give on June 17th, so if I can find the time to put something together, that may be my first test. We already have a couple dozen slide programs scheduled for this fall in November and December in towns around the state, plus will have a month-long print exhibit at John Brown University in Siloam Springs (and will have a couple of slide programs to go along with the opening of the show). Oh year, that is 40-50 prints that we get to produce this summer, then mat and frame - I'm really looking forward to all of that! I'll put up some sort of schedule for all of these shows later in the fall. All of them will be free and open to the public.

The wind continues here this morning, and daylight is creeping across the landscape. I can now see Beagle Point, and all the way down to the Buffalo River. The air is very blue this morning - not sad, but hazy. Last night there was a huge spot of orange on the weather radar just to the west of us, and with all of this wind one would think the haze would have been blown out. One thing all that haze does is create colorful sunrises, and it looks like the sky to the northwest is beginning to turn blaze orange. We don't have an open view of the sunrise here this time of the year - there is a line of tall trees on the east side of the cabin that blocks it - but I can sure see all of that color developing. Think I'll take a break and go for a quick dip in the hot tub and soak up the beginning of the day - first light in the summer is rather magical! (I've made a couple of prints while I've been typing this - images that I got all set up to print late last night, so it is 2 down, and 23 to go!).

OK, OK, I have to tell you about a Cloudland Moment I just had, then I'll let you get on with life and I'll get back to work. As I was sitting there in the hot tub just now, the sun was beginning to light up the swirling clouds above. They were pink and red and orange, mixed with the blue sky behind that shone through a few holes in the clouds as the entire sky was tossed around by the wind. Three buzzards were flying in low over the meadow - they were criss-crossing back and forth, dipping and folding their wings as they went, riding the currents and trying their best to keep afloat in the stiff breezes. When they got to the far end of the meadow, they would simply turn around and come soaring right on back. And while once again I am reminded that they are buzzards and not eagles, those first rays of golden sunshine were lighting these guys up, and they took on a new color and glow that I'd never seen a buzzard look like before! OK, here comes the Cloudland Moment - as I was sitting there taking all of this in and just marveling at how gorgeous the scene was, I looked over and saw both Aspen and Lucy sitting on the deck next to me - and they too were caught up in the moment, and were focused on the buzzards, following them back and forth in formation - I do believe the dogs were enjoying the air show as much as I was!